|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:43:58 GMT -6
1988
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson and Lee Marshall are RINGSIDE at the Showboat Pavilion in Las Vegas and they talk about the AWA Tag Team Title match between The Midnight Rockers and Badd Company, with Marshall talking about how the Rockers have speed in bunches. He talks about the Rock n' Roll Express, guaranteeing that they're going to make an impression in the AWA. Greg Gagne is up next, with them talking about how he's a champion that everyone in the AWA can be proud of before they throw things to a commercial break.
Match One: Greg Robertson vs. Soldat Ustinov w/Teijo Kahn
Rod Trongard has no idea who Kahn is but Lee Marshall name drops him as Teijo Kahn, calling them both "Ugly and Uglier". Yuk yuk yuk. Ustinov starts out quickly with a BIG powerslam/backbreaker that gets a two-count. An Irish whip into the corner by Ustinov and he follows it up with a HUGE clothesline, dropping a leg across Robertson's chest for another two-count. Neck crank by Ustinov and he lands some forearm shots against the ropes before whipping Robertson into the ropes for a powerslam that gets two. More neck cranking along with some knees to the back by Ustinov and he gets a suplex for a two-count, with Ustinov picking him up before the three. Ustinov choking Robertson in the corner before flinging him out the to floor and the clutches of Teijo Kahn. Kahn with a shot on the outside as Ustinov provides a distraction on the outside and Ustinov gets a BIG forearm across the chest of Robertson as he tries to make his way back into the ring. Robertson gets back into the ring with a few shots to the gut, but Ustinov cuts that shit off with a rake of the eyes and he picks Robertson up for the CANADIAN BACKBREAKER~! Robertson submits, Ustinov holds the submission for longer than he needs to and it's the usual heely goodness.
Winner: Soldat Ustinov (submisson, Canadian Backbreaker)
Match Analysis: Short and squashy, just the way that Ustinov likes it. Nothing really notable or exciting in this one though. Everyone did what they were supposed to and it felt a lot like paint-by-numbers wrestling.
Shrill-ass Donna is back talking about a letter that a Quebecois kid wrote for the first time in English. They're sending him some of the AWA merch that he begged for and I guess he's the Fan of The Week. At least this was a short segment. Back to Larry Nelson and he takes us back to the Baron Von Raschke vs. Board match that we've seen numerous times. SPOILER ALERT: The board wins. Still hilarious to watch Baron's reaction when he gets hit with that board. Fantastic. Baron is back and he says taht the Sheik is afraid, hiring men from everywhere and spending money like a wildman. Raschke pulls a bat out and says that Kent Hrbek lent him his favorite hold, the Louisville Sleeper. That's actually a good one and I laughed out loud at that, especially when Baron forgot the name of the team, even though they're in Minnesota. I guess Soldat hit him harder than he thought with that board. Baron starts singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame in an absolutely FRIGHTENING rendition, though he does do it better than Tony Romo.
Match Two: Ricky Morton vs. Dennis Stamp
Ricky plays a little air guitar on the outside, which just looks kind of sad, but he does get a great pop so I suppose it's acceptable. Apparently, Gibson missed a plane connection and couldn't make it. I guess that's what happens when you ask for Jim Beam's help to get to your gate. Morton and Stamp hit a lockup and Morton armdrags him over as a HUGE "Rock n' Roll" chant breaks out. They do a little chain wrestling and do the stand-off in the middle of the ring before Morton gets a side headlock. Stamp reverses it into a top wristlock and Morton reverses THAT back into a headlock. We get to see a "Rockers Rule" sign in the crowd, though I think that was meant for Marty and Shawn. Stamp shoots Morton into the ropes and eats a shoulderblock and a BEAUTIFUL dropkick that gets Morton a two-count. Side headlock takeover by Morton now and he grinds away at that hold for a moment before Stamp makes it to the ropes to break the hold. Stamp cheapshots him with a knee to the gut and a kick, ramming Morton headfirst into the top turnbuckle. Nasty shot to the throat and he starts to choke Morton against the second rope before ramming him into the top buckle again. Irish whip into the corner and MORTON TAKES IT STOMACH FIRST!! MANLY MAN~! Stamp gets some shots and Morton makes a comeback with a dropkick but that gets cut off by Stamp who ends up putting Morton out on the apron. He tries to ram Morton into the post but it gets reversed and Morton goes up top to hit the stunned Stamp with a flying bodypress for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Ricky Morton (pinfall, flying bodypress)
Match Analysis: Always fun to watch Ricky Morton go and he got a hand that could actually work, so it made the match that much better. Still pretty much an extended squash, but it was fun to get to see Morton in singles since I have such fond memories of his singles run with Ric Flair in the NWA during one of the Great American Bash tours. A+ for the nostalgia, F for the air guitar.
We go back to the dressing room to see Curt Hennig in a HORRIBLE sweater and sunglasses that look like the kind that old people wear when they start to get cataracts. Those things look like welding goggles. He talks about how well it's worked for him to have white-hot Madusa Miceli in his corner and I kind of tune him out because Madusa starts talking and she's wearing something leopard-spotted that shows a TON of boobage. I have a massive crush on 1988 Madusa. Someone get me Doc Brown on the phone, STAT!!
Match Three: AWA International Television Championship Daryl Nickle vs. Greg Gagne (c)
Gagne chases Nickle around the ring and Nickle ducks out through the ropes as Trongard says that he's pumped a lot of iron. Yeah, just replace the word pumped with shot and iron with steroids and that statement becomes a LOT more factual. Nickle shoves Gagne into the corner and hits a posedown, doing it again to put Gagne in his place. He gets a side headlock but Gagne shoots him into the ropes, using his speed to catch Nickle with a right hand and a knee into a stepover toehold in the middle of the ring. Gagne drops down to that mat and Nickle grabs the hair, choking on Gagne before pulling him up and smashing him in the back with forearms in the corner. Irish whip into the corner gets reversed by Gagne and he hits a back bodydrop off of that, picking Nickle up for a BIG bodyslam. Irish whip into the ropes and Gagne hits a dropkick for the 1-2...did he get it? I don't know, Gagne doesn't know, the announcers don't kn..YES, YES It's THREE!!!
Winner: Greg Gagne (pinfall, dropkick)
Match Analysis: Decent enough, but too short to be anything of consequence. It doesn't help things when the jobber doesn't know the finish and ends up kicking out before the three count. It REALLY doesn't help things when you show the finish on a slow-motion replay and you can CLEARLY see his shoulders up before the three-count. This is a post-produced show and that's just sloppy. There's no need to have to make something up on a taped show because if it looks wrong, just do it again or edit it out. No excuse for that at all.
After that match, Larry Nelson is ringside with Ricky Morton, talking about an upcoming tour of the Carolinas, which is like home to the RnR's according to Morton. He says that they know what the RnR's can do and what they're made of. Nothing's going to stop them from being five-time World Tag Team Champions. Morton finishes up saying that he can't be late cause he's got three women who just won't wait. Hmmm, maybe it was Ricky that got Robert lost so he could steal his share of the poonanny for the night.
After the break, Greg Gagne is in the tape library and he's talking about everything that was going on in Chicago in 1981. We head off to the Chicago Amphitheater for this week's mat classic and it should be a real treat.
Match Four: Mat Classic Baron Von Raschke vs. Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie
We join this one in progress with Sheik on the outside and Baron being held back by the referee.Baron attacks him with forearms as soon as Sheik hits the apron and he finally backs off to let Sheik back into the ring. Baron chases Sheik around, threatening to tickle him into submission, but instead settles for raking Sheik's eyes in the corner, much to the delight of the crowd. A rake across the back but Sheik goes back with a rake of his own to Baron's eyes before biting him. Sheik with a couple of forearm shots and he starts working a nervehold on Von Raschke. Sheik breaks the hold then starts stomping away before going right back to it, with Baron getting to his feet and freaking out a little before Sheik drags him down and stomps at him a little more. Right back to the nerve hold and he really cranks down on it for a good long while before Baron starts to make the babyface comeback, going to the gut with an elbow and then knocking Sheik down with another elbow. Right hands from Baron and he rams Sheik face first into the mat. Sheik begs off but gets a kick to the stomach and another slam into the mat for his troubles. Big bodyslam from Baron and he follows it up with an elbow drop before trying to pin Sheik, but there's no way he's letting it end like that. He picks Sheik up and bites at the cut across Sheik's forehead before raking him with the nails again. Irish whip from Von Raschke but he telegraphs a back bodydrop and ends up getting kicked in the face. Sheik softens him up by clawing at the face and it's time for the Sheik's CAMEL STRETCH~! Sheik is bleeding and looking like he's in a trance, cranking on the hold but Baron powers out of it, reversing it into the CLAW HOLD~!!!!!! HUGE pop for that and he puts Sheik down to his knees with it before Sheik makes it to the ropes. Baron finally lets go after the referee drags him off and he goes right back to ramming Sheik into the buckles before whipping him into the ropes for ANOTHER CLAW!!! Sheik is down to his back and actually kicks back up to his feet, making the ropes again. The referee can't get Baron off of Sheik but when he finally does, Sheik gets out a FOREIGN OBJECT!! WAFFLESHOT to the Baron from Sheik Adnan and he gets the three-count!!
Winner: Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie (pinfall, foreign object shot)
Match Analysis: At least this mat classic got a finish. It wasn't a great match by any means because Sheik and Baron were never technical marvels, but it got a ton of heat and the crowd was into it the entire way, with Baron teasing the claw and finally getting it before Sheik wins with an underhanded heel trick. I would bet that they had a rematch the next time that the AWA came through Chicago and that it drew big again. Good old-school brawling from the two non-Americans.
It's time for Big K to join us again and he is going to give us the scoop about what's happening behind the scenes. He talks about Badd Company and the flaw that The Midnight Rockers have and how he's told that to Tanaka and Diamond and it will be up to them if they listened to him or not. He talks about Curt Hennig and how he's wrestling while he's hurt and this guy busts Greg Gagne's balls before doing the same thing with Verne. He talks about Rocky Mountain Thunder and then puts himself over again before the segment kind of peters out. Why is this guy on my television again? The only bigger waste of a segment would be to bring Verne back out to talk about the Olympians again.
Match Five: AWA Tag Team Championship Badd Company vs. The Midnight Rockers (c)
No entrance again for Badd Company, BOOOO-urns!!! Michaels gets a go-behind on Diamond and he struts around the.....HEY!!!! Wait a minute!!! This is the same match from the show I reviewed on Tuesday!! DOUBLE BOOOOO-URNS!!! If you want to read up on that match again, check it out right here.
We don't even get the cool promo from the Rockers this time, instead going straight to the end of the show. Just horribly disappointing.
Final Thoughts
Too bad that the Rockers/Badd Company match was a do-over because if it had been an actual bout, I think that this show would have gotten a thumbs-up. As it is, it's another middle of the road show, even leaning down because the squashes were a little boring, the mat classic was only alright, and the main event was the huge letdown of a repeat. Not happy at ALL. Ah well, let's get to the comments shall we?
Fun With Comments
From Guest #7704: "Great review. It's really nice to see how much wrestling has evolved over the last 20 years. The wrestling today is far better and more exciting; the wrestlers have vastly improved mic skills (it looked like in the Big K segment he was completely making up all of his lines as the camera was rolling and he was doing a poor job at that), and overall the product today comes off as being less cheesy. By the way, I wonder if The Surfer can still walk today, that move was brutal."
Yeah, it's a trip sometimes to see how different wrestling used to be compared to how it is now. People talk about the good old days of wrestling, but seem to forget that for every Ric Flair classic with the local champ, there was hour after hour of this crap on television week in and week out. I loved it then and even love it now, but it's a completely different looking product now than it was then.
From Burton: "Yup Kids Klassics put out the AWA video sets...Sgt. Slaughter and Friends was actually two tapes of the same name, but with different matches. One of them had the wrestlecrap worthy video of the Sarge putting Greg Gagne through boot camp..as campy as it sounds."
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:44:30 GMT -6
1988
From Brian: "What a shame that Baron Von Raschke not only was still around at such an advanced age, but that the AWA couldn't"
About a million ways to end that sentence, but I'll go with that Baron was still around and that the AWA couldn't make any new stars to let Baron retire in peace to spend his Nazi gold.
From Arnold_OldSchool: "Damn that back breaker whatever from RM Thunder was brutal. The announcers sold it all wrong too. *sighs* You can see RMT wanted that to be the finish as the next 30 seconds was super awkward. I enjoyed it."
That move from RMT was damn near a lawsuit and yeah, the announcers did a terrible job with that, though it was Lee Marshall, so what do you expect. There's nothing wrong with enjoying awkward wrestling, as long as you can admit it!
From APinOZ: "An Australian Tag Team Match is simply a straight tag match. Tag team wrestling was invented in Australia, according to old-time observers, although that may well be a kayfabe comment from the NWA to emphasise their world-wide presence back in the 50s, 60s and 70s, when the NWA champion would make twice-yearly appearances in Australia to defend the world title."
I had honestly had no idea where that had come about from, so thank you for the useful information on that.
From Guest: "The Rocky Mountain Thunder Bomb (what I'm calling that botched Widow's Peak) looked to be RMT going for a Canadian Backbreaker with Surfer slipping as he went down. Due to how it was botched, that was probably supposed to be the finish, but they wanted to see if Surfer was ok, so they just did the hip toss to end it fast since they had to wait for Surfer to recover before continuing. Considering how green both guys were, it was actually refreshing to see them improvise on the fly, while in WWE 10 year vets would just repeat the spot."
That's either a REALLY cool name for a move, or a really unfortunate gastrointestinal disease. I love the idea that they did another move to see if Surfer was alright. "What, you can feel your legs? Get up and take a hip toss so we can get the finish right for the ESPN show." Tremendous. It was good to see them not repeat the spot, but at the same time REALLY uncomfortable to watch them muddle through that finish.
From Adam: "I've been waiting for the time when they start showing the 'mat classic' segments, and they don't even show the finish. I've been watching this crappy show for 7-8 weeks hoping to get some of the old matches when the AWA was super-hot. Around that time they had quality heels and over babyfaces. When paired with Jim Brunzell, even Greg Gagne was fun to watch."
I'd nominate Jim Brunzell for the WWE Hall of Fame, solely for his ability to make Greg Gagne matches even halfway watchable. Someone needs to start an online petition or something!!
Finally from James: "Rocky Mountain Thunder, if it was the same guy, was infamous later on having to be carried by HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN at a 1995 WCW Saturday Night taping. The match never made it to TV, apparently, and, well...Google Groups is your friend:"
He provided a link to a thread on the old RSPW forum for a recap of the taping, but I'll just copy and paste the relevant information here:
"Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Rocky Mountain Thunder You know, for years now I've been proclaiming Jim Duggan the worst wrestler of all times. I have now been proven wrong, for I have seen him in a match with his ... lesser. Hudson even warns us that RMT is legendarily the worst. The man is a master of understatement. Thunder is so bad that we take to cheering Duggan incessantly. As the Shah is over in ECW, now with us, Duggan is over here in Atlanta. The crowd chants USA, and James yells "Yeah Duggan, get that evil foreign menace!" RMT with some ridiculously bad double axe handle shots. This match is the Energizer bunny, it keeps going adn going. Duggan gets RMT in a bear hug, and we start chanting that WE give up! I haven't laughed as hard at wrestling in my life as I did during this... contest. Horrible can only begin to describe it. Near the end we chant "Five Star Match." Hacksaw hits RMT with the Hacksaw clothesline, and RMT kicks out and DUggan has to recover him to get the pin. Horrendous, yet as funny a thing as I've ever seen with a little help from my friends. According to one of our friends in the Atlanta Police Dept who works security, Duggan really gave RMT an ass chewing after the match and they even had to retape another Duggan match later on (lucky us, we got to cheer him again)!!!! All I can say is this, Rocky Moutain Thunder makes the Renegade look like All Japan's Misawa. "
Sounds like a good time was had by all and I can see why RMT had the staying power that he did with that kind of workrate. They're just lucky that the two of them didn't stupid each other to death in the middle of the ring, live (to tape) on TBS.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:45:26 GMT -6
1988
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson and Lee Marshall are ringside at the Showboat and they're talking about the show tonight, including Wahoo McDaniel, The Nasty Boys and the World Heavyweight Champion, Curt Hennig. The main event is apparently going to be Teijo Kahn against Baron Von Raschke. Ugh.
Match One: Pistol Pete vs. Ricky Rice
Jobber vs. Slightly More Popular Jobber. Good times! Pete looks like he could be a guy that would come to install your cable rather than a wrestler. Rice pushes Pete into the ropes for a clean break and then Pete does the same, only he doesn't return the clean break favor and chops at Rice's chest. Rice gets a go-behind and takedown and then after a break moves to a fireman's carry into an armbar. Pete reverses and gets a two-count before ramming Rice into the top turnbuckle a couple of times. Awkward looking slam from Pete and he sort of flops down on a cover for a two-count. Pete again running Rice around the ring, ramming him into the buckles before Rice finally blocks one and reverses into some turnbuckle smashes of his own. BIG back bodydrop from Rice and he whips Pete in for a somewhat-horrible looking dropkick, but it's enough to get the three count!!
Winner: Ricky Rice (pinfall, dropkick)
Match Analysis: It was what it was. Two green guys having a match with no real flow or anything and some really awkward looking spots from both. Nothing great, but at least no one got hurt or anything, which can happen with the greenies in the ring against each other.
Back from the break, Larry Nelson pimps the Carolinas tour the AWA was going to run before we go to the interview area with Curt Hennig (along with his welding goggles), and he talks about his feud with Wahoo McDaniel and how Wahoo wants to put him out of wrestling for all the damage he inflicted on Wahoo. He hands it over to Madusa and she kind of puts him over, sounding like she's faking an orgasm, before the interview ends rather abruptly.
Match Two: Greg Robertson vs. Curt Hennig w/Madusa Miceli
Hennig is the AWA champion at this point, as you all know, but the title is certainly not on the line in this one. Hennig heads over and badmouths Trongard at the announce table before getting into the ring. Hennig gets a single-leg takedown before scoring a go-behind into a crossface move in the middle of the ring. He backs off and allows Robertson to get back to his feet, taunting him. Lockup into the corner and Hennig just shoves him off before PAINTBRUSHING HIM ONE!! Hell yes, Curt!! Hennig takes over with an armbar in the middle of the ring and pushes Robertson up against the ropes for a big chop into a standing arm-wringer. He runs right from that into an abdominal stretch, punching at Robertson's ribcage while he has the stretch locked in. He lets it go and then they go to a test of strength with Hennig breaking it and embrassing the kid a little more before hitting a HARD elbow to the head. He starts raking at Robertson's face and Robertson fires off some forearms while Hennig has his back turned. He even reverses an Irish whip and dropkicks Hennig out to the floor!! Irish whip into the corner by Robertson and he charges...RIGHT INTO HENNIG'S BOOTS!! PERFECT-PLEX FROM HENNIG!! 1-2-3!!!
Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, Perfect-Plex)
Match Analysis: Good story to the match with Hennig continuing to be a dick and completely controlling someone he deemed to be "below him". Awesome to see him start using the Perfect-Plex too and as usual he executed it to perfection. Fun match to watch since it's always fun to see Hennig acting like a complete asshole. The man was born to be a heel.
Larry Nelson introduces Greg Gagne for this week's Mat Classic, which is from Winnipeg, Manitoba!! HELL YES!! Gagne needs to lay off the tanning though, cause he looks really off here with the gigantic white spots around his eyes where his sunglasses were.
Match Three: Mat Classic The Fabulous Ones w/The Crusher vs. The Road Warriors w/Paul Ellering
Joined in progress with Hawk working a reverse chinlock on Stan Lane and it's SO cool to get to see the old ring in the old Winnipeg Arena again. Great memories there. Lane fights out of the chinlock, getting a shot to Hawk's gut but he manages to tag in Animal. Animal gets a big bodyslam and heads to the ropes for a splash, but Lane gets the knees up and BOTH MEN ARE DOWN!! Animal tries to stop Lane but it's a HOT TAG TO KEIRN!!! HE HAMMERS ANIMAL IN THE CORNER!!! HAWK GOES DOWN ON THE OUTSIDE!! Irish whip in by Keirn but Animal gets the knees up and knocks him one in the face. An Irish whip by Animal now but Keirn comes off the ropes with a flying elbow that gets a LONG two-count. All four men in the ring now and Lane is hitting Hawk with his karate kicks before moving to the adbomindal stretch. Ellering is in the ring and getting ready to hit Lane with a chair but THE CRUSHER grabs the chair and sends Ellering scurrying out of the ring. The Road Warriors get to stepping and the referee calls for the bell.
Winners: The Fabulous Ones (disqualification, Ellering interference)
Match Analysis: It's a match from my hometown, so I'm immediately biased. The crowd was hot and it seemed like the end of pretty good match, but there really wasn't enough here to make any guesses as to how good it really was.
Match Three: Krusher Kruger and Soldat Ustinov w/Teijo Kahn vs. Ricky Morton and Wahoo McDaniel
The graphic lists him as Krusher Krugnoff, but I guess it's all relative. They should have just had the graphic say Krusher Takes The Pin and been done with it. One hell of an odd-looking team for the faces though with Morton and Wahoo teaming beacuse of Gibson missing this batch of TV tapings. McDaniel and Kruger start things out as Ricky Morton leads a "USA" chant on the apron. A couple of hard chops from Wahoo and he gets a side headlock takeover before tagging in Morton who hits a double-stomp on Kruger's gut. Big slam from Morton and he gets a bit of an open-palmed strike as well to put Kruger down. Side headlock from Morton and he gets a couple of punches in before moving back to tag in McDaniel. Wahoo takes over with some right hands before throwing him out through the bottom rope to the floor. Ustinov and Kahn check him out before encouraging him right back into the ring. STIFF chops from McDaniel in the corner and he gets a slam before choking Kruger with the straps of his singlet. Tag to Morton and he puts Kruger down with a BIG kneelift before he reverses and pushes Morton into the corner so he can tag in Ustinov. They double-team Morton before Ustinov gets him up into a bearhug with Ustinov getting a two-count off of it before Morton breaks the hold. A big hip toss from Morton and he tags in McDaniel for some double-teaming with a reverse elbow from both men before Wahoo rakes the eyes with his bootsoles. Reverse chinlock from Wahoo and he picks Ustinov up in a full nelson, taking him over to Morton for a big right hand. McDaniel goes to the gut in the corner and sends Ustinov over to make an exchange with Kruger. Single-leg takedown from Wahoo and he tags in Morton who comes off the second rope with a kneedrop, right on the leg of Kruger. Morton does a double legdrop move to the midsection, a la Jeff Hardy and moves to a stepover toehold before Kruger goes to the eyes. Morton with an Irish whip and he tags in McDaniel who chops Kruger down and covers for the pinfall!!
Winners: Ricky Morton and Wahoo McDaniel (pinfall, Wahoo chop)
Match Analysis: A fairly good match, but it was just all a little odd, watching Kruger pretend to be intimidating while obviously being a rookie, and seeing McDaniel and Morton teaming at all. Good enough, but it all seemed weird to be seeing.
Larry Nelson is ringside with Ricky Morton and we get the same promo from him that we saw the other night. I won't bother going into it again. Big K shows up and he talks about the flaw in the Midnight Rockers style and then we see the highlights of Badd Company taking the tag titles from the Rockers. Big K takes credit for all of it of course, before moving on to the Baron Von Raschke/Soldat Ustinov feud. WE SEE BOARD-BREAKING ACTION AGAIN and AGAIN!! K babbles away and I've already tuned him out. At least it's not a terribly long segment.
Match Five: Baron Von Raschke vs. Teijo Kahn w/Soldat Ustinov
Kahn charges into the ring and Baron takes him over with a back bodydrop and then NEARLY gets the clawhold on. Ustinov ends up in the ring and HE nearly gets the claw on him!! Kahn gets back into the ring and misses a WILD chop before eating a right hand from Von Raschke. Standing arm-wringer from Kahn as we see Ustinov on the outside waving his Russian flag. In the ring, Baron's got a standing armbar on Kahn and uses a handful of ponyhawk to take Kahn down to the mat. Kahn tries to repay the favor once he gets to his feet but it won't work. CAUSE THE BARON IS BALD!! That's just hi-larious. Really. Another hair pull sends Kahn back down to the mat before he gets to his feet and pushes Baron into the corner. Irish whip from Kahn gets reversed and he charges out of the corner into an armdrag takeover. Armbar into an armlock by Von Raschke and he keeps working on the arm for another minute or so before Kahn pushes him into the corner and breaks clean. Ustinov goes up to the apron and chokes at Von Raschke with the Russian flag before Kahn does some heelish choking too. He distracts the referee and Ustinov cheats his way into the match again before Baron's had enough, punching Kahn in the gut and ramming him into the top turnbuckle. He starts yanking on that ponytail and leads Kahn around the ring a little before Baron snap mares him over into a reverse chinlock. Kahn goes to the eyes and then starts choking Baron in the corner with the tag rope. Open-handed thrusts from Kahn and he gets a pinfall for a two-count on Baron before standing into a neck crank. He gets a nerve hold in on Baron and Von Raschke stands up, driving a couple of elbows to the gut of Kahn. Kahn shrugs them off and slams Baron down before diving off the second rope. HE MISSES THE HEADBUTT!! Baron takes over with an Irish whip into a BIG back bodydrop. Another Irish whip and a reverse elbow from the Baron leading to the GOOSE-STEP!! Teijo gets a shot to the throat to avoid the clawhold and as Ustinov ends up on the apron, Baron whips Kahn into him, knocking the referee out too. Baron gets the clawhold on Kahn and Ustinov takes advantage of the lack of a referee to sneak in and WAFFLE Baron with the flagpole. He throws Kahn on top of him and the referee gets back to his feet in time for the count and Baron is down for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Teijo Kahn (pinfall, Ustinov interference)
Match Analysis: Kahn wasn't very good and Baron was like sixty, so you can guess how good this would be. Which is not at all. They did well enough to keep the crowd into it, but in terms of the in-ring work, or movesets, it was a disaster. At least it wasn't a terribly long match and there was a logical ending to keep the feud going.
After the match, Larry Nelson has Baron Von Raschke with him at ringside and Baron doesn't seem pleased at all after the turn of events. He says that he's past being angry and yells at all of them. He says that Sheik is making a big mistake and that he had Kahn in the claw and beaten. Baron threatens that if Sheik wants a war, he's going to give all of them a war, fighting them one at a time or two at a time or THREE at a time!!!! Now that's some anger. Nelson brings in Lee Marshall and they run down the action we saw on the show before we're done for another episode.
Final Thoughts
Not a very good episode at all. Usually the boring matches at the beginning can be somewhat offset by a decent main event, but there's NO way that that was going to be the case with tonight's show. Kahn/Von Raschke wasn't very good and honestly I think that the best match was the mismatched tag. Ugh. Ah well, at least there's a TON of great comments to get to, so let's just do that to try and wash the taste of this show out of my mouth.
Fun With Comments
From Greg: "lol larry nelson flipping out makes watching 60 minutes of squash matches worthwhile."
Say what you will about the man, he had some classic over-reactions and tried as hard as he could to get the product over.
From James: "Big K = Stan Kowalski. No I don't think he ever did anything outside of these segments. I mean, at that time."
Those segments have no real purpose and no real reason to be on the show, other than to give Big K a job I'm guessing. Maybe Verne owed him some money or something.
From HMFiles: "Curt Hennig refers to Madusa being in his corner. However, a previous episode saw Madusa in the corner of Hennig's opponent, Kevin Kelly. Was there any sort of angle explaining why Madusa had joined Hennig? Or was it just the result of Kelly no longer wrestling for the AWA, giving Madusa nothing else to do?"
I think that it's a combination of Madusa not having anything to do and either it being before or after the match with Kevin Kelly. I'm never sure of the timeframe for these shows, but I think that it was just an instance where the Kelly/Hennig match was a one-off thing that didn't really affect storylines at all.
From Burton: "I forgot how much i love the background music to Greg Gagne's training montage...
And even though ive seen the Baron have a board broken over his head about 18 times, i still love hearing Larry Nelson yell "OH CRIMINY" while it all happens."
Even amidst all the crap that the AWA was putting out, there were still small moments that made people happy. The power of wrestling at work right there.
From Guest: "Kelly should've still been wrestling with AWA. I remember him having a tag match with Kiniski at Superclash. Not sure why that was there though."
Again, I think it was just the AWA wanting to put two hot heel acts together with Hennig and Madusa so she kind of phased away from Kinisk and Kelly a little bit.
From John From Aurora: "I remember that camp Slaughter segment like it was done yesterday. the real reason they were running at the end was that they heard some banjo music playing .Squeeeeeeeel like a pig Greg Gagne"
That's just disturbing on every level. I'm moving on.
From OB1Jabroni: "Madusa is Milf-a-riffic, she made the show for me. That and seeing Morton in singles again, I still remember him wearing that facemask after the Horsemen fucked him up. I wonder if Don Kernodle had to go thru the Boot Camp with the good sarge like Gagne did"
I remember the Morton NWA angle with that facemask after Flair dragged his face across the floor of the dressing room. Good times. I'm not sure about Kernoodle and his Boot Camp experiences, but we'll see what the readers have to say if they remember anything on that level.
From Arnold_OldSchool: "When I 1st saw RMThunder I thought it was WCW's Roadblock at 1st.
Youtube beat ESPN on this night."
Youtube beats ESPN on most nights for me, but that's just because most of the talking heads on ESPN want me to put my face through the television. At least on Youtube you get to see gems like the "In the Butt" videos (both What What and the Myspace chick).
From GoCart: "if i read the word squash one more time......"
Squash, squash, SQUASH!!! All kidding aside, if you're not liking hearing me say that a million times, maybe I'll just start calling them talent-enhancement matches or something instead. They are what they are and there's a lot of them on these AWA shows.
From Joe K. : "1. The slingshot/DDT would have been perfect for TWGTT, especially since they lifted quite a bit of BC's moveset (the rope choke/leapfrog deal and they did do the superkick/German suplex once or twice).
2. Anyone find it odd that out of all of the classic footage they've shown, the only one to not get the finish shown was HOGAN'S match? God, Verne held a grudge to the bitter end.
3. And can you come up with a more demented image than of Baron Von Raschke, swinging a baseball bat and manically singing "Take Me out to the Ballgame"?"
1. I really wish some team would steal that move and update it for this generation. 2. Not that odd because like you said, Verne is a grudge-holdin' son of a bitch to be sure. 3. No, that will haunt my nightmares for days.
From Adam: "The 'Mat Classic' is "All The People Need To Watch". The AWA had the Adnan Al-Kaisee and The Baron in 1988 and nobody gave a shit about their feud. But in 1981, in Chicago the crowd was completly into it. When I was a kid, I remember seeing the High Flyers, Baron, Mad Dog, Wahoo, Martel, all faces that the crowd liked. As for the heels, they had Blackwell, Patera, Saito, Adnan, Bockwinkle. All legit heels. Hopefully, they will show some matches with these guys. Some other top guys in the AWA that I'd like to see are Billy Robinson, The Crusher, Ray Stevens, Billy Graham, Bruiser, and Blackjack Lanza."
I'm realy hoping that we get to see more Mat Classic action and that maybe they go back and show some more of the 85 and 86 AWA shows, since those were WAYYYYYYY better than what they're showing now.
Finally from Guest.: "Throwing this out here quickly, but I hope that you recap the ICW or IWA or whatever wrestling show on Cheap Seats after AWA."
I have done a Cheap Seats review before and will probably continue to do them the odd time after the AWA shows if I have time, but I will definitely be doing the Cheap Seats wrestling shows when I catch them on. That being said I missed the ICW show that was on last night, but am tracking down a copy and will hopefully have it included in the review for tomorrow's AWA report.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:46:41 GMT -6
1988 AWA Championship Wrestling Nelson and Marshall are at ringside at the Showboat and they run through what we're seeing today including a main event bout for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship featuring champ, Curt Hennig defending against Wahoo McDaniel. Should be interesting, so they throw it to a break, threatening to start the action with Baron Von Raschke after these commercial messages. Match One: Pistol Pete vs. Baron Von Raschke They do indeed make good on their threat and here comes the Baron, giving the thumbs-up as he makes his way down to the ring, slapping some high-fives with the front row. They start with Baron dropping him with an armdrag takeover into a straight armbar and Baron picks him up, landing a hip toss and then smiling his way through an elbowdrop. A sloppy-looking suplex from Baron and it gets a two-count before Pistol Pete starts to take over with a couple of elbows, but Baron blocks a third with a poke to the eyes. He gives him another shot and a snap mare before picking him up and ramming him into the top turnbuckle with all the force of a pillowfight at a teenage girls' slumber party. Irish whip into the ropes and Baron hits a big knee to the stomach, picking Pete up for a big slam. They try for an Irish whip but Pete seems a little sandbaggy so Baron clubs him with a couple forearms and then sends him in for a back bodydrop. Interesting spot though as Baron falls on his ass after the move, stopping to scratch his head before getting up to GOOSE-STEP!! HERE COMES THE CLAWHOLD!!! He puts Pete down for the 1-2-3!!! Winner: Baron Von Raschke (pinfall, CLAWHOLD) Match Analysis: Eh, it was an opener. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Baron had no business really being in the ring in any major programs at this age. Baron nearly crippling Pistol Pete by dropping him on that suplex, and then falling over while trying to deliver a back bodydrop was just sad to watch, though as always, the CLAW is mark-out city. We're back from the break and we get to see the Ricky Morton promo about the Carolinas tour for seemingly the hundredth time. I think this is the first time I noticed he swore in it though. Match Two: Big Mountain Fudgecake vs. Daryl Nickle This should be a real fucking treat. Fudgie comes to the ring this week with a hobo bindle wrapped in a chain. Someone should steal his bindle if they're looking to start a big-money feud. That has DRAWING POWER written all over it. They hit a lockup and Mountain shoves Nickle into the corner before another lockup leads to Nickle getting shoved down to the mat. Nickle gets a couple of running starts but can't even budge The Cake with shoulderblocks and ends up getting thrown down like a whiny kid in a grocery store after securing a top wristlock for a brief moment. Nickle gets up and grabs a side headlock, working away with some knees in the corner before backing up to drop down into a football tackle. He charges and misses, ramming into the corner before His Fudgeness whips him in for a BARELY touched him back bodydrop. That was more like Nickle doing a front somersault over him though, and it looked REALLY bad. Mountain flings him to the outside and Lee Marshall compares Nickle to a Cabbage Patch Doll. I guess he didn't need to wear a cup to the ring then. Side headlock from Nickle and Fudge shoots him into the ropes for a POWERSLAM!! He charges off the ropes into the HOBO SPLASH~! That gets him the pinfall and he stops to get his bindle handed to him by Showboat security before making his way to the back. The replay shows that Thunder actually almost missed the splash. Winner: Big Mountain Fudgecake (pinfall, Hobo splash~!) Match Analysis: How in the HELL do you almost miss a SPLASH?? It's FALLING ON SOMEONE!!!! At least he didn't almost kill someone this time, but he clearly had no business being in the ring. Match Three: Mat Classic Ray Stevens vs. Billy Robinson This one is from September 13, 1981 and we're at the Minneapolis Auditorium. Gagne looks like such a douche in his intro, wearing a Ski Patrol cap along with a suit, that I'm not even going to get into what he was jabbering about. Joined in progress with Robinson on the inside arguing with the referee and Stevens out on the floor. Robinson chases Stevens down onto the floor and RAMS HIM into a ringside table. The referee starts his count and Robinson paces around the ring as it sounds like Stevens may have hit his head on the bell at the ringside table. Stevens FINALLY makes his way to the apron and into the ring as the fifteen minute mark is announced to the crowd. Stevens begs off in the corner and Robinson offers up a handshake but eats a shot to the gut and they trade punches with Robinson getting the better of it, trying an Irish whip into the corner. Stevens reverses it and rams Robinson's back into the buckles, slamming him hard on the way out. Boston Crab attempt from Stevens and Robinson rolls into it to avoid being turned over to his stomach. Beautiful bridge into a leg takedown by Robinson and he gets a backslide on Stevens for the three-count, following that up with a turnbuckle smash for good measure. Winner: Billy Robinson (pinfall, backslide) Match Analysis: It's REALLY hard to get a feel for how good a match is when you see two out of the sixteen minutes of it, but the two minutes seemed like they had built to a pretty good finish. They were seemingly playing it up as two even technicians with Robinson just barely coming out on top. They need to start showing full Mat Classic matches and start clipping the Rocky Mountain Thunder matches. Oh joy, here comes Big K to continue this bountiful smorg of suck. He goes into his behind-the-scenes spiel, talking about how Tanaka has a chance to be the AWA TV Champ. He claims that he can help Tanaka beat Gagne and then moves on to talk about Madusa. He says that he gave her advice and that she's starting to come around, taking credit for Madusa coming to the ring with Curt Hennig. He decides that it's time to talk about Big Mountain Fudgecake and Big K is starting to seem like he needs a Ritalin. He says that Fudgecake won't beat anybody until he's molded into a raw, mean machine by Big K. They even show him almost crippling that jobber again with his botched backbreaker. He picks up the AWA Report newsletter with The Rockers on the cover and says that next time they should put on the REAL champs, Badd Company. It just cuts off there with him throwing the paper down on the desk, and that was honestly the most random segment I think I have ever seen. Big K has apparently never heard of a segue other than "Let's move on down the line here". Larry Nelson welcomes us back after the commerical break, saying that it's only a matter of moments before we see Hennig/McDaniel for the AWA Championship in the main event. Hennig gives an interview "backstage", which looks like the wall of a shower stall in the locker rooms. He talks about the stitches he put into Wahoo's forehead and that he made a mistake by not ending McDaniel's career. Hennig says that he's the greatest wrestler of all times, the new boss of professional wrestling and that if McDaniel thinks he's going to win, he's got a newsflash coming! He threatens to end Wahoo's career again to close out the interview. Match Four: AWA International Television Championship Pat Tanaka w/Paul Diamond vs. Greg Gagne (c) This should actually be a nifty little speed bout. Gagne backs Tanaka into a corner right from the opening bell, threatening him with a closed fist. They lockup an struggle against the ropes before the referee steps in between them for a clean break. Gagne continues to threaten with that right hand and Tanaka leans outside the ropes to take a powder. Another lockup against the ropes and the referee gets between them again before Gagne gets a top wristlock into a takedown but Tanaka fakes a hairpull and the referee believes him, forcing Gagne to break the hold. Gagne gets the top wristlock again and Tanaka goes down on his own this time, trying to sneak his way into a break again but this time Gagne steps away and no one buys it. Tanaka gets pissed and shoves referee Gary DeRusha, but DeRusha's in no mood for shit and puts Tanaka on his ass before heading over to tell Diamond to keep his big, Canadian nose out of things. Tanaka kind of looks like he wants to cry. Gagne gets a side headlock takeover and grinds away at Tanaka for a moment or two, getting a couple of one-counts and two-counts before Tanaka gets a headscissors reversal with a handful of hair. Gagne pops out of the headscissors, moving right back to the side headlock, but Tanaka gets him right back into the headscissors with another pull of the hair. Again, Gagne gets out of the headscissors, using a headstand this time and he gets the side headlock before Tanaka gets another of his patented hair-pulling reversals. Gagne flips Tanaka over and gets out of the hold, grabbing a double-leglock on him before Tanaka makes it to the bottom rope. Tanaka gets up with a limp and begs off in the corner before Tanaka goes tino his trunks for something illegal. He's got something in his hand and continues to beg off in the corner before WAFFLING Gagne with the foreign object and Irish whipping him into the corner. Thrust kick from Tanaka and he gets a headbutt, following it up with a chop to the throat. Tanaka again gets the foreign object and gets Gagne with another shot before he flings Gagne out to the floor. Tanaka distracts the referee which allows Diamond to get his cheap shots in on the outside. Gagne makes it up to the apron and Tanaka gets a headbutt before using a snap mare to put Gagne back into the ring. Right hands and lefts to the gut from Gagne and Tanaka fires back, whipping Gagne into the corner but there's a reversal!! HUGE back-bodydrop from Gagne and he's ALL FIRED UP!! RIGHT HAND FROM GAGNE!!! TURNBUCKLE SMASH AND AN IRISH WHIP!!! DROPKICK BY GAGNE!!! GAGNE SLEEPER!! Tanaka tries to get to the ropes and Diamond on the outside sweeps Gagne's leg, allowing Tanaka to get a VERY close two-count. Gagne heads to the outside and hammers away on Diamond!! Diamond runs into the ring and Tanaka runs out and the referee is calling for the bell. He disqualifies Greg Gagne for the shot to Diamond on the outside, while Rod Trongard goes on about how DeRusha didn't call the ringpost shot that cost The Midnight Rockers their tag titles. Winner: Pat Tanaka (disqualification, Gagne losing his shit) Match Analysis: This was actually a fun little match. I can't remember if they were trying to play a storyline off of DeRusha and his controversial decisions in favor of Badd Company, but this was two in three weeks or so for him and I can't recall it going anywhere so it probably didn't. Tanaka and Gagne worked a good pace for nearly ten full minutes and this match doesn't even suffer too badly from the non-finish, just because their work in the rest of the match was so solid. Match Five: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (c) w/Madusa Miceli For whatever reason, they have Wahoo come out second instead of the champion, one of those little things that always irks me whenever I see it. Hennig and McDaniel do a little staredown in the middle of the ring before the bell and Hennig moves himself into the corner to get away from wahoo before locking up and pushing McDaniel into the corner. A surprising clean break from Hennig and they get another lockup with McDaniel getting Hennig caught up in the ropes, allowing Hennig to scurry out to the floor. He confers a little with Madusa before heading back into the ring and pushing McDaniel into the corner, chopping him HARD before he takes a nasty chop right back, sending him back out to the floor. Hennig cowers in the corner before locking up with McDaniel and Wahoo gets a big side headlock in the middle of the ring. Hennig pushes him into the corner and lands some shoulderblocks, whipping Wahoo into the corner but missing a charge in, going all the way through the ropes to the floor, nearly taking out Madusa on the outside. Hennig again takes a tour of ringside before getting back into the ring he flashes a couple of jabs out at McDaniel before eating a tomahawk chop and a HUGE CHOP that puts Hennig up across the top rope!!! Another chop from Wahoo and Hennig is back to the floor to talk to Madusa and try to regroup. Hennig gets a knee to the gut on McDaniel once he gets back into the ring and lands a MONSTER chop before stomping the holy hell out of McDaniel against the ropes. To the gut for a shot now and Hennig follows that up with a headbutt and some right hands. Wahoo fires back with a chop and they're trading shots before Hennig gets a single-leg takedown into a hamstring pull. Stepover toehold from Hennig and he grabs the top rope for more leverage, getting some one-counts on McDaniel before he's finally caught by the referee and forced to break the hold. Right hand to the top of McDaniel's head and Hennig stomps away, with Wahoo busted open from those stitches he had put in by Hennig earlier. Hennig chokes and rakes McDaniel's eye against the top rope and McDaniel fires back with a kick to the gut and some chops, Irish whipping Hennig in for a BIG chop and a long, LONG two-count. Hennig rolls to the apron and McDaniel suplexes him back in!! Another LONG two-count and Hennig rolls back outside to the apron. Right hand from Wahoo and he comes in to attack Hennig again but gets shoulderblocked in the gut. Hennig dives through the ropes to pin McDaniel, using both feet on the ropes for leverage and he GETS THE PIN!! Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, feet on the ropes) Match Analysis: Another pretty good match actually, despite Wahoo's obvious physical limitations. They worked well, got a little blood going and I would honestly enjoy seeing a McDaniel/Hennig cage match since they could use the blood and brawling again, Hennig could bump like a tennis ball off the cage and McDaniel would be able to continue to hide his shortcomings. I don't know if their feud came to that, but if it did, I'll be hoping to see it on these shows coming up sometime soon. McDaniel attacks after the match with some chops, whipping Hennig into the ropes for a HUGE chop, which Hennig bumps as only he can. Curt's out to the floor and getting consoled by Madusa as McDaniel stews on the inside. Larry Nelson gets Wahoo at ringside for an interview, asking about the match and Wahoo says that the call was BULLSHIT!! He says that he doesn't expect to get a hundred chances at him but says that there's only one way to solve this situation with Hennig. He DEMANDS a cage match and leads the crowd in a chant of "CAGE! CAGE! CAGE!" before heading to the back and Lee Marshall comes in and talks to Larry Nelson, saying that he thinks Wahoo deserves the cage match!! That's all the time they have and we're out for another edition of the AWA on ESPN Classic!! Final Thoughts A couple of good matches in the last half of the show is all it takes to save this one from the scrap heap. The first half was absolute garbage, but they managed to pull it together with a couple of good matches nearly ten minutes in length before the end of the show. I still say that Von Raschke and McDaniel had no business being in the ring, but at least McDaniel looked good in his match. Tanaka managed to pull a decent match out of Greg Gagne, which is no small feat and this show gets a thumbs-up from me, but just barely. To the comments, folks!! Fun With Comments From Guest: "Man its such a treat to see Hennig really come into his own. The squash he worked was for lack of a better word, 'perfect' for establishing him as the AWA's top heel. You just wish he had a babyface at the same level to work with instead of Greg Gagne or Wahoo. Lawler while a great psychology man just didn't have the workrate to produce real classics with him, even though the matches they had were boosted by hot crowds. Hennig had it all, just like Bockwinkel." Hennig was one of the best heels of that era, and that's all that really needs to be said. Hennig could work, he could talk, and he could get the people to hate him no matter how unbelievable it was that he could lose to his opponent. From OB1 Jabroni: "Any road warriors match is good for me. Man, they looked bigger 20 years ago than they do now. Back in the day, they scared the shit out of me" Me too man, me too. From Brian: "FIRST...sorry about the partial post a couple of days ago. I had actually got booted off line in mid post, (SIGH, dial-up) and for some reason it sent you what I'd started. I was attempting to comment on Baron Von Raschke still being on the AWA roster in spite of his decreased skills and out o' shape look. They were obviously quite thin talent wise or this would not have happened. It's especially a shame because da Baron was one of the best bad asses ever in his prime!!! (He was a WAY better heel than face.) Moving on... Did you notice that Pistol Pete was listed as 6'1" 235lb and Ricky Rice was 6'2" 237lb...but Pistol Pete was obviously taller than Rice. As a matter of fact, Trongard made a comment about Pistol Pete having about a three inch height advantage. Heh. It was good to see Da CRUSHER!!!!! He is among my all time favorites. I hope they do a "mat classic" with him involved as an in ring participant. He was one of the best brawlers ever, bar NONE. And he kept himself in shape by smokin' cigars, eating his mashed potatoes, and carrying around a keg o' beer!!!Who needs roids??? How 'bout Hennig (He tops my list of all time favorites!!!) He once again had on the "cataract goggles" ...probably so Madusa couldn't see him checking her out. (DAMN she was HOT!!!!!) Like you, I loved seeing him use the perfect plex before it became that. Ricky Morton? YAWN. I'm a big Wahoo mark however. Even if he was pretty ancient at that point of his career. Lastly...Larry Nelson was HORRIBLE!!!!! All he accomplished was either coming off as a dorky "special needs wannabee" fan, or a total flamer. Not sure which. He sucked though. BIG time. Love your recaps!!!!! I read them daily. Keep up the great writing!!!" No worries Brian, I know the sting of dial-up as I have only recently in the past year or so converted to DSL. You're pretty much spot on with most of your stuff, though I disagree about Morton being a yawner. His singles work was actually really good stuff. As for Larry Nelson, he prefers the term specially abled. Thanks for the support too! From Joe K. : "Anyone notice the "FAG!" sign on the Tuesday morning show? It was as clear as day on that episode but it was fuzzed out (a la the old WWF scratch logo on today's DVD releases) for the two shows after that. Wonder if that was some editing done this week or from back then because I know homophobic remarks didn't carry the same heft then that they carry now." Indeed, I noticed it and it was pretty uncomfortable, so I'm glad that either the ESPN crew then or the ESPN crew now decided to get rid of it so that we wouldn't have to see it anymore. Good for them. From James: "About Madusa going from Kevin Kelly to Curt Hennig...on the site named a while back with the posts of old WON news, they mentioned a fight between Kelly and Adnan Al-Kaissie. Kevin Wacholz trying to legit throttle someone? Yeah I'm as surprised as you. Dunno if that was why he disappeared though." Absolutely shocking that Kelly would have snapped on someone and I'm even more shocked that he was able to get one over on Sheik, who was as tough and crazy as they come. It would make sense that they would move Madusa from him to Hennig though if he was on his way out of the company because Madusa was one of their few talents and they needed her at ringside with someone. From G-Walla: "My late nights have been spent with Mario Kart Wii, so I haven't been catching the show. Sounds like I haven't missed much other than Hennig and the Baron. Oh, well." If I wasn't doing it for all you guys and I was able to shirk responsibility without conscience, I'd be playing Guitar Hero instead of watching this crap sometimes, but it's still fun to see, even when it gets bad. From Burritofueled: "If you watched any of the IWA matches on Cheap Seats afterward, Von Raschke/Kahn was a classic." I have seen that particular IWA episode of Cheap Seats and I agree, as tough as the AWA matches are to watch sometimes, those IWA matches were god-awful. From Dan: "Man, it drives me nuts that they switch between Rod Trongard and Larry Nelson as announcerss during the same telecast! I understand that Rod did some of the tapings and Larry did others, but the patchwork editing annoys me. This isn't a bad promotion, considering that it will be dead within, what, 3 years? The tag division is well-stocked and Hennig and Madusa make a top heel-combo. What is killing the shows is the lack of any worthwhile faces; all they have right now are worn-out oldies like Wahoo and the Baron. Actually it must be killing Verne that they have a built-in angle with the "second-generation feud" (the sons taking over the Gagne-Hennig rivalry) and while Curt is shining like a diamond and becoming such a great heel, Verne's boy remains such a black hole of anti-charismatic suck. If Greggy had one ounce of star power, he and Hennig could have carried the promotion for years. But nooooo
I'm actually looking forward to seeing the stuff that killed the promotion; the Team Challenge Series! Turkey on a Pole! It's the birth of Eric Bischoff's career (and the death of Lee Marshall's!)
what could be sweeter?" Editing and continuity apparently wasn't one of Verne's strong points. You're right about no credible faces at the top though, since it was basically Greg Gagne, Wahoo, Baron and fuck-all else. If they get to the Team Challenge Series and the Turkey on a Pole match, I think that my life will have reached the pinnacle. Finally from The Kid: "After being mesmerized by Big K's lispy, coach-by-insider information ramblings, thanks to James I found out who he was and googled Stan Kowalski. What I found was a profile of him on Cauliflower Alley Club.com that praises the wonders his lispy rasp has done by way of motivational speeking and fundraising. Check it out. It's a must read: www.caulifloweralleyclub.org/kowalski_story.html"
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:47:39 GMT -6
1988 or early 1989?
AWA Championship Wrestling
We're joined in progress after missing the opening match because my DVR decided that it wanted to revolt because of the heat and not work until a few minutes after the show started. It looks like I missed the first segment of the show, but since that's usually jabbering and highlights, I'm not too heartbroken over it. Let's soldier on and get through the rest of the episode shall we?
Match One: Jim Evans and Ricky Ataka vs. Badd Company w/Diamond Dallas Page and his Skank
This looks like DDP's first appearance as the manager of Badd Company. He talks to his questionable piece of sex and everyone else in the crowd before cranking the music and introducing Diamond and Tanaka. They now have SUPER-SWANK red zebra print tights and tuxedo jackets, and those are almost cooler than the powder blue ones. Diamond locks up with Ataka and drops him to the mat with a shove, strutting over and high-fiving Tanaka. The referee rightly makes them exchange and Tanaka is in with Ataka now and Ataka gets a good armdrag takedown, prompting Tanaka to complain about a hairpull. Tanaka pushes Ataka to the ropes and chops him a couple times before whipping him in and hitting him with a HARD clothesline. Tag to Diamond and he gets an EVEN HARDER clothesline off the ropes into a two-count. Tag to Tanaka and he unloads with a NASTY chop to the chest. A thrust kick and another HARD chop in the corner score for Tanaka before he pulls Ataka out and lands a VICIOUS headbutt. Tag to Diamond who hits a FRONT SUPLEX!! He follows that up with some paintbrushes on poor Ataka, bodyslamming him but missing an elbowdrop. Tag to Evans and he takes over with some shots as well as a flying dropkick but Diamond backs away from the second dropkick, whipping Evans in for a flying reverse elbow. Tag to Tanaka and it's SLINGSHOT DDT TIME, BITCHES!! COUNT TO A HUNDRED!! GET HIM A BODY BAG!!
Winners: Badd Company (pinfall, slingshot DDT)
Match Analysis: Good enough match to get over Badd Company as the best team in the company, and to allow DDP to get himself over a little bit before the match started. A little backstory as to why he just showed up and started managing them would have been nice, but I guess it is what it is. I like that I got to see the slingshot DDT again though, so it's all good.
Baron comes on and starts talking about the spot shows in places like Timmins, Ontario and Las Vegas, Nevada. Interesting pair of cities on a tourt there. He threatens Soldat Ustinov with his Louisville Sleeper (baseball bat) and does his horrid rendition of Take Me Out To The Ballgame again. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch baseball again.
After the break, The Rock n' Roll Express are here and they're talking bout how they have to thank Chuck Berry for the lick that he taught them, before they threaten Badd Company and warn them that they're coming for the titles.
Match Two: Bill Anderson vs. Big Mountain Fudgecake w/hobo bindle
Marshall claims that he asked what was in the bag and that Fudge told him that it was a surprise. The Cake is also wrestling barefoot now to go along with his rope belt, looking a lot more like some sort of inbred Appalachian. He starts off with a big shoulderblock and then grabs a side headlock on Anderson, punching to the throat before ramming Anderson into the turnbuckle. Big Irish whip and Anderson SLAMS into the corner before Mountain whips him into the ropes for a big clothesline. BMF picks him up and drops him with a vertical suplex, which is enough to get the three-count and thankfully spare me more agony. SOMEONE GET THAT MAN HIS BINDLE!!
Winner: Big Mountain Fudgecake (pinfall, vertical suplex)
Match Analysis: Thank god it was short, but it still made me feel a little queasy. I'm not sure if it was the match or if I'm catching a stomach bug, but if I was FORCED to guess, I'd say it was the match.
We get a little video promo package for the main event featuring Soldat Ustinov and Teijo Kahn going up against Baron Von Raschke and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens (who looks horrible I might add), and Lee Marshall turns the hype machine on a little bit before sending us to break.
After the commercials, Larry Nelson is ringside and introduces Greg Gagne with this week's Mat Classic! It's 1982 (which can't be right because Verne had already retired and Nick Bockwinkel was champion) and we're going to get to see Verne Gagne, the AWA Champion, against Crusher Blackwell.
Match Three: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Crusher Blackwell vs. Verne Gagne (c)
We're joined in progress with Gagne taking over with some dropkicks on the huge Blackwell, putting Crusher to his hands and knees. Verne gets a go-behind into the Gagne sleeper, climbing onto Blackwell's back!! Blackwell rams Verne back-first into the turnbuckle and they're both in trouble. Blackwell drops a HUGE elbow on Gagne and jumps off the bottom rope with a splash but Gagne rolls out of the way. Blackwell staggers to his feet and MISSES A LEGDROP as Verne is trying to get his senses together to mount a comeback. He stands in the corner and Blackwell charges for an avalanche but GAGNE MOVES OUT OF THE WAY!! BLACKWELL SLAMS INTO THE TURNBUCKLES!! Gagne capitalizes and gets the pinfall to retain the title!
Winner: Verne Gagne (pinfall, Blackwell sloppiness)
Match Analysis: It looked like a well-booked match with Verne using his speed to barely avoid being crushed and then capitalizing on the mistake from Blackwell. The way that big men were booked to lose back then, and Gagne really played it to a T. Again, it's a shame that we don't get to see more of the match with these mat classics because I'm sure there's plenty of good, old-school action in them. At least we get to see the finishes I suppose.
Match Four: Samoan Joe and Rocky Stone vs. The Rock n' Roll Express
This is not the same Samoan Joe that we've seen previously on the AWA shows, instead some older man in floral trunks over yellow, full-length tights. Gibson and Stone start things off and Stone gets a side headlock, scoring a shoulderblock off the ropes before Gibson takes over with a hip toss. Tag to Morton and Stone gets Irish whipped into a HUGE dropkick from Morton. Tag to Gibson who comes over the top rope with a knee to Stone's arm before slamming him int he mdidle of the ring and hitting another kneedrop. Stone takes over with a couple of punches and then tags in Joe, who runs right into a drop-toehold from Gibson. Gibson takes over and manages to get a tag to Morton and he starts UNLOADING on Joe before grabbing a side headlock against the ropes. Joe shoots him in and Morton gets a hard shoulderblock into a boot to the face and the Rock n' Rolls make another tag. Gibson takes a shot to the stomach though, allowing Joe to get the quick tag to Stone. Stone with an Irish whip and he punches Gibson in the gut again but Gibson fires right back with a dropkick into a tag. Morton takes over with a BIG bodyslam and a TOP-ROPE DROPKICK! Tag to Gibson and he gets a shot in on both Stone and Joe before delivering a BIG kneelift to Stone. Another quick tag to Morton and he snap mares Stone over into a fistdrop that gets a two-count. There's a tag to Gibson and the R n' R's end up hitting a double-dropkick on Stone that gets them the 1-2-3!!!
Winners: The Rock n' Roll Express (pinfall, double-dropkick)
Match Analysis: Even at this later stage in their career, the R n' R's could still go and go they did in this one. Tons of speed from them and they even managed to get in some of their double-team spots and classic moves. A great builder for them to head into a possible program with Badd Company, which I can't remember if it ever happened or not. I'm hoping so since it'd be nice to see some decent tag matches between those two teams.
Lee Marshall talks about the upcoming tour to the small Ontario towns and then takes us back to the whole Badd Company/Midnight Rockers deal where they took the belts through the nefarious means. He says that DDP will not allow Badd Company to face off with the Rockers before throwing it to Marty and Shawn for some comments. Shawn talks about all the Ontario towns and says that they're coming! He says that they've chased the Tag Team Championships for a full year, going from the bottom to the top and that they can do it again. Jannetty talks about how it's embarassing that they have to look at their friends and admit that they aren't the best, no matter how Badd Company got it done. Jannetty finishes it off with a great line about being the team that gave Badd Company a chance, that made them and now the Rockers are going to break them!
Match Five: Ray Stevens and Baron Von Raschke vs. Soldat Ustinov and Teijo Khan
This is YOUR main event of the evening and as soon as the faces hit the ring, Ustinov and Kahn take a powder to the floor. Baron's got his bat and threatens Kahn with it while he's out on the floor and the referee tries to get some control so the match can actually get underway. Lee Marshall busts out the "this match could see out any arena in the world" chestnut, while I wonder if he might be fibbing because there are empty seats ALL OVER the Showboat Pavilion. We start the match with a brawl between all four men and Stevens gets a big backdrop on Ustinov, as Von Raschke sends Kahn out to the floor. The action settles down and Von Raschke starts working over Kahn in the corner with some choking, Irish whipping him across and hitting a back bodydrop of his own. Baron TO THE EYES!! HE LOVES IT!! Baron rams Kahn into Stevens' knee and makes the tag in, with Stevens getting a snap mare for a two-count before he moves to a side headlock.
Kahn gets to his feet and shoots Stevens into the ropes but Stevens gets a big clothesline and a tag to Baron as Kahn makes a tag to Ustinov. Baron goes to the gut and lands some right hands but Ustinov takes over quickly, going to the eyes and then hitting a BIG boot that gets two. Shoulderblocks in the corner from Ustinov and Kahn cheats a little, choking at Baron with the tag rope. Irish whip into the ropes and Ustinov gets a BEARHUG!! Forearm shots from Baron but he can't break the hold as Ustinov pushes Von Raschke back into his corner, allowking Kahn to choke him some more. BIG bodyslam from Ustinov and he gets another long two-count. Tag to Kahn and they double-team Baron in the corner before Kahn gets a snap mare into a fistdrop. He follows that up with a nerve hold as the crowd chants "USA" at the German babyface. Kahn gets a two-count before raking the eyes of Baron, whipping him across but telegraphing a back bodydrop, allowing Baron to kick him in the face. Kahn holds on and keeps him from making the tag though, tagging in Ustinov for some shots.
Irish whip in the corner gets reversed by the Baron and he gets a hip toss out of the corner, but again the heels keep Von Raschke from making the tag. Tag to Kahn and he clamps the bearhug onto Baron in the middle of the ring. Baron breaks the hold and takes Kahn over with a hip toss but misses the follow-up elbowdrop and the heels make the tag again. Ustinov picks Baron up for a HUGE slam and comes off the ropes with a legdrop but Baron sits up!! He's crawling over and gets the HOT TAG TO STEVENS!! RIGHT HANDS ON KAHN!! IRISH WHIP INTO A BACK BODYDROP!! ATOMIC DROP!!! 1-2.......NO!!! Ustinov breaks up the pin attempt and Baron sends Ustinov out to the floor. BOSTON CRAB ON KAHN FROM STEVENS!! Baron is distracting the referee though and Ustinov sneaks in to break the flagpole over the head of Stevens. Kahn gets the pinfall and gets the 1-2-3!!
Winners: Soldat Ustinov and Teijo Kahn (pinfall, Ustinov interference)
Match Analysis: A decent match, or at least as decent as it could be with four very limited workers, but this was more about advancing the angle to get people to the house shows rather than putting on a classic. They probably did that with the screwy finish, but at this point I don't think much of anyone would have been coming to the house shows anyhow.
After the match, Baron's checking on Stevens and trying to bring him to, helping him out of the ring and taking him to the back.
A quick commercial break leads to Nelson and Marshall at ringside, talking about the show and the main event as well as "Dallas Diamond Page", with Marshall saying that Badd Company is going to have to sign the contracts against the Midnight Rockers no matter what. Nelson talks about how there are some European promoters that are looking to bring the AWA over and they talk about The Rock n' Roll Express facing The Nasty Boys in next week's main event!
Final Thoughts
A decent show although much like the usual, you have to to take the good with the bad when it comes to the AWA. At least they kept the Mountain man's match short and allowed some time for teams like Badd Company and The Rock n' Rolls to get their working boots on. A better main event and this show would have been a full-on thumbs-up, but as it is, with the limited work from all four guys in the tag main, it's more along the lines of a thumbs in the middle, leaning towards going up.
Fun With Comments
From Joe K. : "Actually, the "swear" that Ricky Morton yelled out was "funky". It was muted the first time the showed the promo, but in full the second time. I can see why it was muted though because Morton's Southern drawl kinda made it sound like an F-bomb, especially at 1 am when your not paying as much attention as usual.
Best exchange from the Cheap Seats/IWA episode: "Your Mascaras is running!" "That's terrible!" "What? It's just your run of the Mil Mascaras joke" "That's worse!""
It's REALLY hard to understand Morton sometimes when he gets talking really fast with that accent of his. I can see why they would have beeped it since the couldn't be sure and everyone is ultra-sensitive about things of that nature. That Cheap Seats exchange is classic. One of their funniest episodes, though I might be biased due to my love of shitty wrestling.
From Adam: "This was one of the only shows that I've liked. Every match was watchable except Rocky Mountain Blunder. The 'Mat Classic' was alright, but I wish they would have showed the whole match. Wahoo-Hennig was good, although Wahoo was old and Hennig was not quite "Perfect". It was the best the AWA could do in 1988."
Sadly, you're right. That WAS the best that the AWA could do in 1988. At least they were trying hard though. Nothing's sadder than a promotion that gives up completely, like the AWA did in 1990.
From Frozen: "I think Morton actually said something like, "We're gonna get funky," but ESPN thought he said the "other" F-word.
Also, Monday night's show has more Crappy Mountain Thunder. The matches for Monday night (or Tuesday morning, if you prefer) are:
1. Richards vs. Ricky Rice
2. Evans & Ataka vs. Badd Company
3. Arn Anderson vs. Rocky Mt. Thunder (pretty sure they mean Billy Anderson, not Arn)
4. Samoan Joe & Stone vs. Rock N Roll Express
5. Soldat Ustinov & Khan vs. Baron Von Raschke & Stevens"
Well, it looks like I missed a Ricky Rice match. I'm thoroughly crushed.
From Guest#7187: "so did they show the match where Bad Company won the titles? i thought they showed the highlights of it a few days ago. i saw the non-title win they had. im enjoying the mat classics. id never seen Robinson only heard of him so his match was a treat."
They haven't shown the title change match yet, just the highlights. I'm glad they're showing some of those mat classics too since those are a lot of guys that I haven't seen in years and am enjoying getting to see again.
From James: "About Big K...I now remember that I think I once read that he was supposed to be Badd Company's manager. As it is, his segments were odd...I don't think anyone else on the show ever mentioned him?
Roughly on the topic, when did DDP make his debut here?"
DDP made his debut on tonight's show it appears, and Big K's segments must have been thought to be especially useless if even the rest of the commentators wouldn't even mention them. Filler to try get the show to the end with the limited roster of talent the AWA had if I had to hazards a guess.
From Arnold_OldSchool: "Baron's botches were at least entertaining. Can you imangine a worker doing that on RAW? *scratches head*
Lee Marshall's inability to count to 10 when Baron was doing the turnbuckle smashes was quite amusing too"
I can't think of anyone who would be able to do that today and get away with it. Maybe Eugene when he was at the heights of his retard gimmick, but that's about it. I also found it funny that Lee Marshall had trouble countint to ten. Not surprising, just funny.
From Steve: "I saw the last few minutes of that Baron Von Raschke & Ray "The Crippler" Stevens Vs. Soldat Ustinov & Teijo Khan that Frozen was talking about on Youtube, and it was meh. We do get another controversial finish though, as you'll see on Monday's show, which features that very match in full"
Yes, the match was indeed rather "meh", though I guess they did the best they could for the talent that was in the ring. They needed to do the screwy finish though because they had to run the same match on the house show loop so they had to keep people interested and not give too much away.
From Brian: "Damn...sorry I missed this show. Wahoo/Hennig would have been fun to see. I agree with your comment about Hennig bouncing off of a cage like a tennis ball. (heh) That man may have been the best ever at floppin' around the ring. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels come to mind as being in Hennig's league, but not better. I'm especially bummed that I missed any portion of a Billy Robinson match!!! In an age when technical rasslers were abundant, he was still among the best. I wish there were a few more around now days, it would be a nice change of pace to the status quo. Heck, there was even a Rocky Mountain Thunder match on this show!!! A perfect chance to go make a sandwich and watch everything else!!! Pretty thoughtful of the AWA to include that for everyone watching at home. One last comment..."Dan" made a grrrrreat point in his post about the lack of a strong face. Too bad that at this point the AWA had already lost the likes of Rick Martel, Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, etc. It's a shame that Verne Gagne was either unable, or unwilling to change with the times."
Agreed to pretty much everything, though I will say that Verne not being able to change with the times had little to do with the lack of a primary babyface that the company could build off of. Being cheap however...
From AndresV: "An ok show. Has the Baron ever had the ability to do power moves or is it more because of age? The Suplex, Bodyslam, and the Backdrop looked weak. Time to go to the gym and work on something besides your hands. I did like his moves at the beginning and of course marked out for the Goose Step and The Claw. Oh yeah Rocky Thunder's splash was bad especially when the announcers mentioned him hitting Daryl with the splash. Will he take out Larry and Daryl's other brother Daryl in the coming shows??"
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:48:46 GMT -6
88/89?
AWA Championship Wrestling
Nelson and Marshall at ringside, and they talk about the "great" wrestling action that we're going to see today. Mando Guerrero is on tap, as well as Teijo Kahn, which prompts Lee Marshall to make his usual "Ugly and Uglier" joke about him and Soldat Ustinov. They talk about the Midnight Rockers and the possible tour of Europe, along with their match today which will be their first bout since losing the belts. The main event is up as well and it's The Rock n' Roll Express vs. The Nasty Boys. After a little more pointless blather, they throw it to a commercial break.
Match One: The Samoan Kid vs. Mando Guerrero
I haven't seen who the Kid is yet, to tell if he's one of the usual Samoans or a new guy. Guerrero is wearing a ring jacket that I'm pretty sure would end up fitting in as one of Eddie's seat-covers in his low-riders since it's fuzzy and leopard-printed. The Samoan Kid looks like that guy that ended up being the Samoan Joe that took on Jerry Lawler a couple of weeks ago. Guerrero gets an amateur takedown into a NASTY-looking leglock and he starts cranking away on it. Kid looks a little like a pretzel but then completely no-sells the leglock once he gets back to his feet. Mando does some short kicks and shots and Kid just stands there like a statue, looking like a bit of an ass. This just isn't good at all for Mando. Guerrero kicks him down and then hits a FLYING splash on the leg and another. Kid kicks Guerrero off with the opposite leg and sends him out to the floor. Guerrero gets a shoulderblock that stuns Kid and he flies over the top rope with a FLYING CROSSBODY that gets the 1-2-3!!!
Winner: Mando Guerrero (pinfall, flying crossbody over the top rope)
Match Analysis: Short and weird. Kid looked like either he didn't know how to sell, or didn't want to for someone as small as Guerrero and the end result looked a little uncomfortable. Mando looked a little pissed after the fall, but at least he was enough of a professional to not start stiffing the guy in the ring like a lot of the other older guard would have.
Baron cuts a short little promo, threatening Soldat Ustinov with the bat again and trying to pimp more of the house show circuit. Nothing new said at all by the mustachioed German.
Lee Marshall pimps the next batch of TV tapings at the Showboat Pavilion, running down the list of stars before throwing it to a promo for Badd Company. DDP starts out introducing us to the Diamond Doll before claiming himself as one of the greatest minds in wrestling. He introduces Badd Company after thanking Big K for hooking him with the greatest tag-team in the world! Page actually does all the talking, which is alright I suppose.
Match Two: The Midnight Rockers vs. Bill Anderson and Mike Richards
The Rockers come to the ring looking focused and angry and that doesn't bode well for Anderson and Richards. Richards is set to start things out with Jannetty and Jannetty gets a standing arm-wringer into a reversal and the Rockers hit a double-team spot with an Irish whip into a Michaels clothesline. BIG slam and an elbowdrop from Michaels leads to a tag to Jannetty and a reverse elbow. Double-shoulderblock by the Rockers!! That gets a two-count and Michaels moves to a reverse chinlock though he gets pushed into the jobber corner. Michaels makes his own comeback, knocking them both down and moving to the middle of the ring again. Lockup with Richards and Michaels shoots him into the ropes, eating a shoulderblock before running the ropes and hitting SWEET CHIN MUSIC!! Tag to Jannetty and they double-team, with a pair of right hands off the ropes, leading to Jannetty whipping Richards into his corner. Tag to Anderson and Jannetty gets a BIG bodyslam on him, coming off the ropes with a short fistdrop. Jannetty rams Anderson into Michaels' boots and it's a tag to Michaels for a DOUBLE DDT!! The pin is academic at this point and it's all over.
Winners: The Midnight Rockers (pinfall, double DDT)
Match Analysis: Good "talent enhancement" match to get over the Rockers new, meaner attitude. They weren't in there to piss around and they didn't, beating the jobbers from pillar to post before getting the pin. This darker side of the Rockers could be fun to see if they keep going with it.
Big K babbles about the bidding for a world title match to throw us to the break. I hope that's all I have to see of him.
After the break, Madusa gives a shout-out to the Fan of the Week and offers him and his college roommates a poster of her as a prize. We go from the beauty of Madusa to the..um..less than beautiful Donna and she tells us where to send our Fan of the Week letters before we see Lee Marshall pimping the Showboat tapings again. He throws it to Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton, with them cutting a promo about climbing the mountain all the way to the top to get to Badd Company. Morton says that the AWA is what it's all about and that they represent all the nice people of the world because they stand up for them or something. Morton is REALLY babbling, repeating himself over and over. He says something about a pile of rocks and a Cracker Jack box, leading to him saying that they're here to stay. Is this a wrestling show, or just an infomercial for the Las Vegas tapings since they're drawing less and less fans to them?
Match Three: Alex Knight vs. Teijo Kahn w/Soldat Ustinov
Ustinov is outside, waving his flag and kissing it before Kahn makes his way into the ring. Kahn attacks and hammers Knight down with some forearms, whipping him into the ropes for a BIG reverse elbow. Bodyslam by Kahn and he picks Knight up, chopping him right back down to the mat. Chop to the top of the head and Kahn whips him into the ropes for a POWERSLAM as Baron Von Raschke makes his way out to the ring with his baseball bat in tow. Kahn gets distracted before throwing Knight out to the floor in front of Soldat Ustinov. Ustinov picks up Knight and throws him back into the ring for Kahn to hit a thrust chop to the throat. Cover by Kahn but he picks Knight up after a one-count. Kahn throws Knight into the corner and rakes at the eyes before whipping him across. Knight gets a reversal but charges right into the corner and Kahn takes over with another chop to the chest. Knight is out cold and Kahn gets the 1-2-3 while pointing menacingly at Baron on the outside.
After the match, Ustinov and Kahn start working over Knight with some stomps but HERE COMES BARON WITH HIS BAT!! Ustinov and Kahn take the high road and get to stepping
Winner: Teijo Kahn (pinfall, chop to the chest)
Match Analysis: Just here to advance the program between Kahn and Ustinov and Baron and his bat. It was short and inoffensive so it did it's thing, even though this should be nowhere near a top-level feud. Just shows how thin the roster was, but that's beating a dead horse.
We get a little history lesson from Greg Gagne, talking about Red Bastien and Hercules Cortez being the AWA Tag Team Champions in the Spring of 1975, when Cortez was killed in a car accident, though again they're re-writing history since Cortez passed away in 1971. Bastien found a replacement partner in the legendary Crusher and they set out to defend the titles against any and all comers.
Match Four: Mat Classic Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkel vs. The Crusher and Red Bastien (c)
We're joined in progress with Crusher and Bastien working over Stevens' arms in their corner. Tons of clipping between Crusher and Bastien both working armbars on Stevens and then on Bockwinkel, with Crusher ramming Bockwinkel shoulder-first into the top turnbuckle. Clip to Crusher running around the ring and the referee ends up distracted, allowing Stevens to sneak in and kick Bastien in the head to break up a headscissors on Bockwinkel. Crusher pulls Stevens into the ring over the ropes by his hair and both he and Bastien start working over Stevens and Bockwinkel before all four men end up brawling a little in the corner. Stevens and Bockwinkel take over on Crusher, working him in their corner before Stevens tries for a pin, holding onto Crusher's tights. It's REALLY hard to follow this match with all the clipping that's going on and we clip to Crusher ramming Bockwinkel's head into Stevens' and flipping Stevens back into the ring. Bockwinkel is bleeding in the corner and all four men are in the ring with Crusher working over Stevens and Bockwinkel apparently covering Bastien for a three-count.
Winners: Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkel (pinfall, who knows what)
Match Analysis: Probably the worst mat classic segment so far, since it was SO incredibly hard to follow the action with all the clipping. It's a shame that they couldn't have just shown the last couple of minutes of the last fall because that would have been fine, but to see all those clips seeming almost out of context made it really tough to watch.
Big K comes on to flap his gums, talking about the bidding cities for the Hennig/Gagne title match and that Memphis has won the bidding for that shot, but instead of Gagne, it's going to be Curt Hennig against Jerry Lawler. He talks about The Rock n' Roll Express and that if they get in the way of Badd Company, they'll end up has-beens. He tries to put over Mando Guerrero but can't even say his name right. Honestly, they'd be better off having Larry Nelson acting like a letch around Madusa once a week instead of this crap from Big K.
Match Five: The Nasty Boys vs. The Rock n' Roll Express
It seems like the only thing the AWA had going for it at this time was their tag division, so it would make sense to continually focus on it for their main events and hot angles. Sags and Gibson start things off and they hit a lockup with Knobbs tagging in quickly, but Gibson hops out through the ropes and mocks them both. Back in the ring and Knobbs pushes Gibson into the corner, tagging in Sags and Gibson outsmarts them again before getting back into the ring. Sags takes over with some shoulderblocks in the corner before trying a hip toss, but Gibson blocks it and gets one of his own, following that up with a flying headscissors takeover. Tag to Morton and they end up hitting a WEIRD double-team where Morton gets caught in a headscissors attempt and Gibson shoves him over into an almost piledriver move. That looked a little dangerous. Knobbs comes in to avenge Sags but Morton pops him one with a right hand and puts him out to the floor. They collect their thoughts on the outside before Sags makes his way back into the ring, pushing Morton into the corner but he tags in Gibson and Gibson gets a quick schoolboy for a two-count.
Sags is looking for a test of strength and Gibson seems a little hesitant before finally locking it up. Sags puts Gibson to his knees almost instantly and a huge "Rock n' Roll" chant starts with Morton sneaking in and breaking the hold with a right hand while the referee tries to keep Knobbs from interfering. Gibson tags in Morton and Sags wants another test of strength. Again, Morton is down to his knees almost instantly and the same thing happens again with Gibson breaking up the hold. Dropkicks for Sags from Morton and Gibson, followed up by a double-dropkick that puts him out to the floor. Double-suplex for Knobbs and HE'S out to the floor too. Gibson and Knobbs are the legal men now and Knobbs gets an Irish whip into a bearhug but Gibson bites the forehead to break free of the hold, sending Knobbs out to the floor again. The Nasties are on the floor and they are PISSED. Knobbs gets a side headlock out of a lockup and Gibson tries to shoot him off into the ropes, but Knobbs holds onto the hair to keep that headlock secured. Reversal by Gibson into a top wristlock but Knobbs pulls the hair again to get him back into the side headlock.
Another top wristlock reversal and Gibson makes the tag to Morton who takes over with a forearm shot in the corner. He Irish whips Knobbs in and charges after him but misses and slams his shoulder into the ringpost. Shoulderbreaker from Sags after a tag and they start double-teaming and working over that arm with an armbar on the mat after Knobbs pulls Morton's hair to put him down. Morton pushes Knobbs away and tries to make the tag but Knobbs catches him into a reverse atomic drop. Tag to Sags and he gets a BIG clothesline, following that up with another armbar variation, putting his foot right on the shoulder joint. Morton gets a right hand but Sags tags to Knobbs and they double-team while Gibson gets put back outside by the referee. Tag to Sags and he gets a headbutt to the back and a HUGE bodyslam for a long, LONG two-count. Sags gets a shot in on Gibson, drawing him into the ring and allowing Knobbs to work over Morton behind the referee's back. Sags with an irish whip into the corner and he MISSES THE CHARGE!! Sags went face-first into the buckle and is bleeding from the mouth, but hold the phone because Morton GETS THE HOT TAG!! RIGHT HANDS TO SAGS, RIGHT HANDS TO KNOBBS! GIBSON WORKS OVER KNOBBS IN THE CORNER!! Sags and Morton are still in the ring and Sags gets a big shoulderblock on Morton.
Double Irish whip from the Nasties and the R n' R's reverse themselves, avoiding each other and delivering a dropkick and right hand to Sags and Knobbs. Gibson has Knobbs in the corner while Morton is punishing Sags against the ropes. A double Irish whip for the R n' R's now and the Nasties run into each other in the middle of the ring before rolling out to the floor. All four men brawling outside and Morton runs Knobbs into the ringpost!! The referee is in the ring and calling for the bell!! Gibson hammers away at a bloody Sags on the floor and we find out that this match was a double countout as all four men end up back in the ring and the R n' R's clear the ring with a pair of dropkicks!! The Rock n' Roll Express stands tall in the middle of the ring to end the show!!
Winners: None (double countout)
Match Analysis: A hot main event that started out slow but REALLY got cooking towards the end. Great chemistry from all four men and the crowd was with them every step of the way. I'll gladly sign up to see this match ten or twelve more times, as long as I can get a finish a few times. Looking back, they should have put Knobbs and Sags over because the R n' R's would be gone soon after, but at the time, this match was fantastic and a nice break from the usual formula.
Final Thoughts
A bit of a mish-mash show with the main event delivering, but the rest of it being a little off. The squash matches weren't great, the Mat Classic was REALLY disjointed and the Big K segment was a disgrace as usual. It was cool to see the new edge of the Midnight Rockers and seeing Baron swinging a baseball bat around like a lunatic is always a little morbidly enjoyable, but there was a lot more misses than hits until the main event. This was almost a thumbs-up show and only needed one more segment of good to get there, but they just couldn't find it. Close but no cigar this time, AWA. With that, it's COMMENT TIME!!
Fun With Comments
From Guest#3366: ""Big Mountain Fudgecake" I wonder what that means. There was a band on King of the Hill with that name.
And wanted to say something about William Regal and suspensions. They should also give one to Randy Harrison for his horrible column, but maybe add a few zeros to the 60."
Yes, that is from the King of the Hill show, it makes me laugh and anything to get through a Rocky Mountain Thunder match that doesn't involve alcohol. As for the suspension idea, I could always use a break, but unless they start wellness testing for twinkies here at 411, I should be fine.
From OB1 Jabroni: "I love the cheesy 80's moustache Stevens is sporting, reminds me of the creepy old man who sits outside the Dollar Store in my town and talks to dogs and shit."
Leave it to OB1 to bring the creepy, though I agree that the Stevens mustache was possibly one of the more interesting things of the match. I bet he probably grew it to fit in with Baron.
From greggagnesucks: "Anyone else notice how many times Marshall kept calling Ataki Tanaka? At least we didn't get run over by Donna on this show!"
Any show where we don't get to see Donna has a chance of being a good show. And yeah, Marshall was already pretty terrible on commentary. Hard to believe that he would actually get worse as time rolled on.
From Guest. : "DDP mentioned in his opening promo that Big K set him up with Badd Company, but that's all I can think of for the rational why DDP started managing Badd Company."
That actually is the reason, since DDP said as much in his promo with Badd Company on today's episode.
From Brian: "First...You're welcome for the link Randy. I hope you (and who ever else visits the site) use the "search" area on the site. Type in any rasslers name and it will give you a brief summary of their career. Pretty cool.
As far as last nights show, only a couple of comments... Blackwell/Gagne: WAY too short!!! To not show more of this match was totally cheating the fans. There is no other way to see more of it, so why "tease" everyone?
A Rocky Mountain Thunder match!!!!! YESSSSS!!!!! I really had to poop, and this helped me not have to try and hold it until a commercial. THANK YOU AWA!!!!!
Last...WHAT the HELL was up with that dyed hair on Ray Stevens' head??? I know that in his younger days he dyed it blonde, but WOW!!!!! He had to have been past 50 years old at this point and he looked every bit of it...OTHER than his HAIR. I hope someone who cared about him told him that he CAN'T stop getting older. Seriously, I hope all that watched this show realize that they did NOT see the REAL Ray "The Crippler" Stevens!!! Just as they are not seeing Baron von Raschke at that point of his career, Stevens was not even CLOSE to the rassler he once had been. SIGH"
It's hard to watch guys like Stevens and Baron and Wahoo McDaniel, but at this point they were all that Verne really had left so it was what he had to go with. At least they didn't sully my memories of them from the past with their performances in these late-80's matches.
From Doug: "When the banner at the bottom of the page promotes an appearance of Arn Anderson, I pay attention. When we get a scrub named Bill Anderson, that just sucks!!
Great reviews - am reading them everyday - keep it up!"
Yeah, swapping Bill for Arn would be RATHER disappointing. Thanks for the support, Doug!
From Eric: "Interesting show this time around. Poor Rocky Mountain Boyd, huh? Here's a guy who was a legit 6'7, 280 lbs. or so...trying to scratch out a living because he was never really dominant in the NFL. Yes, it is very painful to watch those matches.
Somehow Morton & Gibson were not having issues with Gagne around this timeframe, but...they were about to re-sign with Crockett and the NWA again for one last good go-around. Ironically, the R&R Express would be the most seasoned tag team in the AWA for the short period of time they hung around even if they were only there for keeping their faces on national television until they would go back to working bigger arenas in Carolinas and Atlanta again.
Once upon a time you could go to the AWA and stay for awhile.
By this point it was either feast or famine. You had Badd Company (not homegrown, but signed young from other promotions), the Midnight Rockers (same situation), then you had the Nasty Boys (who were homegrown in the Rheingans training school in Minnesota).
And you're right...they got their timeline wrong in the Mat Classic match between Verne and Blackwell. This would have been in 1981, not 1982, as Verne would retire as champion. If memory serves me right, this was one of his last title defenses before handing the belt over to Bockwinkel.
Ray Stevens looked horrible when he was asked to step in with the Baron. His health had begun failing him rather rapidly throughout the 80s (his last big deal was giving Jimmy Snuka piledrivers in the WWF in order to get Snuka over as a face...and this was 1982 or so) after he'd returned to work for the AWA. Stevens was usually in the agent's role, as he was in semi-retirement by this time.
I remember meeting the "Blond Bomber" briefly at a house show in Villa Park, IL at the Odeon this had to be somewhere around 1988. Vince McMahon had pushed the AWA out of their home at the Allstate Arena (known as the Rosemont Horizon back then), and the Odeon was half-convention hall, half-arena. It was a piece of crap place for wrestling because it had a metal roof and the sound (or echoing due to the crowd being no more than 800 to 1000 tops) was nasty for the PA system. Anyway, there he was, going back and forth between the locker room and the arena, keeping an eye on things. He was dressed in a nice suit.
Anyway I'm presuming there was another partner they had in mind when he partnered up with the Baron. Stevens was pushing 55 at the time, and was probably about 20 pounds heavier than his prime. He only stood about 5'9 and his 'fighting weight' peaked around 240-245. A great heel in his day, no doubt, and a great icon in California in his prime as well.
You know it's time to hang it up when you're putting over Ustinov and Khan.
That's pretty sad.
...and I'm out."
Yeah, it's rather sad to see Stevens, and one would think that there would have been someone else in mind for Baron but the plan fell through, forcing them to go with Plan Z in Stevens. In regards to the feast or famine comment, the feasting was done by the tag-team division, which was actually really strong in this timeframe. The famine was everything else in the promotion though, which is usually a REALLY bad sign.
Finally from, Rob: "Great reviews, man. I started watching this show again about 2 months ago (I also watched it during its original run back in the late 80's), and I'm hooked, despite how bad it can be at times.
You're absolutely right about Verne having no decent faces. How am I supposed to buy Greg as a threat when his two main weapons are a crappy dropkick and a sleeper? Baron's moves don't look like they could hurt my 2 year old nephew, and Wahoo's gut arrives to the ring before he does. And poor Ricky Rice - he had a good look, but wow, he sucked. He did have a pretty energetic squash his last time out, but when your finisher is a running bodypress off the ropes, you're screwed.
That backbreaker from Rocky Mountain Thunder is one of the few moves that literally makes me cringe every time I see it. How The Surfer's spine wasn't shattered is a mystery to me.
If I remember correctly, the feud between Badd Company and the Rock N' Roll Express never happened, but then again, it's been 20 years since I've seen this footage.
I'm waiting to see how they build that short, pudgy hedgehog Jake Milliman into one of their top stars. I can't remember how he made that leap."
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Rob! I'm rather sad to hear that the possible Badd Company/R n' R's feud never happpened, but I'm starting to get the feeling that it's right because I'm getting it from multiple people in the comments that the Rock n' Rolls aren't long for the AWA. Shame because it could have been a HUGE program for all four men as well as the promotion. As for Jake Milliman, I too and anxiously waiting for and dreading the time when he's nearer the top of the card because they've run out of so much talent there's nothing left.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:49:33 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson's in front of a blue screen, telling us about all the hot wrestling action we've got lined up today and it sounds...interesting? Baron Von Raschke and Soldat Ustinov are going to be here and Teijo Kahn is in the main event against Ricky Rice. Ugh. We're going to go back to Memphis again to see the Lawler/Hennig title change again and we're up to the ring for the opening bout!
Match One: Krusher Krugnoff vs. Baron Von Raschke
No bat for Baron but he's all pumped up and giving some to the crowd on his way down the aisle. Krugnoff tries a cheap shot as Baron gets in the ring but it's a no-go. Krugnoff starts out quick though, with a shot to the gut and a couple of forearms before he Irish whips Baron into the ropes. Baron reverses a hip toss and rakes at the face of Krugnoff before ramming him into the top turnbuckle and snap maring the big Russian over. Von Raschke drops a knee and falls onto his ass but still manages to get a two-count off of it. Irish whip from the Baron and he hits a big knee to the gut ebfore moving to a reverse chinlock. Baron pushes him into the ropes and hits a big forearm to the chest, following it up with another snap mare and he's back to the chinlock. Krusher goes to the eyes to break the hold but Baron gets another Irish whip into a hip toss. GOOSE STEPPIN' TIME! HERE COMES THE CLAWHOLD!!! 1-2-3!!!
Winner: Baron Von Raschke (pinfall, clawhold)
Match Analysis: Sad, sad, sad. I really was a big mark for the Baron in my younger days, but it's hard to watch him in the ring in these matches because he barely has any strength or balance left at this point. They kept it short to try to protect him, but he still didn't look like he could handle it.
Soldat Ustinov cuts a promo about beating up Baron and that either he or Teijo want Jerry Lawler. Ustinov claims that he'll be destroyed and either one of them will have the belt around their waist.
After the break, Lee Marshall does the usual pimping of the house shows and TV tapings before throwing it to DDP and Badd Company. He calls himself the Chairman of the Board and talks about how he calls the shots, not Stanley Blackburn. He talks about how they've already ran the Midnight Rockers out of the AWA and that if they get their hands on the Rock n' Roll Express, they'll do the same thing. DDP hands it off to Paul Diamond who repeats the exact same threat before DDP says that they're goign to drop the R n' R's like a bad habit.
Match Two: Soldat Ustinov w/Teijo Kahn vs. Greg Robertson
A pretty big heel reaction from the crowd for Ustinov but he gets a face reaction from me for chasing Larry Nelson from the ring by hitting him in the face with the Russian flag while he's waving it. Ustinov attacks before the bell into a lockup and he pushes Robertson into the corner, hammering away with some knees to the gut and a couple of elbows. He just grabs a chokehold right in the middle of the ring before he Irish whips Robertson in for a big back bodydrop. HUGE bodyslam from Ustinov but he misses the follow-up legdrop. Robertson can't capitalize and Ustinov does a number on him before putting him out to the floor. Kahn takes advantage and gets a slam on the concrete floor. Back in the ring, Ustinov gets a NASTY chop into a snap mare and uses the soles of his boots to rake the eyes. Ustinov moves to a neck crank and tries to pop Robertson's head off before hammering with some forearms to the chest. Irish whip into the corner and Ustinov follows him in with a BIG clothesline that gets him the three-count. Kahn gets a couple of cheapshots in after the bell while Ustinov distracts the referee to add a little more injury to the insult of losing to Soldat.
Winner: Soldat Ustinov (pinfall, clothesline)
Match Analysis: Short and to the point, and at least there was nothing horribly botched. A decent enough match that did its job, but still, it was Soldat Ustinov so it was pretty snoozy.
Madusa cuts a promo about how she's defending her title and that she's a REAL woman. She talks about her trips coming up to Japan and the Middle East before talking about her upcoming role in a movie. This leads us to the AWA Notebook, which is doling out Anniversary wishes to happy couples all over the world. Yeah, I'm wagering that if the husband got the wife a mention on the "TV rasslin' matches" for their anniversary, that it was their LAST anniversary.
Match Three: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Dennis Stamp vs. Jerry Lawler (c)
This is in Lawler's first batch of defenses after winning the belt as he still has the bandages over his eye from the cut in that match. They hit a lockup and Stamp gets a HARD Irish whip into the corner. They lockup again and Stamp tries the Irish whip again, but Lawler catches him with a clothesline out of the corner. Another lockup and Lawler gives him a clean break in the corner before Stamp grabs a side headlock. He hits a hard shot to Lawler's throat and moves to choke him in the corner before moving back to that side headlock, working another choke in off of it. Lawler tries a couple of shots into the ropes but Stamp holds onto the hair to keep the headlock clamped on. A couple shots to the gut from Stamp and out comes Curt Hennig to keep an eye on the action. Lawler gets a snap mare and some piston-like right hands to the face of Stamp as Hennig gets on the mic at the announce table and does a little complaining about losing his title. In the ring, Lawler gets a side headlock of his own before finally noticing that Hennig is on the outside.Lawler seems distracted by it and Stamp takes advantage, hitting him with a couple of punches that put him out to the floor, right in front of Hennig. Lawler catches Hennig in the act of something nefarious and gets back into the ring quickly. Stamp starts working Lawler over in the corner and Lawler's had enough, taking over with a snap mare and a BIG fistdrop from the second rope!! He pins Stamp and gets the 1-2-3!!!
Winner: Jerry Lawler (pinfall, second-rope fistdrop)
Match Analysis: A really good little match that had lots of things going on besides just the usual sqash. They set it up well with Hennig coming out and it distracting Lawler just enough to let Stamp get a little bit of an advantage. Lawler sold it all like the professional that he is and did really well in helping to get over that Hennig was a real distraction on the outside with little moves and motions.
We're ready for this week's Mat Classic and we get to see Greg Gagne talking about Rick Martel and Tito Santana and how they would both go on to great success, both as singles and as a team, but here they're teamed up to take on the High Flyers!
Match Four: Mat Classic Tito Santana and Rick Martel vs. The High Flyers (Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell)
Joined in progress with Santana and Martel working over Gagne in their corner and Martel eats a BIG right hand from Gagne, followed up with some chops and Gagne rolls over to tag in Brunzell. Uppercut from Jumpin' Jimmy into a hip toss, followed by a dropkick. HUGE vertical suplex from Brunzell and he gets a long two-count off of it before Martel tags in Santana. Brunzell tries an Irish whip into a back bodydrop but they botch the spot and just ram into each other. Santana makes another tag as does Brunzell and Gagne gets an Irish whip into the ropes and he locks in the GAGNE SLEEPER!! Martel busts out of it with a BACKBREAKER!! LOOOONNNNG two-count off of that. Martel tries for an Irish whip but it gets reversed and Martel jumps up over Gagne into a roll-up for another two-count. Tag to Santana who hits a couple of beautiful flying dropkicks into a flying bodypress for a two-count. INSIDE CRADLE FROM SANTANA!!! Another long two-count but Gagne manages to get the tag to Brunzell. Dropkick from Santana to Brunzell and he tries another flying bodypress but Brunzell ducks and Santana goes OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE CONCRETE FLOOR!! The referee gets up to the ten-count and the match is over!!!
Winners: The High Flyers, (count-out)
Match Analysis: YES, PLEASE!! Give me this match in full and this show would get about eight thumbs up. As usual though, it's a shame that we only get to see about three minutes worth of the finish, since it looked like a great match. The pace these four had was insane and it looked like they kept that pace for most of the match, so if I had seen all fifteen or twenty minutes, and was a star rating guy, this could have been four stars or so. Alas, I get the last three minutes to hold me over while suffering through Baron Von Raschke and Soldat Ustinov. Sigh.
Larry Nelson is in front of the crazy lights and he hands things over to a pre-recorded Curt Hennig promo and he's still got those welding goggles on, though they look a whole lot dorkier now that he's not the champ. He talks about the "Championship Rip-off" and says that he's a man who stands proud and is a wrestling champion and he wants to know where Stanley Blackburn was. He was nowhere to be seen in Memphis and he wants answers!! He wants a re-match in Minneapolis and declares himself the number one contender. Nelson throws us back to the match again between Lawler and Hennig and it's the same last three or four minutes we saw last time. Nelson turns into an outright liar, saying that Lawler won the richest prize in sports. The AWA Notebook has birthday wishes now, which is notable because there are two Lisowskis in the list, with Larry Lisowski being the famous promoter in Wisconsin, and also because Jaime Dundee gets a birthday wish as well as some guy named "Polish Joe".
Big K time and he jabbers and jabbers. He says hi to Badd Company and says that as long as he stays friends with DDP that they'll be champs. He talks about Manny Fernandez and that he's here for Wahoo McDaniel before he talks about Wahoo. He badmouths Greg Gagne again and stumbles over his words, as usual before we see Verne standing and interviewing a couple of Mormons. No wait, they're amateur wrestlers that just LOOK like Mormons. One of them even has the short-sleeve dress shirt that those guys love. I fast forward through this interview just in case they start trying to recruit me or slip a Watchtower into my front door.
Match Five: Ricky Rice vs. Teijo Kahn w/Soldat Ustinov
This would definitely be a candidate for the Mat Classic if the AWA was still on the air today. SMELL THE SARCASM~! Rice tries for a single-leg and misses it and Lee Marshall goes on about how he love Rice's zebra-printed wrestling trunks. I bet he has three or four pairs at home that Mrs. Marshall goes nuts over. They hit the stalling before going back to circling around and Rice gets a quick roll-up for a one-count and Kahn goes back to stalling, getting some advice from Ustinov on the outside before they hit a lockup. Kahn throws Rice into the corner and tries to hit a follow-up chop but Rice ducks out of the way and BARELY hits an armdrag takeover. Kahn leans out of the ropes to try to slow this staggering pace and they hit another lockup into another armdrag from Rice, into an armbar. Standing arm-wringer from Rice and he turns it into another armbar takeover. Kahn pushes Rice into the corner and hits a couple of knees before trying an Irish whip but Rice pops up to the second rope for a reverse crossbody that gets a two-count. Kahn goes to the eyes and takes over with a side headlock into a shoulderblock but Rice gets a leapfrog into a HUGE flying dropkick. Cover by Rice and it only gets two before Rice is back to the armbar.
Rice works over the armbar for a couple of minutes before Kahn goes to the hair and breaks the hold in the corner. Rice reverses an Irish whip into the corner and tries a charge in but Kahn gets the boots up and puts Rice down. Headbutt from Kahn and he flings Rice out through the ropes to the floor, distracting the referee to let Ustinov pick Rice up and he RAMS HIM BACK-FIRST INTO THE RINGPOST!! Shoulderbreaker/backbreaker looking thing from Kahn and it only gets him a two-count. Kahn goes into the nerve pinch and Rice is trying to fight out of it, getting free but ending up eating a BIG flying clothesline from Kahn off the ropes. Kahn gets a two-count off of that one and he picks Rice up, only to put him back down with a NASTY chop to the chest. That was Flair loud. Kahn rams Rice's head into the mat and covers for another two-count before he picks Rice up for a big slam. Off the ropes and Kahn goes with a nice flying chop to the throat that only gets another two-count.
Kahn moves to a reverse chinlock and he looks like he's bleeding a little from the mouth as he cranks away at the neck of Rice. Kahn gives him a couple of HARD knees to the spine before going right back to the chinlock and squeezing for a bit before Rice tries to break free with some shots to the gut. Kahn cuts off the comeback and gets an Irish whip into a HUGE powerslam. Kahn tries to drop an elbow but after about five minutes of stalling Rice moves out of the way and both men are in trouble. Rice with a shot to the gut and and another and another and Kahn goes to the eyes to break it up. Kahn gets an Irish whip and Rice leapfrogs over, hiding behind Kahn until he turns around into A HUGE DROPKICK!! Rice gets a two-count and then Irish whips Kahn in for a sloppy looking back bodydrop for another two-count. Rice grabs him in a headlock and Kahn ends up shooting him into the referee who goes down and out. Ustinov is up on the apron, holding onto Rice's arms and Kahn charges with a big kick to the gut. Ustinov is in the ring and they both work over Rice while the referee is down on the apron. HERE COMES DERRICK DUKES!! RICE AND DUKES CLEAN HOUSE ON THE HEELS!! DOUBLE-DROPKICK TO KAHN!!! DOUBLE-SLAM TO USTINOV!!
Winner: None (double disqualification)
Match Analysis: I'm guessing on the double-DQ because there was no real official announcement that I could hear, but it seems plausible. It was actually a decent enough match, but Rice just didn't seem to be able to be believable in his role. He seemed more like he was pretending to be a wrestler or playing a wrestler instead of just being a wrestler. They actually got some good heat for this match and maybe it wasn't the best choice of a main event, but it was still better than some of the crap the AWA was putting on last in 1988.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:50:47 GMT -6
88 AWA Championship Wrestling The usual start to the show with Larry Nelson giving us the rundown of what we're going to see before throwing it up to himself in the ring for the first bout of the night. Match One: Kevin Collins vs. Big Mountain Fudgecake It's THE CAKE~! And he's got his hobo bindle AND a walking stick!!! Next week he'll be out pushing a shopping cart full of soda cans and glass bottles. They lock up and Fudge pushes him into the ropes and breaks before dropping Collins with some hammering blows in the middle of the ring. Collins has had enough of that and goes to the eyes before trying an Irish whip but Mountain just shoulderblocks him down and then hip tosses him violently out of the corner. Irish whip in and Cake takes him down with a HUGE clothesline before hitting a couple of forearms in the corner. Collins hits a kick to the gut and a couple of forearms but Fudgie Irish whips him in and hits a regular backbreaker, nearly dropping Collins before he can get him up. After the backbreaker Collins gets stretched across Big's big knee and he gives it up! Winner: Big Mountain Fudgecake (submission, backbreaker) Match Analysis: Short and no botches, so it's alright by me, but this guy still looks like he doesn't have any business being in the ring. Thankfully he kept it simple and didn't try anything more complicated than the backbreaker because it could have ended up badly if he had. He's still a black hole of charisma too, which doesn't do him or Verne any favors. After the match we get a short pre-taped promo from Soldat Ustinov and Teijo Kahn and Ustinov goes through the usual Russian promo, talking shit about Fudgecake and spitting on the ground while calling Jerry Lawler a pig. Lee Marshall throws us to an interview with DDP and Badd Company after telling a story about how DDP flew all the way to LA and tracked Lee down to tell him that he didn't like him. I get the feeling that was a regular thing for Lee though. DDP cuts his usual jive-talking promo and goes on about the Badd Company "World Tour" and he hands the mic off to Diamond who says that he's sick of hearing about The Rock n' Roll Express and that it's time to prove who the real world tag team champions are. DDP brings up how they ran the Midnight Rockers out of the AWA again and finishes up with some vague threats. At least his promo work hadn't devolved yet, because by the time he was champ in WCW, things had regressed badly. Here, he managed to avoid calling them "The Rock n' Scum Express" or "Robert Scum-son and Ricky Mor-scum", which made it a bearable promo to watch. Match Two: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Daryl Nickle vs. Jerry Lawler (c) Nickle does a little posing before things get underway and Lawler seems rather unimpressed. They hit a lockup and Nickle gets Lawler up into a BIG slam before doing more posing. Here comes Curt Hennig again to watch the action from ringside and says that he's here to point out that in every Lawler match he does something illegal, while in the ring Lawler gets a big slam of his own. Lawler gets a side headlock takeover as Hennig heads back to the commentary table to say that Lawler is "the worst excuse for a champion he's ever seen". Lawler gets a couple of punches in and then moves to a reverse chinlock to slow big Nickle down. Hennig complains about it being across the throat as Lawler releases the hold in favor of a big right hand. They move to a Greco-Roman knucklelock and Nickle puts Lawler down to a knee immediately, biting at Lawler's hand as well. Lawler cocks that right hand of his and pops Nickle square in the mush, breaking the hold and putting him on his back. Lawler notices Hennig at ringside and jaws with him a little bit before turning his attention back to Nickle, who puts Lawler in the corner and starts working him over with punches and kicks before biting Lawler across the forehead again. Lawler gets a couple of right hands to the gut and then hits Nickle with the slingshot move that he used to beat Hennig for the title. Lawler heads up to the second rope for the fistdrop but Hennig has seen enough and is up on the apron, arguing with the referee. Right hands from Lawler to Hennig!! HUGE RIGHT HAND PUTS HENNIG OVER THE TOP ROPE!! He's outside and he's PISSED! Nickle gets back into the ring and eats a right hand before Lawler finally gets his fistdrop for the three-count! Winner: Jerry Lawler (pinfall, second rope fistdrop) Match Analysis: Like the last time Lawler was in the ring, the interaction between Lawler and Hennig is what made this entertaining. They're following a natural progression which is cool because they're doing it where each week things escalate a little more between the two, which will no doubt lead to a championship re-match in Las Vegas, or at least that's my hope. Hennig's over-sell of the big right hand was classic Curt and again, while the match was nothing, the angle around it made it seem so much better. Lee Marshall is ringside with Brandi Mae and he welcomes her to the AWA and says that Madusa has stated that Brandi Mae will have to go through Debbie Combs before she gets a title shot. Brandi Mae says she doesn't care who she has to face, she just wants to wrestle the best and she's coming after Madusa! Match Three: Louie Spicoli and Houdini vs. Mr. Saito and Riki Choshu Yes, it's THAT Louie Spicoli, and no it's not THAT Houdini. It'll be fun to get to see Mr. Saito again as it's a trip down memory lane for me since I used to see him in the older days of the AWA at the Winnipeg Arena. Saito and Houdini start things out and they get a lockup before Saito lays in a couple of forearm shots to the chest. Houdini gets a side headlock and Saito just picks him up and throws him across the ring before making Houdini disappear through the ropes to the floor. Houdini's back into the ring and Saito just works him over in the corner a little before hitting two violent-looking snap mares. A stomp to the chest from Saito and he tags in Choshu who starts taking over with forearm shots and boots to the gut before he just throws Houdini into his corner for a tag. Houdini doesn't make the tag and I'm sure that Spicoli is happy with that turn of events. Tag to Saito and he just sends Houdini on another trip through the ropes to the floor. Saito snap mares Houdini over and NOW he gets the tag to Spicoli. Methinks that Houdini missed the tag spot and got a little punishment for it. Speaking of punishment, Spicoli is on the pain train now and takes some HARD chops and forearms before Saito gets a wicked belly to back suplex. Spicoli is out cold and the referee goes through the formality of the three-count to end it. Winners: Mr. Saito and Riki Choshu (pinfall, belly to back suplex) Match Analysis: Violent, violent, violent, but it was alright. Nothing earth-shattering, but a good way to introduce Saito and Choshu and get them over as stiff, hard-hitting monsters. Lee Marshall is at ringside now with Madusa and she's wondering who the hell Brandi Mae is and who she's beaten. Madusa says that she's never wrestled a professional and that she's never wrestled the number-one contender and Madusa says that she'll have to beat Debbie Combs to get a shot. Combs talks about how Brandi Mae better bring her lunch and supper because she's not that easy. Judging from Combs' horseface, I think Brandi Mae would be alright if she brought a bag of carrots and a box of sugar cubes with her. Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Mad Dog Vachon vs. Nick Bockwinkel (c) This one is from the Winnipeg Arena and the date that Greg gives is Christmas week, 1983, which if it's correct, means that I was there in attendance for this match, though since I was only three years old, I don't remember much of anything about it except getting the tickets as an early Christmas present. We join the match in progress with Vachon biting at Bockwinkel in the corner and backing up for a charge in, which he misses, nearly hitting the ringpost. Bockwinkel gets Vachon in position and tries for a piledriver but Vachon fights it off and reverses it into a backdrop! Vachon chokes Bockwinkel across the second rope and charges off the ropes and SLAMS himself onto Bockwinkel's back. That gets a two-count and Rod Trongard speculates on whether Bockwinkel kicked out or if Vachon picked him up at two. It looks like he picked him up at two to deliver more punishment because here comes a VACHON PILEDRIVER!! He gets the cover and here comes Bobby Heenan up on the ring apron and onto the top rope! HERE COMES THE CRUSHER!! He sends Heenan flying into the ring as the referee makes his count and there's the bell! Vachon gets his hand raised and here comes Heenan and Bockwinkel, attacking Crusher and Mad Dog, putting Mad Dog to the floor and then double-teaming Crusher. Bockwinkel tries to nail Crusher with a chair but Crusher ducks and gets the chair himself. He lands a few weak chairshots on Heenan and Bockwinkel and Vachon comes back in to handle Heenan, roughing him up before he throws him over the top. The ring announcer makes the announcement that Mad Dog Vachon is the winner!! Hold the phone though, because he's only the winner because of Heenan interfering and getting Bockwinkel disqualified, so the championship stays with Bockwinkel!! Crusher and Mad Dog continue to beat on Bockwinkel and they send Bockwinkel flying over the top rope to the floor. Winner: Mad Dog Vachon (disqualification, Heenan-ference) Match Analysis: Like all the old-school AWA matches, the crowd was hot for this one and even though we only got to see the finish and the aftermath, it was still a ton of fun. This is one instance though that I'm kind of glad we didn't get to see the full match because the Mad Dog wasn't exactly spry in the ring at this point. A fun brawl at the end though too, since it's always entertaining to watch Heenan take a beating. Lee Marshall welcomes us back to the action and then throws it to an interview with Curt Hennig. He talks about the bidding for a Hennig/Gagne title match and then says that now it's bidding for a Hennig/Lawler match-up. He says that he doesn't care where he has to travel to wrestle Lawler, but that if he has to go to England or Italy to get it done, it's going to be under his rules! He says that anytime he's said anything, he's gone and done it and says that he's the man that belongs on top and the man that will stay on top. Big K comes out and says that Soldat Ustinov is THE Russian wrestler and then he tries to take credit for Teijo Kahn being in the AWA. That's not exactly something that you should be taking credit for Big K. He babbles on about Baron Von Raschke and then turns to Manny Fernandez, yammering a little more, blah, blah, blah, I tell it like it is and he's done. The less I had to listen to that, the better. Match Five: AWA World Tag Team Championship The Guerrero Brothers (Hector and Mando) vs. Badd Company (c) DDP leads Badd Company to the ring, looking like he's a jazz pianist in a Vegas lounge band and I note again that there's no awesome "Bad Company" entrance for the champions, which saddens me. DDP grabs the microphone and does his introduction for Badd Company, calling The Guerreros "taco vendors" before saying they just came from Taco Bell about ten times in a row. Take back what I said about him not being in a regression because he really sounded like he had no idea what to say. The Guerreros steal DDP's bedazzled bullwhip and then Madno chases him around ringside before they throw the bullwhip at him on the outside. The match finally begins proper with Tanaka and Mando squaring off in the middle of the ring and Mando mocks Tanaka with a Karate Kid pose. Tanaka gets PISSED and starts arguing with the referee which allows Mando to get a quick roll-up for a two-count. Tanaka has had enough and heads over to confer with Diamond before we get a straight lockup and Mando gets a DEEP armdrag takedown into an armbar. He gets another one and tags in Hector for a leapfrog over Mando onto the arm of Tanaka. Another armdrag and a tag to Mando and he slingshots over the top rope into a splash. Another tag to Hector and he walks across the second rope a little bit before splashing the arm. Hector tries an Irish whip and it gets reversed into a back bodydrop but Hector lands on his feet and gets another couple of armdrags before tagging Mando again. Mando hits a standing frog splash on the arm and then goes into a straight armbar before dropping some elbows on the arm. He starts cranking the rowboat on the arm of Tanaka, getting to a ten-count before "tagging" in Hector as Diamond goes ballistic on the outside. They pull another phantom tag and DDP looks like he's losing his shit on the outside. Tanaka goes to the eyes and hammers away before tagging in Diamond, but Mando gets an armdrag in triplicate and then works over the arm with an armbar into a pinning combination that gets a couple of two-counts. Tag to Hector and he gets a big hip toss into a jumping headlock takeover. He tries it again and Diamond deposits him over the top rope and onto the apron, talking some shit to him while he's at it. He tries to throw a right hand and Hector blocks it, climbing himself over the ropes to catch Tanaka with his feet and he takes BOTH MEN DOWN!! Mando with a leapfrog over Tanaka and both Guerreros sidestep Tanaka and he runs smack-dab into Diamond!! Double-dropkick sends Badd Company out to the floor and they're out to think it over with DDP!! Diamond gets back into the ring and is on his knees, looking for a handshake and Mando gets sucked in a litle and taken down into some mounted punches from Diamond, and Mando comes back with another leapfrog, sending Diamond into Tanaka and Hector gets the tag and FLIPS OVER THE TOP ROPE SENDING DIAMOND TO THE OUTSIDE!! Tanaka comes in and complains to the referee about all the shenanigans and then takes over on Hector with an eyerake and some big right hands. He turnbuckle smashes Hector and tries an Irish whip but it gets reversed, though Tanaka reverses himself, going up and over the buckles to avoid the impact. He starts jawing with Mando on the other side about it though and Hector just slingshots him back into the ring. Irish whip from Hector and he ducks under a reverse elbow, rolling to the ropes and hitting a springboard cross-bodyblock on Tanaka for a long two-count before Diamond makes the save. Diamond is in and hits a BIG clothesline on Hector before blatantly choking him. Mando comes in and gets spilled to the floor and while all that goes on, Tanaka chokes Hector across the second rope. Diamond tags in Tanaka and he gets an Irish whip into a HUGE flying forearm that gets another two-count. Tanaka tries an Irish whip and gets reversed into a back bodydrop, which allows Hector to make the tag to Mando. DROPKICK TO DIAMOND!! RIGHT HAND TO TANAKA!! DIAMOND'S THROWN OUT TO THE APRON!! They're trading punches on the apron and down goes Diamond to the floor. MANDO FLIES OFF THE TOP ROPE OVER THE RINGPOST ONTO DIAMOND!!! All four men brawl outside and then they all move back into the ring. Mando and Tanaka are slugging away and Hector gets an abdominal stretch on Diamond!! Judo chop from Tanaka to Hector and they trade right hands between all four men until the bell rings!!! Winners: None (time-limit draw) Match Analysis: A great tag team main event and if they could throw this match down for the next six or eight weeks, I'd be MORE than happy to see it. The Guerreros were doing so much great stuff that no one else was doing in the time period and Badd Company knew that they had to do whatever they could to help get it over. They could have easily no-sold a bunch of their offense and made the Guerreros look horrible, but they completely showed ass and made the Guerreros looks like the best tag team in the AWA. Diamond and Tanaka were completely underrated in my opinion because they could work as strong heels, or they could be total chickenshit heels and be believable in either instance. After the match, the Guerreros hit a double-dropkick on Diamond that sends him out to the floor and then they even get a bit of a shot in on DDP as well!! Mando is PISSED in the middle of the ring and demands a microphone! He says that they know that the belts were theirs and that they need to get Badd Company back out there!! The Guerreros pose in the middle of the ring and the crowd goes wild. We come back from a short break to see Larry Nelson talking us through the night's action and he proclaims the Guerrero brothers as a major force in tag team wrestling as the show cuts off there! Final Thoughts A pretty fun show from start to finish as the crap was kept really short, the awesome angle between Hennig and Lawler saw some progression and the tag team main event was fantastic. I've long been of the mind that a hot main event can make up for a lot of transgressions in the time before it and this is no exception. After seeing the main event match-up, I'd want to see more and more of it, and isn't that the point of the TV shows? To get you to spend money to see more of what they have in the main event, which I would have gladly done if Badd Company and The Guerreros were on the top of the card when they came to my town. Thumbs up on this show for me!! Fun With Comments From Guest. : "Few things: 1: The Mat Classic, if I heard right, I think went 29:21, so at least 20 minutes at that pace. Greg was never that bad in the ring, he just needed someone to bring the heat. 2: To follow up on that from a night ago, Greg now has DQ singles lossses to both members of Badd Company. Not sure if that was ever brought up. 3: I'm a little surprised that no one brought up that Dennis Stamp back in the day was a contender for Dory Funk's NWA title, in an effort to make his shot at Lawler seem more legitimate. Of course he was just a job guy, but still. 4: At the very least Verne still has marketable stars in the AWA, even if they really couldn't go in the ring. Say what you will about Rice or Khan's in-ring experience, both men looked like they were stars. They kept the main event simple, dull but simple, and it produced a fairly decent match, featuring history made with the formation of the TOP GUNNS!.... ok I have nothing." I agree on Gagne needing to have someone in there with him to help bring heat to the matches, which is probably why he was never the top guy in the AWA. As for numbers two and three, continuity wasn't a big thing in the AWA so I doubt they would have even known about any of that, let alone thought enough to mention it on TV. And to the marketability of Rice and Kahn, they may have looked like stars, but in the AWA it wasn't about looks, it was whether you could go and once the fans figured out that those guys couldn't get it done in the ring, they started to turn away from the promotion. From Mini Meat Loaf: "Meat Loaf's influence on wrestling lives on. Last Monday's RAW featured Kennedy getting in Regal's with "Let Me Sleep on It"'s line: "What's it gonna be boy, yes..or...no?" PS: MULLETS RULE AND YOOOUUU KNOW IT!" Yeah, I caught that too from Kennedy and it was pretty funny. And P.P.S. No they don't, believe me. From James: "So not only was Stamp booked, but he got a title shot? All we need is Lex Luger to KNOOOOOOOOOOW about something, and we're officially in Bizarro World." HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA. Luger. HAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHAHAAAA. From Bryan: "If you think the roster is bad now, just wait until they get to the next couple months worth of shows. They have mentioned that the Midnight Rockers are out of the AWA already. Within the next month or so they lose Curt Hennig, The Baron, The Rock n Roll Express, The Nasty Boys and I am sure some others that I am forgetting. The roster does get somewhat better by the end of the year with Slaughter, Debeers and Zbysko returning. But in the meantime, get ready for lots of Soldat Ustinov, "T. Joe" Kahn and Ricky Rice." Oh believe me, I know that worse is coming and I'm not looking forward to it. Well, that's not entirely true because I am kind of looking forward to it to see if it's really as bad as I remember it or if my opinion has been colored by the years of abuse people have heaped on the last days of the AWA. From awafan: "I really enoyed the 3 minutes of Strike force vs. the High Flyers. Best match i've seen in a while. Ever notice that Lee Marshall always says that Mondo Guererro is the "tallest man never to reach six feet". Then when Mondo comes out he's listed at SIX FEET TALL!!! Big K is classically bad. He's trying to be Larry King but in a bad way. One last thought who was going to challange Gagne for the TV title?? The AWA seems a little low on singles competitors at this point. Hoping we can get a "Best of Big Mountain Fudgecake" episode tonite." There is no such thing as a best of when it comes to that man, but he still managed to get himself onto today's episode, which just THRILLED me. From Adam: "The 'Mat Classic' was very good. I don't really like tag team wresting because most of the best teams are usually heels and the babyfaces are just two singles wrestlers put together. There are a few exceptions: High Flyers, Rock & Roll Express. I remember seeing the High Flyers at the Showboat when I was a kid. I think they chose that match because in the timeline of May 1988 Strike Force had just dropped the WWF tag titles to Demolition at WM4. I didn't watch the AWA much (like everyone else) in 1988, but I wish the Lawler-Hennig fued went on longer. I think Hennig leaves at the end of June. They already showed Nov-Dec of 1988, so who knows what will be next." They've got a few months before they hit the Nov-Dec 1988 time period so I'm guessing that once they get through the summer of '88, they'll go into '89, when things get going from bad to worse. From Eric: "First off....I want to make a couple of rebuttals to "Guest's" comments. The Mat Classics segments are generally coming from two sources. The AWA filmed a lot of their house shows in St. Paul between '81 and '83 to suppliment their syndicated "All-Star Wrestling" programs. The nice thing about those house tapings is that they used to pretty much sell out the house on a regular basis. Then again, they also had Hulk Hogan too, and that certainly helped push the tickets. I'm going to guess that this match was from 1982 or so, as Martel was new to the promotion and the High Flyers weren't holding the belts in this time period the Sheiks were. The second source came from Chicago promoter (the late) Bob Luce. He of the Sunday morning shows that featured matches from Bruiser's Indianapolis WWA shows. Luce filmed matches from the Amphitheatre all the time. Some of those EARLY 70s ones with no audio? That came from Gagne 'renting' Luce's film library. They were choppy at times, but still good from a historical standpoint. Even if only to see Bobby Heenan bleed to death at the hands of the Bruiser and the Crusher! On the Greg Gagne front, I could have picked about 12 different AWA wrestlers who could have and SHOULD have held that TV title belt. Hell, I would have even put it on Col. DeBeers if only for the heat he always drew. ANYONE but Gagne. Snuka? Sure. Zbyszko (who would return soon)? Sure. The Sarge? Sure. Hell, even the Patriot would have been better, but it would have been better going with a youngster and building him that way. Ah, hindsight is always 20/20, ain't it? You'd have also thought that if you were going to put Badd Company over, even in singles matches, that Gagne would have taken the pinfall loss. No dice there. And I will agree that Greg never really was a singles performer. He was forced to be after Jim Brunzell left for the WWF, but he always worked well in tag team situations. He was pretty much trained that way back in the early 70s when he was schooling at the camp in Minnesota. Of course, he was also working with another future legend at the very beginning of his career: one Ric Flair. If you scout around for any old photos of Flair when he first got started, you'll notice his original wrestling weight was around 265 to 270, so he slimmed down to around 240 in his prime and definitely looked better. Dennis Stamp, earlier in his career, worked for NWA Los Angeles Gene LaBell's promotion that used to work out of the old Olympic Auditorium. Amusingly enough, I used to be able to get this syndicated show late in the evenings in Chicago...on the local spanish station. So, yes, Dory Funk, Jr. would head out to California from time to time. Stamp wasn't a top draw, but NWA-LA had Angelo Mosca, Black Gordmon, and their big draw at the time, Mil Mascaras. By 1988, Stamp had been working as talent enhancement for several years for the ESPN tapings. One thing I have to REALLY disagree with is the comment that Ricky Rice and Teijo Kahn looking like stars in late 1988. I'll vouch for 'very green' at this point, and placing them in the main event on this show was done to try to work them into that caliber. And yes, that was the start of the "new" (already) Topp Guns. John Paul was already gone by this time. Now, on to this show. Jerry Lawler only showed up for a couple of tapings for the AWA. Right away you knew they were going to have problems as Verne and Jerry Jarrett were already bickering about touring and title defenses, etc. Problem was, Lawler didn't want to travel out of his home territory, namely Memphis and Tennessee in general. Plus, ironically, the Memphis promotion had better talent (even though people like the Fabulous Ones and Randy Savage were long gone by this point). I believe he did maybe two Vegas tapings, and he also did a taping in either Wisconsin or Minnesota. I don't remember which Wisconsin date was a taping, but I'll guess either Oshkosh or Appleton. This back and forth would go on until Super Clash 3, and STILL Lawler was allowed to keep the belt. Watch for the big transition going into 1989. You'll see Wahoo. You'll see Manny Fermandez (who actually still had it going well at that time), you'll NOT see Hennig (who's already gone), or the Rockers (who are already gone), you WILL see the Sarge come back until the end. You'll see The Patriot. You'll see Badd Company and Top Gunns go at it. The Rock & Roll Express will return to the NWA. You'll see the Nasty Boys for part of '89 before they, too, go to McMahonland. Same goes for the Destruction Crew (Wayne Bloom & Mike Enos). Here and gone. Oh, and you'll get Ken Patera on his last legs too. Isn't that just exciting? (Sarcasm) And I'm out..." Thanks very much for all the information and as always, it's good to see you in the column Eric! Finally from D.P. : "besides Von Erich who would Lawler feud with until he was stripped? did Hennig get a rematch before he left?" As far as I can remember, he feuded with Hennig for another little bit until Hennig left the promotion and then just kind of worked as the champion with whoever, with no real feud coming up until they got to the point where they started working with the WCCW promotion and decided to fire up the Von Erich/Lawler program.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:51:58 GMT -6
88 AWA Championship Wrestling Short intro from Nelson this week and it's right up to the ring for our opening bout. Match One: Handsome Harry and Daryl Nickle vs. Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes Nickle and Harry attack before the bell, pounding on the faces in opposite corners and they try a double-Irish whip but Rice and Dukes do the dosie-doh an get a double-dropkick to send the heels scurrying. Rice and Nickle start the match out proper and Rice gets an armbar, tagging in Dukes to come off the ropes onto the arm. Nickle gets a tag in to Harry and they do a little slugging before Dukes gets a side headlock into a hammerlock. Tag to Rice and a double-Irish whip leads to a double-reverse elbow and Rice gets a long two-count. Rice works away with the armbar again and then tags off to Dukes who gets a BIG bodyslam and a follow-up legdrop that gets another long two-count. Tag to Rice and Rice gets an Irish whip into a Dukes slingshot shoulderblock and they double-team him into a huge dropkick from Rice that gets the 1-2-3!! Winners: Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes (pinfall, Rice dropkick) Match Analysis: Short, inoffensive and a good way to introduce Rice and Dukes as a team to the fans. Not too shabby as an opener either, but they're still only Ricky Rice and Derrick Dukes, so it is what it is. Soldat Ustinov talks again on a bumper to the commercial, going on about the pigs in Ohio and Cleveland before he switches gears to talk about the men! Hiiiyooooooo!!! Actually, he ends up threatening Badd Company before wondering "Where's The King? Where's The King?" You know, he'll probably be in Memphis if you're really looking that hard for him. After the break, Lee Marshall throws it to DDP for yet ANOTHER house show promo. He talks some smack on The Rock n' Roll Express and says that the promoters have to put together a lot of money if they want to see Badd Company beat up the R n' R's because they're not in Badd Company's league! Honestly, the only thing missing to make this show feel like a completely 80's show would be some market specifics. Match Two: Kevin Collins vs. Curt Hennig w/ Madusa Miceli Madusa looks yummy as usual tonight though she's got a bit of a Vegas waitress look going on tonight. Jerry Lawler is on his way to ringside for commentary, though he stops off to show the belt to Hennig and do a little shit-talking before the match starts. Hennig is REALLY distracted and Madusa comes all the way over to the announce table and starts an argument with Lawler. Hennig comes out to break it up and the match is finally underway with Hennig getting a go-behind into an armbar and Hennig lets him up and puts the bad mouth on him. Hennig shoves Collins into the corner and chops this piss out of him before he hits another HUGE chop against the ropes. Kneelift from Hennig as Lawler talks on commentary about how Hennig never deserved to be the champion. Right hands from Hennig and he Irish whips Collins in for a big shot right in the gut. Another Irish whip but Collins gets a reversal into a BIG slam and ANOTHER and he sends Hennig into the corner with an Irish whip and Hennig gets the boots up to kick Collins square in the face!! After a little move to either Madusa or Lawler, Hennig gets Collins all cinched up in the PERFECT-PLEX!!! There's the three-count and there's the bell with Hennig BURNING A HOLE THROUGH LAWLER WITH HIS STARE!! Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, Perfect-plex) Match Analysis: This was total angle advancement and it was only here so that Hennig and Lawler could jaw back and forth the entire time and again it was a perfect progression for the feud that is slowly building and simmering into something big. Last time out, Hennig was at ringside and essentially on commentary, so this time Lawler comes out and does the same thing. The tense stand-offs at the beginning and ending of the match were spot on and did a lot to push just how much these two hate each other. Possibly the most well-booked feud out of anything the AWA did from about late-1987 on. Too bad they couldn't have kept Hennig and milked a little more out of it, but I'm liking it so far. Post-match, Hennig in the ring does a little more talking to Lawler on commentary and Marshall has a Don West moment on commentary when Hennig yells "I'm coming back and I'm going to take what's mine!!" referring to the AWA title. Not three seconds later, Marshall leans over to Lawler and goes "Did you hear that? He said he's going to be back and he's coming for what's his!!! That title!!!" The segment is one of those where the announcers don't need to say much of anything, and Rod Trongard shows his professionalism by not stomping all over the subtlety of the back and forth between the two. Wahoo McDaniel cuts a little bumper promo and says that there's a ton of talent in the AWA, but that he's going to be the one that's going to put Lawler down and that Lawler is going to feel the fire soon enough. Match Three: AWA World Tag Team Championship Greg Robertson and Houdini vs. Badd Company w/Diamond Dallas Page DDP gets the microphone and then talks a little smack on Larry Nelson and his shitty ring announcing before introducing Badd Company as the team that ran the Midnight Rockers out of the AWA. Tanaka and Robertson starts things out and they do a couple of lockups with Tanaka chopping away at Robertson on the second before ramming him into the top buckle and tagging in Paul Diamond. Diamond works a standing arm-wringer and then takes Robertson down with a stiff clothesline when he even DARES to be insolent enough to try to reverse it. Tag to Tanaka and he starts hammering away on Robertson before grabbing a front-facelock and then hammering away again. Tag to Diamond and he gets in with a BIG slam on Robertson though he misses the follow-up elbowdrop. Robertson tries to get a tag to Houdini in and does, but Diamond cuts him off before he even gets into the ring, hitting a huge flying forearm and then working him over with various punches and kicks before Tanaka comes in and they get the double team move made famous by TWGTT as Tanaka leapfrogs over Diamond onto Houdini who is draped across the top rope. All that's left is for Tanaka to get the 1-2-3 and he does! Winners: Badd Company (pinfall, double-team clothesline move) Match Analysis: Badd Company showed just how bad they were by squashing the hell out of the two jobberinos. I've honestly never seen something like that from them before where they just completely hammered away and didn't do any selling or showing ass. The only disappointment was no cool slingshot DDT move this week, but that's a small gripe I suppose. I still feel like Badd Company was one of the most underrated tag teams for their era because they could do it all, but I digress. In the intro to the Mat Classic, Greg Gagne talks about Omaha, Nebraska being the city of controversy and the city where the AWA was formed after Verne Gagne thought he had defeated Edouard Carpentier for the NWA Championship. A battle between promoters arose and those that sided with Verne formed the AWA. All of this leads us to head back to Omaha in 1982 for this week's Mat Classic! Match Four: Mat Classic Sgt. Jacques Goulet vs. Buck Zumhoffe We're joined in progress with Zumhoffe on the outside trying to crawl his way back into the ring and holding his head and as he gets onto the apron, he grabs Goulet and RAMS him into the turnbuckle! Clothesline across the top rope and Goulet goes flying and Zumhoffe is in the ring and DANCIN' MAD! HUGE atomic drop from Zumhoffe gets him a two-count and he Irish whips Goulet into the corner, ramming him into the buckle again before hitting a couple of right hands and a HUGE hip toss! Dropkick from Zumhoffe and a slam follows that up and he's going for his patented second rope splash!!! GOULET GETS THE KNEES UP!! He takes over on Zumhoffe and gets a two-count before Irish whipping Zumhoffe into the corner. He charges in but Zumhoffe goes high for a SUNSET FLIP!! 1-2-3~! IT'S ALL OVER!!! After the match, Goulet tries to get him a little more of Zumhoffe, but Zumhoffe lays a bit of a beating on him and puts him out to the floor to get another raucous cheer from the crowd. Winner: Buck Zumhoffe (pinfall, sunset flip) Match Analysis: Like most of these Mat Classics, the matches had incredibly hot finishes, even for being house show matches, and the fans were going crazy for the finish of this one. Zumhoffe was a bit underrated as a talent because of how incredibly goofy the gimmick was, but he was a solid hand as was Goulet, so technically this match looked like it would have been pretty sound. A fun finish to what looked like a good fifteen minute match. Back from the commercials, Larry Nelson's with Verne Gagne and apparently Verne was over in Cannes at a television convention and that the AWA is on one of the larger networks in France and that they're also on in Italy and all across Europe. Nelson says that Gagne had to be excited to be in the nation of his ancestry and he is rather excited about all of the great contracts that the AWA is lining up. After the commercial, Big K is at his desk and and since I have the DVR fast forwarding through the commercials, I continue to go through and that leads to another set of commercials! Man, this show flies by when you don't really want to hear what some semi-senile old man is rambling on about. Match Five: Riki Choshu and Mr. Saito vs. Greg Gagne and Jerry Lawler Both singles champions on the same team against a Japanese super team! This should be pretty damn good if you ask me. Gagne and Choshu get a lockup to start and Gagne gets out of the corner before Choshu can get a cheapshot on him. Back in the middle of the ring, Choshu gets a side headlock and a shoulderblock after Gagne shoots him off and he tags in Saito who starts working over Gagne with clubbing forearms to the chest and back before moving to a nerve hold to put Gagne to his knees. Tag to Choshu and he hits a HARD running boot before stomping away at Gagne on the mat. Snap mare from Choshu into another nerve hold and he's working over Gagne's head at the same time. He lets the hold go to stomp on Gagne but eats a right hand before he cuts off the comeback and tags in Saito again. Saito nearly gets pinned by a sunset flip and decides it's time for more violence, ramming Gagne into Choshu's knee in their corner before tagging him in. They double-team Gagne and get the Demolition finisher before Gagne gets a bit of a mule kick into the gut of Choshu and he follows it up with some right hands and chops and he forces Choshu into his corner so he can make the tag to Jerry Lawler!! Lawler comes in with fists blazing, landing a ton of rights and lefts to the body of Choshu and some hard right hands right on the jaw. A snap mare into a standing fistdrop for Lawler and he gets some piston-like rights in on Choshu before Choshu bulls Lawler into his corner and tags in Saito. Saito gets a couple of shots in and Irish whips Lawler into the corner, but Lawler avoids the charge and Saito goes all the way through to the ringpost. Lawler picks him up for a HUGE slam and then drops another fist onto Saito's forehead before ramming him into Gagne's knee in their corner. Tag to Gagne and he gets an arm-wringer into an armbar and he transitions that into a headscissors takeover. Saito gets a sit-out but ends up right back in the arm-wringer with Gagne tagging in Lawler and Lawler cranking away at the arm before moving to a standing armbar. Saito ends up on the mat and Lawler is cranking away at that arm before tagging in Gagne, who comes off the second rope onto that arm. Gagne continues the work on the armbar and Saito shoots him into the ropes, eating a shoulderblock but firing back with a reverse elbow that allows him to get the tag to Choshu. Gagne is waiting for Choshu and armdrags him over before making a tag to Lawler and Lawler gets a kick to the shoulder into a standing arm-wringer and Choshu gets an Irish whip but takes a shoulderblock before he gets a HARD kick to the gut on Lawler as Lawler comes off the ropes. He hammers on the back of Lawler's head and then hits a variation of the Scorpion Leglock! Tag to Saito and he stomps away at the head of Lawler before hammering him down with a headbutt. Saito has Lawler all set up and he gets the Scorpion variant and Choshu comes in for a hard stomp to the head before Saito gets the full-on Scorpion Leglock!! Lawler's in the ropes though so Saito just makes the tag to Choshu and Choshu comes in with some vicious stomps. Now it's Choshu's turn to get the Scorpion and he LOCKS IT IN!! Tag to Saito and he gets a hard stomp to the back before headbutting Lawler right back down to the canvas. Hard shot to the head and Saito grabs a Boston Crab, turning it over and really cranking away on it. Lawler crawls to get to the ropes and breaks the hold, leading to Saito tagging in Choshu. Choshu gets a running start and kicks Lawler right in the gut before stomping away at him on the mat. Tag to Saito and Choshu holds Lawler in a front-facelock to let Saito come running all the way across the ring to level Lawler with a forearm to the back. Saito hammers away and then grabs a front-facelock to work over Lawler and keep him away from the tag. LAWLER GETS THE TAG!! Unfortunately for him, Choshu had come into the ring to distract the referee so it's a non-tag and Gagne gets sent back to the outside!! As Gagne argues with the ref, Saito and Choshu double-team Lawler in their corner before they make an illegal switch! Lawler gets rammed sternum-first into the top turnbuckles by both men before Choshu stomps away at the chest and stomach of Lawler. A tag to Saito leads to another front-facelock and Gagne is on the outside trying to fire Lawler into a tag. Lawler powers Saito all the way over to his corner and gets the tag, but Choshu has the referee distracted again!! Lawler's had enough of that shit and he takes over on both Choshu and Saito with right hands, even pulling down the strap but they double-team him to cut off his comeback again. They repeat the spot that was blown a moment before as Lawler ducks under a Choshu clothesline and he nails Saito, allowing Lawler to get the tag to Gagne! Gagne's all fired up, ramming Choshu into Saito and whipping Choshu in for a HUGE back bodydrop as Lawler works over Saito in the corner. Double-Irish whip and the HEELS RAM INTO EACH OTHER!! SAITO'S ON THE FLOOR AND HE's GOT A CHAIR!!! CHOSHU RAMS GAGNE INTO THE CHAIR!! THERE'S THE BELL AND LAWLER'S THROWING HANDS TO KEEP SAITO AND CHOSHU AT BAY!! Winners: Greg Gagne and Jerry Lawler (disqualification, Saito's use of a chair) Match Analysis: I've said it numerous times, but the AWA knew tag team wrestling, right up to their dying days. This is no exception as these two teams had a great match and another great TV main event. It started out a little slow like most of the AWA's longer matches, but it picked up in the middle and having Lawler work the heat sequence was a great idea because he sells like an absolute champ. Good stuff from all four men and it was a great match to end the show on, as it was solid action from great stars that would more than likely be able to entice people into buying a ticket. Final Thoughts Another solid effort from the AWA, which makes me happy happy. The tag main event was great for the second show in a row, the Mat Classic was a lot of fun and there was more great interaction between Hennig and Lawler to build up their feud. Rice and Dukes looked ok in their match, Badd Company looked awesome in theirs and there was no Big Mountain Fudgecake, no Soldat Ustinov and no Teijo Kahn, which makes this show an EASY thumbs-up for me. Let's get to comments, folks!! Fun With Comments From Steve: "I heard "Bad Company" in the background, except the volume of the song was a bit low, so it was a bit hard to hear the song. But yep, "Bad Company" was played last night during Badd Company's entrance. Just thought I'd let you know. I found it funny that Curt Hennig was wearing a "Converse" T-Shirt. After all, Converse shoes were the shoes of the 1980s. I'd love to see more from Choshu and Saito. I think this was the only time that Choshu has ever appeared in a U.S. promotion. I noticed a mistake on commentary where Rod Trongard called Mr. Saito "The Master of the Scorpion Leglock", but it was Choshu who mastered the hold, not Saito, even though Saito did the move as well. Of course, the Scorpion Leglock would later become popularized in America by wrestlers such as Sting and Bret Hart. The main event was great, no doubt about it. I agree with the fact that when it came to the AWA in 1988, one of its strengths was tag team wrestling, and it definitely showed in last night's main event. Well, that's all I have to say for last night's AWA show." Well, that's what I get for doing the show in the middle of the night with one bloodshot ear. I'll have to go back and have a listen again to see if indeed it was there or if you're just pulling my chain. I picked up on Trongard's error too about the Scorpion Leglock, but I figured that he has to sit next to Lee Marshall night in and night out, so I'd cut him some slack. Choshu and Saito were way different than anything the AWA had at that point and I would have loved to see them get some type of extended run because they both had the talent. Well, Choshu a little more than Saito by this point, but you get the point. From Guest. : "The best show in 1988 that I've seen, though I wish that the Rockers/Badd Company title change was shown in full on the one show where they replayed the match from the week before. Anyways, thoughts: 1: Can you believe that it would take about another 8 years or so before Mexican Superstars would see significant booking across the border.... and they'd have to start in ECW to do so. Verne Gagne might be the most progressive booker of his time, with this and booking Steroid angles and much of DeBeers first run. 2: It's always nice to see old-fashioned 'Rassin racism. Taco Vendor vs. Karate Kid got a little smile out of me for all the wrong reasons. I'm kinda surprised that Saito and Choshu were just allowed to kick ass and there were no Geisha Girls (wait... that's current rasslin racism), or salt to the eyes, or Kabuki facepaint or mist or anything to make them seem like they were evil foreigners, although when you have Choshu, trained in the old shoot style by Antonio Inoki, a man so tough I'd actually take him a fight over Haku, and Mr. Saito fresh off spending two years in jail for breaking the jaw of a female police officer with Ken Patera due to the infamous McDonalds boulder incident, you don't want to piss them off and show respect. Though, thinking more on rassin racism, it did make me wonder: If a Black Wrestler headbutted a Samoan, who would fall first? 3: You can really tell the difference in sound sweetening now, as you'll hear reactions when guys like Rocky Mountain Thunder or Ricky Rice come out, but the fans will be on their hands, and everyone standing up at once once Mando hit that SWANK!~ press to the outside of the floor. Again, a shame that it wouldn't be until ECW that Mexican Superstars would really be pushed in America. 4: Not really related to tonight, but since I made the Rice/Khan remarks, a slight defense of them. I was just saying physically how they looked, they had a star look. Of course once they got into the ring they were both pretty green, but I don't think they were really overexposed that much as such. Verne had been hurt worst of all promoters by Vince's raids, and he obviously had to put talent out there where all they had going was their looks. I'm actually a little amazed he lasted as long as he did with the raids, and only had to close up shop cause of, according to Bisch, an eminent domain case that went against him and sucked out all his finances." Starting from the top..... 1: I can, because a lot of people had the same feeling that the Mexican wrestlers wouldn't be able to get over because of the masks and the language barrier. Verne wasn't so much innovative as he was throwing shit at the wall and seeing what stuck. 2: There was and apparently still is, no business more racist than the wrestling business. Don't believe me? Just ask Michael Hayes....or Brother Ray from Team 3-D....I couldn't believe Brother Ray was able to get away with saying he hated Puerto Ricans on this past episode of Impact. Well, actually I can because no one watches Impact, so it's one of those "tree falls in the forest" kind of deals. 3: They needed to sweeten the sound because the building was half-empty and because three-quarters of the guys on the roster at that time weren't over. 4: I can see what you were saying about them possibly looking like stars because they had a good look, but as I said before, the AWA was the WORST territory you could ever want to work in if you looked like a million bucks but wrestled like a nickel. From Brian: "You will get your wish of a Hennig - Lawler rematch from Vegas should ESPN keep the weekly tapings going. Their rematch was on in August of 1988." That's VERY good news to hear, because it means that all of my suffering will end up paying off for that one glorious episode coming up. Unless ESPN Classic changes their minds and changes the schedule of shows and skips it for some reason. From Frozen: "While I respect Curt Hennig's wrestling ability for the most part, I always HATED how he oversold punches and would take a bump over the top rope just because of a single punch. Possibly the best example of this can be found in the WrestleRock Rumble music video. He and Scott Hall are standing on the edge of the swimming pool and two women in bikinis push them into the pool. Henning does a complete backflip, as if he was hit by a bazooka. I guess, though, that overselling everything is better than never selling anything." To me, the over-sell was classic Hennig and if he hadn't done it, it would have taken away from him as a performer. It was almost a part of his gimmick that he would over-sell to the point of nearly being comedic and I, for one, appreciated it. From subtlefuge: "I'm surprised he didn't call them "Rickscum Scumton and Scumbert Gibscum, The Scum N Scum Scumspress." " True that. DDP was famous for overusing his catchphrases to the point that they would become physically grating to listen to. I would phsyically cringe everytime he said "Hollywood SCUM Hogan". From Bryan: "During the introductions of Houdini and Spicoli, the camera cuts away to show fans in the front row. A couple of the fans are none other than Mike Tenay and Dave Meltzer." That's pretty damn cool and I guess I should have put two and two together since Tenay lives in Vegas and Meltzer manages to make it out there as often as possible from his home base in San Jose. On a personal note, in Las Vegas for UFC 71, I was walking through the casino portion of the MGM Grand, near one of the side entrances to the Grand Garden Arena and who should I happen to run into but Dave Meltzer and Mike Tenay. I'd post the photographic evidence of such a meeting, but I'm sure I'd be skewered in the comments section for the somewhat punch-drunk look on my face (I'd spent all night on the trip to Vegas and this was very late into the day I had arrived when I was pretty well exhausted). Suffice it to say though that Tenay and Meltzer were probably my favorite famous people that I had met that weekend because they actually stayed and talked with me for around fifteen or twenty minutes about various topics in the wrestling business and actually talked to me like someone that was a friend of theirs, which was pretty cool. Dave's wife also complimented me on my choice of T-shirt that particular day and asked where I had gotten it, which was also pretty cool. Finally from Brian: "FIRST...I see there is another "Brian" who posted a message. Rest assured, it's not ME, the "real" Brian...the one who has been responding to your recaps all along...the one who gave you the kayfabe link...(Baron Von Raschke) the BEST Brian!!! Do you HEAR me, "other" Brian??? Oh ya, BRING it, man with the cool name!!!!! Anyway...grrrrreat card on this telecast for the AWA!!! I wish the Rocky Mountain Thunder match would have been part way into the show however, instead of the first match. (I had to poop part way into the show.) Did you catch that the announce team mentioned that maybe they should leave, and Curt Henning could take over for them since he seems to have so much to say? I don't think they realized that we all would have considered that to be a BIG improvement. How 'bout Brandi Mae!! I'd like to "wrestle" with her. (Circa 1988) MISTER Saito!!!!!!!!! Swwwweeeeeet!!! I had forgotten about him!!! I don't know why though, he was one bad mo fo. He had a great run in the AWA, feuding with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Nick Bockwinkel, Rick Martel, and Larry Zybysko. He tagged with Mr. Fuji in the WWF and they were two time WWF tag champs. He also had feuds with the legendary Antonio Anoki and Bullet Bob Armstrong. This is only a small part of his career. I encourage all who read this to "google" Mr. Saito!!! (Or Masa Saito...same guy.) He's an all time great without question. One last observation...the mat classic...did you notice that during the melee following the actual match, that the Crusher NEVER lost the cigar that was in his mouth the entire time that he was both beat down, and beat Heenan/Bockwinkel down??? AWESOME!!!!! Now THAT was VINTAGE Crusher!!!!! Long live the AWA!!!!! ~Brian~ P.S. HOW did I fail to mention the Guerrero's??? (My bad) HOW did everyone seem to miss the boat with these AMAZING performers??? They should have been a top draw and been champions where ever they rassled. The style they had would have been over even now. It was MY pleasure to watch them." Brandi Mae was a good looking number, but she was nowhere near the hotness that Madusa was bringing back in those days. Saito was always a favorite of mine, moreso in later years when I would watch some of his stuff back, but I always thought he was fun to watch and I had a blast booing him whenever he came to town. In terms of the announcers, I would say that Hennig could have sent Lee Marshall packing and I would have been fine, but honestly, Rod Trongard did a fine job of announcing usually and I wouldn't paint him with the same brush. I loved that Crusher didn't lose his cigar through the whole post-match melee and that's why he was the favorite that he was. The Guerreros were talented to be sure, and like I said before, I don't think that anyone saw what they could do because people were sure that they'd never be able to get the Mexican stars over completely.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:53:00 GMT -6
88
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson welcomes us into the Showboat Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas and runs down the show, which features Soldat Ustinov, Greg Gagne and Big Mountain Fudgecake. Someone hates me.
Match One: Soldat Ustinov w/Teijo Kahn vs. Biff Anderson
Sadly, Biff doesn't come out and whack Ustinov on the head while shouting, "McFLYYYY" repeatedly. He kind of looks like a guy that would be a schoolteacher too, so I don't like his chances very much at all. They hit a lockup and Ustinov shoves him into the corner and they go right to another one, which Ustinov uses to get some knees to the gut in the corner into a snap mare. Ustinov gets another shot in and pushes Anderson up against the ropes, raking at the eyes befpre he rams Anderson into the top turnbuckle. He grabs Anderson by the head and just bullies him around before LIFTING HIM OFF HIS FEET with a shoulder to the gut and ramming him into the corner. Anderson tries to wrap his legs around Ustinov's waist but all that does is seemingly anger the homophobic tendencies in the big Russian and he snap mares Anderson out again before choking him down on the mat. Anderson isn't really selling anything and I think that Ustinov is getting pissed because he hits a HARD stomp and an elbow to the back of the head. Ustinov tries an Irish whip and Anderson tries to reverse it but ends up falling on his ass, which leads to Ustinov Irish whipping him into the ropes and hitting one of the STIFFEST CLOTHESLINES EVER! He loaded that one up from Reno, I kid you not. Of course, the three-count is academic, as is Kahn coming in afterwards and throwing Anderson out of the ring like a sack of trash and ramming Anderson into a chair before chopping the shit out of him. Anderson is STILL not selling anything and standing there like he's waiting for a bus or something.
Winner: Soldat Ustinov (pinfall, stiff clothesline)
Match Analysis: That was uncomfortable to watch and I actually felt bad for Ustinov. I don't know what the hell Anderson's problem was, but he just kept popping up after every move like they were nothing and he made Ustinov look like shit for the entire match. I would have stiffed him too and you could tell by the end that Ustinov AND Kahn were pissed at him. Weird way to start the show, that's for sure.
After the match, Lee Marshall gets an interview with Madusa Miceli and Debbie Combs and it sounds like pretty much the same interview that they both gave about Brandi Mae previously. Not word for word, but pretty damn close.
Larry Nelson runs down the situation between Curt Hennig and Jerry Lawler and then we get an interview with Lance Russell talking to Jerry Lawler. Lawler says that there's a huge list of challengers and he tends to leave choosing who he faces next up to AWA President, Stanley Blackburn. Lawler says that Hennig is whining away and that there are a lot of guys like Gagne, McDaniel, Kerry Von Erich and CWA Champ, Max Pain that deserve a shot before Hennig does. He says that he's going to talk to the championship committee and tell them just that, that Hennig deserves to wait in line and that he should be waiting for a long, long time. Ouch. When they feel like Max Pain deserves a shot before you, I'd say that's a good sign that you've already got one foot out the door and they know about it.
Match Two: AWA International Television Championship Dennis Stamp vs. Greg Gagne
They circle a little to start out and Gagne gets a lockup and they trade go-behinds as we hear that Jerry Lawler is joining the guys on commentary. They break out of the go-behinds and Stamp gets a side headlock that Gagne reverses right into a headscissors. Stamp goes back to the headlock and Gagne reverses it to a hammerlock, but Stamp reverses THAT into a top wristlock as Lawler tells outright lies, talking about how he could possibly be defending the AWA World Title at Wembley Stadium in London. That one made me laugh out loud. Stamp gets a one-count off of the top wristlock and Gagne hits the reversal to the hammerlock again. Stamp gets to his feet and tries to snap mare Gagne over but he holds onto the hammerlock and turns it into a straight armbar and half-abdominal stretch. Lawler says that he thinks that Gagne should have been the number one contender and not Hennig and in the ring, Gagne has to break the hold as Stamp gets to the corner and the ropes. Stamp tries a cheapshot on the break and Gagne isn't too happy about it. Side headlock from Gagne and Stamp shoots him into the ropes, taking a hard shoulderblock but firing back with a knee to the gut. Hard right hands from Stamp and he rams Gagne into the top turnbuckle before whipping him face-first into the opposite corner. Stamp gets a slam and a two-count off of it as Lawler talks about wanting to defend his title against anyone and not just being a company champion, but defending against any wrestler, anywhere, anytime, already sowing the seeds for the interpromotional hijinks that the AWA would be involved in before the end of 1988. Stamp starts choking Gagne across the top rope and slingshots him off before Gagne takes over with punches and chops. Irish whip from Gagne into a big dropkick and he rakes the sole of his boot across Stamp's face to follow up. Stamp goes to the gut to break that up and grabs a side headlock and Gagne shoots him into the ropes, taking a shoulderblock but then dropping down and suckering Stamp right into the GAGNE SLEEPER!! Stamp is counting bookings in Amarillo before you can say Funk and Gagne is the winner of the match!
Winner: Greg Gagne (submission, Gagne Sleeper)
Match Analysis: This is the proof that Gagne needs someone in there with him to have a good match. I mean, technically it was sound, but this thing was just a black hole for heat. The fans weren't into it and the most interesting thing about it was Lawler on commentary. To me, that's why Gagne was never THE top guy, because he couldn't carry the crowd with him in matches against lesser opponents.
Soldat Ustinov gives a promo on a bumper before the commercial, talking about the farmers in the North Dakotas and how he and Kahn are going to destroy Jerry Lawler and Baron Von Raschke. That accent is still terrible, by the way.
IT'S MY MONEY, AND I NEED IT NOW!!! SO GIVE IT TO ME ASSHOLE OR I'LL STAB YOU WITH A FORK!!! That's a much better ending to that catchphrase really.
Match Three: Big Mountain Fudgecake vs. Krusher Krugnoff
Fudge makes his way to the ring with his hobo bindle, which is a burlap sack with a peanut company logo on the side of it. Krugnoff kicks the bindle before the match starts, which I'm sure broke one of Fudgecake's Faberge eggs that he was holding in there for safe keeping. Better have your life insurance paid off, Krugnoff. The two big men lockup and Krugnoff gets a side headlock but Mountain just slings him off and nearly RIPS HIS HEAD OFF WITH A CLOTHESLINE!! Krugnoff did a great sell, going ass over teakettle for it too. The Cake gets a side headlock and gets shot off into the ropes, leading to Krugnoff "hitting" a dropkick, if you can call getting up to be able to kick Fudgie in mid-thigh a dropkick. The crowd shits on it and Krugnoff knows just how to win them back. FRONT FACELOCK!! Krugnoff goes to the eyes and then chokes away at Mountain on the ropes before hammering away with punches and kicks. Cage comes back with a couple of shots and Irish whips Krugnoff into the corner, hitting a running knee and then grabbing a side headlock. If he had hit a bulldog, it would be official that CM Punk is stealing his moves from Fudgecake and I think the universe would have imploded upon itself. Irish whip from the Fudged One and he gets a big bearhug on Krugnoff into a modified spinebuster. Mountain starts talking shit to the camera at ringside, saying something about Hennig as Krugnoff runs around on the outside to take a breather and decides that it stime to take a walk. The referee gets up to the ten-count and the match is over!!! Mercifully.
Winner: Big Mountain Fudgecake (count-out)
Match Analysis: Short and inoffensive, and for once, Fudgecake wasn't responsible for the worst botch of the match. That dropkick was hideous and I don't blame Krugnoff for wanting to walk after that, because I would have been embarassed too. I'm hoping that this BMF experiment ends soon because he's just boring to watch time and time again.
Brandi-Mae talks to Lee Marshall and sounds like a "Gee, shucks" kind of babyface as she challenges Madusa for her AWA Womens' Championship. Again, it all sounds vaguely familiar, but not word for word.
Larry Nelson says that it's time to go to a match featuring the King of Professional Wrestling and YOUR new AWA World Heavyweight Champion, Jerry Lawler.
Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee
We're joined in progress in Memphis for this one and Dundee has Lawler in a side headlock, looking for a bulldog but Lawler goes with the move and crotches Dundee on the top turnbuckle. DOWN COMES THE STRAP!! Lawler starts firing off the right hands before cracking Dundee with left jabs as we hear that they're sixteen minutes into this bout. Lawler gets a long two-count and they're both back to their feet with Dundee getting a roll-up off the ropes and Lawler kicking him off into the referee. Lawler hits a kick to the gut and while the referee is down, LAWLER GETS THE PILEDRIVER!!! Of course, that move was illegal at the time so it makes sense that Lawler had to wait until the referee was down. That still only gets a two-count as Lance Russell talks about how you'd have to shoot one of them to get the win. It's Memphis and Lawler is popular, which means it could still happen, so don't give the hillbillies any ideas Lance. Lawler puts Dundee down with a big right hand and another and Irish whips Dundee into the corner but Dundee kicks Lawler right in the mush as he charges in. Dundee takes over with right hands again in the corner and he's MEASURING those shots. Hip toss from Dundee and he rams a right hand into Lawler's face in the opposite corner. He hip tosses him again and tries the charging punch one more time but Lawler's dug into his trunks for an INTERNATIONAL OBJECT!! He WAFFLES Dundee with it and gets the 1-2-3!!!
Winner: Jerry Lawler (pinfall, International Object shot)
Match Analysis: A good ending to what seemed to be a hot match, but the thing with the Memphis territory is that it was all about the brawling, so even when it was a match for the World Heavyweight Championship, it was all kicky-punchy. That's pretty much the norm these days, but it wasn't back in '88 as much and so it kind of came off as just another match. Add to that, that you really couldn't see any way that Bill Dundee would be a believable champ and it all kind of seemed moot. I'm sure the crowd in the Mid-South Coliseum loved it and it sure sounded like they did, but I just couldn't get into it really.
Nelson talks about Hennig again after the match and how bitter he is about the loss, before throwing it to Curt Hennig for comments. Hennig's got his welding goggles on, and for once I don't blame him because that shimmery pink backdrop is retina burning. He talks about how the Grand Forks State Fair wants him to wrestle there while I ponder when Grand Forks became a state. He says that the people know that where Hennig goes, excitement follows because he rides on the end of a lightning bolt. He challenges Lawler to bring the title belt up north to somewhere like Chicago or Minneapolis, Miami or San Francisco and he says that he wants to have his way and pick the referee and get the stipulations he wants. He does a little more whining and he's done with his promo, leading to a bumper promo from Wahoo McDaniel, who says it doesn't matter to him whether it's Lawler or Hennig, he's number one on the ladder and he feels like it just might be his lucky day. He says that Lawler might end up being the unlucky one that has to defend his title against Wahoo in his hometown of Charlotte. Boy, lots of guys want matches in their hometowns against the champ all of a sudden.
After the commercial, Nelson throws it to a Badd Company/DDP promo and he calls them the AWA Tag Team Champions of the universe! He asks if the Rock n' Rolls think they're the only tag team in the world before talking about how Saito and Choshu and the "Taco vendors" all want shots at the gold. He badmouths Lawler and Gagne before saying that they're coming to more cities and towns and he finishes it off by reminding the Rock n' Rolls that they're Badd Company and that's B-A-Double D, BADD!! God, that pink backdrop is hideous.
Match Five: AWA World Tag Team Championship (Mat Classic) Wilbur Snyder and Pepper Gomez vs. Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens (c)
It's Mat Classic time again and we're joined in progress in the second fall with Gomez and Snyder up 1-0 and we get to see Stevens working over Snyder in the middle of the ring before tagging Bockwinkel in to continue with the reverse chinlock. Snyder tries to reverse out but Bockwinkel holds him down until Snyder finally gets the hot tag to Gomez and all hell breaks loose! Gomez with big right hands on Bockwinkel and he gets a two-count before Stevens comes in to break up the pin. Airplane spin from Gomez and he gets another two-count as Stevens makes the save again. All four men in the ring now and Snyder gets right hands on Stevens against the ropes as Gomez hits his famous buttdrop into a cradle pin attempt. Stevens sees that the referee is distracted with getting Snyder out of the ring and drops a HARD knee across the throat of Gomez, allowing Bockwinkel to get the three-count. In comes manager Bobby "the Brain" Heenan to congratulate Stevens and I guess we don't get to find out who won the third fall and the match, unless Gomez was somehow unable to continue.
Winners: Ray Stevens and Nick Bockwinkel (pinfall, Stevens knee to the throat)
Match Analysis: Stevens and Bockwinkel were a great heel tag team and they showed it here by cheating to win and get the advantage while doing enough damage to Gomez that he would have been ineffective for the rest of the bout. Fun to get to see Stevens and Bockwinkel in their primes and this is the first time I can remember seeing Snyder, so that makes it cool, but again, I wish it had been longer.
Big K is rambling after the commercial and I fast forward through nearly all of it, only stopping to catch him calling the NWA the minor league of wrestling while talking about The Rock n' Roll Express. Oh man, that one caught me off-guard and had me giggling for awhile. I also catch the end when he tells the Midnight Rockers to wash some cars or sell some t-shirts. They'll actually sell a ton of t-shirts when they get to the WWF, so I guess you really do know everything, Big K! Jackass.
Match Six: Baron Von Raschke vs. Curt Hennig
A woman proudly holds up her sign in the front row, exclaiming "Curt The Jerk". Um, Curt and Jerk don't rhyme honey. Maybe you should wait for the roller derby to come back to the Showboat because wrestling's a little too highbrow for you. Hennig and Baron lockup and stalemate before they hit another one and another stalemate. Hennig pushes baron into the corner and hits a HARD chop that pisses Von Raschke off and he glares Hennig out of the ring while threatening him with the clawhold. Hennig's on the outside yelling at Lee Marshall, saying that Lawler must be trying to cripple him by putting him in with the Baron, but he's not going to take it and he's going to make an example of him right now! Baron pushes Hennig into the corner and gets a big shot to the face before unloading with some forearms. Baron gets a snap mare and kicks Hennig in the back before moving to the reverse chinlock. Hennig gets to his feet and Baron transitions to a side headlock, holding onto it as Hennig tries to shoot him off the ropes. Hennig pushes him into the ropes and lands some shoulderblocks off the break before leveling him with some forearms and getting his own side headlock.
Baron shoots him into the ropes and neither man budges on a shoulderblock before Baron chases Hennig back to the outside of the ring to the floor. Hennig finally makes it back into the ring and offers the olive branch of peace with a handshake. Von Raschke, being German, stomps on the peace offering and tries to crush Hennig's hand like it was Poland in 1939. Hennig makes the ropes and takes a shot to the face before Von Raschke whips him into the corner and follows with a punch to the gut. Right hand from Baron and he whips Hennig into the ropes for a back bodydrop but Hennig gets a kick in the face and chokes Baron against the second rope before badmouthing the crowd. Hennig goes to the outside and drops an elbow on Von Raschke's chin on the apron before coming back into the ring and snap maring Baron into a chinlock. Baron tries to elbow out of the chinlock but Curt just whips him into the ropes and hits him with a BEAUTIFUL dropkick!! That gets a long two-count and Hennig's not happy about it, hammering away with a forearm before whipping Baron in for a back bodydrop, which leads to another long two-count.
Hennig moves to the abdominal stretch and starts using the ropes for extra leverage, hiding it just as the referee looks up. The third time is the charm though as when he tries for the ropes again, Baron powers out with a hip toss. Hennig hits merciless shoulderblocks in the corner and then whips Baron across into another big back bodydrop which gets another two-count. Hennig: "Come on, GODDAMMIT!!" Tremendous. He stomps away at Baron and gets a neckbreaker, dropping as slow as humanly possible to try to protect Baron, showing just what a pro he is. Another long two-count and Baron kicks out, which just pisses Hennig off even more. Right hand from Hennig and he hits another one to the gut before Irish whipping Baron in for another back bodydrop but Baron reverses it into a SUNSET FLIP!!! 1-2...HENNIG KICKS OUT!! Hennig takes over with more elbows and punches and then hits a stomp to the gut as Baron is on his back. Hennig: "GIVE ME SOME COMPETITION!!!" I heart heel Curt.
STIFF chops from Hennig and he's firing up the Baron, who makes Hennig retreat with just his ugly glare. He no-sells Hennig's punches before blocking one and coming back with a bunch of his own. Irish whip into the corner and he hip tosses Hennig out, leading Hennig to scream "WAIT A SECOND!" Seriously, this is like an infomercial for Hennig's greatness. Baron threatens him with the claw before poking him in the eyes and he hits a couple of right hands before whipping Hennig in for the CLAWHOLD!! He misses it the first time but GETS IT THE SECOND!! THE CLAWHOLD IS LOCKED IN!! Hennig is slowly going down and out but NOT BEFORE HE PUNCHES REFEREE GARY DERUSHA IN THE FACE!!! FANTASTIC!! DeRusha is on the floor, writhing like he's been shot by a cannon and Baron's got the claw on and has put Hennig out with it. The referee calls for the bell and Baron is triumphant in the middle of the ring. After Baron leaves the ring, Hennig throws a HORRIBLE temper tantrum, including a classic spot where he gets onto the second rope to talk some shit and then crotches himself on the top rope as he tries to get down.
Winner: Baron Von Raschke (disqualification, Hennig puching out the ref)
Match Analysis: That was fantastic to see, mainly because Hennig could have been out there against a shadow at this point and made it an excellent match. He hid all of the Baron's shortcomings beautifully and got probably the longest and best match out of Von Raschke in years. A match like this shows what a travesty it was that Hennig never got a chance to shine with the big belt in the WWF and instead had to make do with the Intercontinental Title because of Hogan's inability to let go. If Hennig had been able to pull a fast one on Hogan and win the belt, his heel reign would have been outstanding and it probably would have allowed Hogan's WWF babyface character to recharge a little bit and given it a tad more shelf life. An absolute masterpiece from one of the greatest to step into the ring, not for the match itself, but for all the little things he did to make it ten times better than it had any right to be.
Final Thoughts
A mixed bag because the three-quarters of the show was pretty terrible, but the last fifteen minutes with Curt Hennig was outstanding. To me, the good doesn't outweigh the bad though, so I have to give this one a thumbs-down, but believe me, Hennig taught a master class in heel wrestling in that match with Von Raschke and I think that every guy that wants to be a pro wrestler should watch that match and try to learn everything they can from Hennig's performance in it.
Fun With Comments
From OB1 Jabroni: "I have missed the last two shows, (grading papers is a bitch) but I am back. The dropkick that Rice did on Harry was one of the BEST I have ever seen. Handsome Harry was one of my favorite "talent enhancement" workers of all time. He had style, sold like a mother, and makes a squash a little easier to sit thru. Here's hoping to another good show 2nite."
Harry was actually a good hand to get people over and that dropkick from Rice was one of the better ones I've seen too. Too bad it was his only believable move.
From Brian: "To other Brian:
Go get your shinebox.
Anyway,
I totally agree with your opinions on the tag scene in the AWA. They always seemed to bring the goods with the tag action, even in these dying days of the promotion.
Since this show was originally shown 6/11/88 you should have the following tag match coming up in the next few shows:
Badd Company vs. Robert Gibson / Greg Gagne
Good tag match, hopefully they show it for you to review
And also, some other good singles competiton coming up (these are listed in the 1988 AWA set I have):
Lawler vs. Dundee Hennig vs. Baron Hennig vs. Gagne
So those should be serviceable
Great reviews, I really enjoy reading them."
Well, we saw Lawler/Dundee and Hennig/Baron on this show, so Hennig/Gagne should be coming soon, as well as the tag match, so there's still a little hope left for me when it comes to the AWA shows. Thanks for the support and I'm glad you enjoy the reviews!
From Frozen: "My two favorite parts of this show:
1.Larry Nelson announcing Derrick Dukes as "Darryl Dukes" pre- and post-match. This, of course while Rod Trongard called him "Derrick Duke" during the match.
2.Pat Tanaka getting ready to do the "leapfrog over your partner to land on your opponent" spot but Paul Diamond didn't duck down, so Tanaka had to re-do the spot."
I noticed the botch, but since it's Badd Company and they're awesome, they're allowed a free one every now and again. As for Larry continually calling him "Darryl" Dukes, maybe he was trying to glom off of some of the popularity of Newhart and he, Dukes and Daryl Nickle could do the Larry, Darryl and Daryl spiel. Hey, it was 1988 and Verne was desperate so you never know.
From DP: "it saddens me that this isn't shown here in Aus as every weekk i read the reviews, and it seems like an amazing hour of memories."
It's really fun to see for old time's sake, but all is not lost for you. If you click on the videos that I posted in yesterday's column, that particular Youtube account has tons of the matches from the shows that are running on ESPN Classic, usually only a day or two after they've aired. You can still check out all of the action, just make sure you do it after you read the review cause I need the hits man!!! Hopefully that info helps to satisfy your craving for AWA action!
Finally from greggagnesucks: "When the f**K did Tommy Jammer debut? I got the Bob Luce collection from Bob Barnett and it's kickass!!Bobby Heenan vs Pepper Gomez in a Mexican Strap match was worth the 20 bucks alone.Add in The Blackjacks,Dick the Bruiser,Crusher,Gagne Sr.,Wahoo,Bockwinkle,Stevens,Baron,Rhodes & Murdoch and much more and it's a steal! FYI: Vince would hire Paul Diamond away from Verne and use him as a jobber until Konnan quit and he became Max Moon Same as D.J. Peterson,Pat Tanaka and Kevin Kelly who became Nailz the convict."
That Bob Luce set sounds like a lot of fun, and I'm really itching to get a look at the new Mid-South two-disc set that I just got my hands on. After Vince hired away Diamond and Tanaka seperately, you'll remember he reunited them as the new version of the Orient Express, Kato and Tanaka, after Sato left the team. As for Tommy Jammer, he wouldn't debut until the beginning of 1989, so we're still a little ways off from seeing him yet.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 13:54:21 GMT -6
88 AWA Championship Wrestling Larry Nelson and Lee Marshall run down the show and all of the goings-on in the AWA as of late before throwing it to the ring for the opening bout. Lee, that haircut is a disgrace and you should be ashamed of yourself. You don't often see a mullet in a tuxedo, but here it is. Match One: David Koorijion vs. Curt Hennig w/Madusa Miceli Here comes Curt to the ring and apparently it's a little chilly in the arena for Madusa tonight. Madusa tries to intimidate referee Gary DeRusha and shoves him with her boobs before she makes her way out of the ring, as does Curt. Always a gentleman. Knee to the gut and some chops start things out for Hennig and he ends up just shoving Koorijion into the corner and taking over with some punches. An Irish whip and a punch to the gut leads to Hennig picking him up and ramming him head-first into the turnbuckle, following that up with a hard elbow to the head. Hennig pushes Koorijion into the corner and tries an Irish whip but Koorijion reverses it and picks Hennig up for a big slam, and another! Hennig sells them great, flailing and flopping his arms the entire time that Koorijion had him in the air. Koorijion charges in somewhat slowly and Hennig makes him pay with two boots to the mush before the Perfect-plex ends it. Hennig continues to lay the stomps in on Koorijion until he's out on the floor and Hennig looks angry as hell. Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, Perfect-plex) Match Analysis: Curt laid a real stomping in on the jobber, and it fit perfectly with the persona he was using at the time, so there's no problems with me for the opener. Plus Madusa looked smoking as usual, which makes everything a little better. Hennig was so versatile to be able to go from chickenshit heel against Baron the night before to ass-kicking machine here against the jobber. More great work from the future Mr. Perfect. Another classic bumper promo from Soldat Ustinov and Teijo Kahn and he says that when they go to North Dakota, they'll show those bumpkins how to farm the RUSSIAN WAY!! Potatoes are where it's at, by the way. He threatens Jerry Lawler and then we see Greg Gagne with a special announcement that he says that he was so excited about, he took it from Larry Nelson. I'm sure Larry was crying and combing his beard for hours after that. Anyhow, the announcement is that "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka is coming back to the AWA and we get to see one of those somewhat sad AWA highlight video packages for him. Even watching the Snuka highlights from '86 reminds me of how long two years has been for the AWA and how if it's this sad to see after only two years, imagine how the long-time fans of the company felt watching the product in 1988 and beyond after seeing the glory days. I'd have stopped watching too in all honesty. Match Two: Pete Sanchez vs. Wahoo McDaniel Sanchez starts the match out by leaning through the ropes and begging off before they hit a lockup. Wahoo gives him a clean break in the corner, though he threatens a chop. Side headlock takeover by Wahoo and Sanchez is SCREAMING on the mat before he hooks the bottom rope with his toe to break the hold. He heads out to the apron for a moment before coming back into the ring and trying a kick and punch. Wahoo decides he's humored him enough and CHOPS THE SHIT out of him until Sanchez ends up going over the top rope to the floor. While on the floor, Sanchez engages in some lively debate with the cultured fans of the AWA in Las Vegas, telling them to "Shut up!!". He's witty, I'll give him that. McDaniel pushes Sanchez into the corner and works some shots to the kidneys before hitting a bit tomahawk chop and snap maring Sanchez out to the middle of the ring. Neck crank from McDaniel and he continues to chop away at the head of Sanchez, though Sanchez tries to fire back with a couple of shots. McDaniel cuts him off again with HARD punches to the gut and he Irish whips Sanchez in for the BIG CHOP and a follow-up elbowsmash to get the 1-2-3!! Winner: Wahoo McDaniel (pinfall, elbowsmash) Match Analysis: The same kind of match McDaniel had for almost his entire AWA run, and I still think that I have yet to see him take a bump onto his back. Good for what it was, but to beat a dead horse, McDaniel had no business being in the ring, let alone being one of the featured guys. Match Three: David Biccone vs. Manny Fernandez Fernandez is billed as being from "Texas", which is a pretty big hometown. Fernandez hits a lockup and pushes Biccone into the ropes, giviing him a clean break before Biccone grabs a side headlock. Fernandez shoots him into the ropes and hits a HARD reverse elbow. An Irish whip into another hard shoulderblock and he puts Biccone down with two REALLY stiff chops before he picks him up and headbutts him. Snap mare over and Fernandez tries a kneedrop but Biccone moves out of the way. Manny just looks irate now and will probably end up stiffing him even worse now. Biccone with a side headlock and Fernandez hits an insane belly-to-back suplex and another, folding Biccone in half. Irish whip from Fernandez and he hits another reverse elbow before hitting a clothesline across the top rope on Biccone. HUGE chop from Fernandez and he puts Biccone down, dropping knees to the head and face before choking him with the sole of the boot. Fernandez gets an Irish whip and ducks under an elbow from Biccone to build some momentum and it's FLYING BURRITO TIME~! Count to a hundred ref, it's all over!! Winner: Manny Fernandez (pinfall, flying burrito) Match Analysis: Fernandez seemed like a miserable prick and he took it out on Biccone in this one. Still not the biggest fan of taking liberties with people in the ring and Fernandez was walking the fine line on a couple of occasions, but I guess he didn't care about that much as long as the check cleared. Call me crazy, but I never got Fernandez's appeal. Fernandez demands the microphone after the match, even ripping it out of Larry Nelson's hand. He threatens Wahoo McDaniel while a fan on the hard camera side gives Manny a double-barreled, single-finger salute. Generic threats from Fernandez to McDaniel, but sadly no death threats. Baron Von Raschke cuts a bumper promo with his bat, laying it down for Soldat Ustinov while wearing a suit and tie. This was ALMOST as odd as his "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" promos, just because of that suit. Back from the commercial, Larry Nelson is talking about Magnificent Mimi and how she's now calling the AWA home. He puts over a magazine that Mimi is in that's selling out all over the world before bringing the woman herself in for an interview. He goes all ga-ga over her and she says that she's proud to be in the AWA. She talks about her training with Billy Robinson and Gene LeBell before talking about how she went all over the world, even to Italy, to try challenge Madusa Miceli, but Madusa was hiding. Nelson says that Mimi is ready and in the AWA for the title before going all mushy over her again. Match Four: Mat Classic Crusher Blackwell and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie vs. Mad Dog Vachon and Verne Gagne This one is from the Super Sunday show and joined in progress with Blackwell missing a charge at Gagne in the corner and Gagne slapping on his patented sleeperhold. Sheik tries to get in and break it up but Mad Dog cuts him off and saves Gagne from a sneak attack. The referee tries to get Mad Dog out of the ring and as he does so, Sheik tries to wrap his arm in tape like the cast his partner Blackwell was wearing at the time. Sheik get the arm wrapped and is ready to WAFFLE Gagne with it, but Vachon makes the save again and grabs Sheik's arm to hit BLACKWELL IN THE HEAD WITH IT!! Vachon knocks Sheik onto the apron and Gagne rips the cast of Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie off and they crack El-Kaissie in the head with it. On the outside, Vachon cracks Blackwell in the head with a steel chair and inside the ring Gagne gets a big slam on El-Kaissie for a two-count. Vachon rams Blackwell into the ringpost and heads back into the ring as Gagne slams El-Kaissie's arm onto the turnbuckle. Vachon holds Sheik's arm and Gagne goes up to the second rope to drop a HUGE knee and he gets the pin on Sheik for the three-count!! Winners: Mad Dog Vachon and Verne Gagne (pinfall, second rope knee to the arm) Match Analysis: A big pay-off to a feud and the crowd goes wild and since this was the AWA at its pinnacle the crowd was huge. Nothing much technically since the only guy that could work was Gagne and he was older than dirt, but still fun because of the hatred and brawling and the white-hot crowd. Big K goes on about Manny Fernandez and Wahoo McDaniel before threatening to bring his kid to some roast that Verne was going to have and then challenges Verne and Greg to some sort of something or other. I'll admit, I was watching something else on Youtube at the time, because Big K is just insufferable to watch. Match Five: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Chris Curtis vs. Jerry Lawler (c) Lawler gets the full treatment this time, with the robe and crown to go with the title belt around his waist. They hit a lockup and Curtis gives Lawler a clean break off the ropes before he gets a go-behind. Lawler slings him off and Curtis complains about a pull of the tights before he Irish whips Lawler into the ropes. Lawler goes to the gut with a shot before getting a snap mare and a hard fist drop. Another lockup and Curtis pushes Lawler into the ropes, punching him on the break before trying another Irish whip, but this time Lawler catches the boot as Curtis tries a kick and kicks the other leg out before dropping another fist right in the mouth. Curtis crawls into the corner and calls for a timeout but Lawler's not having it. He Irish whips Curtis in and actually ends up getting caught the same way he caught Curtis, but Lawler fires off an enziguri! PURO LAWLER~! Lawler picks Curtis up and whips him in for a big back bodydrop followed by a kneedrop to the face. He picks Curtis up and gets a big bodyslam before running over to the second rope for the FISTDROP!! There's the three-count and there's the victory for Lawler!! Winner: Jerry Lawler (pinfall, second-rope fistdrop) Match Analysis: The usual Lawler match and just a squash to get the champ on TV. Nothing exciting and nothing much to see here really. Madusa cuts a bumper promo, wondering who the hell Mimi is before disputing the rumors that Mimi showed up Milan for a challenge. She says that she's a REAL star and if Mimi has any doubts, she should call Playboy. I don't get what that means and it doesn't make a ton of sense, but it does allow for a nice trip to fantasyland for yours truly. Match Six: AWA World Tag Team Championship The Rock n' Roll Express vs. Badd Company (c) DDP does his usual introductions for Badd Company and they actually get their swank-ass intro music tonight. And I can HEAR IT!! Hallelujah, I'm not deaf!! We're told that Ricky Morton missed his plane and that he wouldn't be able to make the match, which means that Robert Gibson is going to team with GREG GAGNE~! DDP goes haywire, claiming that they didn't sign on for this and that it's a travesty before Gagne and Gibson clear the ring of Badd Company and Diamond Dallas. Match Six Re-mix: AWA World Tag Team Championship Robert Gibson and Greg Gagne vs. Badd Company (c) Gibson and Tanaka start things out and Gibson nearly catches Diamond on the apron with a superkick as Greg Gagne gets the crowd riled up on his side of the ring. Gibson and Tanaka lockup and Gibson gets a hip toss and a couple of armdrag takedowns off the ropes, prompting Tanaka to take a powder out to the floor. Diamond tries a sneak-attack on Gibson but gets caught and both members of Badd Company hit the floor to do a little re-grouping. Tanaka gets back in the ring and discusses a little strategy with Diamond before they lockup again. Gibson gets a headlock and Tanaka pushes him into the corner, threatening a right hand off of the break, but Gibson's already made the tag to Gagne and Greg headlocks Tanaka over to the mat. Tanaka reverses to a headscissors but Gagne breaks free of it and gets a HARD shot on Tanaka before ramming his head into Gibson's knee in the corner. Gagne takes over with some high-flying offense, finishing it off with a dropkick that puts Tanaka back out to the floor. Tanaka makes it back into the ring and ends up right back in a side headlock from Gagne, but he goes to the eyes to break it and gets a hard slam before tagging in Diamond. Diamond misses an elbowdrop and ends up in a headlock as Gagne tags in Gibson who continues working the pressure on that headlock. Irish whip from Gibson into a dropkick on Diamond and he gets another standing dropkick on him before tagging in Gagne. Gagne gets a couple of chops into a two-count and then grabs a side headlock takeover, cranking away on the hold even after Diamond makes it back to his feet. Shot to the kidneys from Diamond breaks the hold and he grabs a side headlock but gets shot into the ropes. The end result of the rope-running sequence is Diamond missing a cross-bodyblock and ending up sliding under the ropes to the floor again. Diamond makes it back in at nine, just barely avoiding the countout and he's begging off and trying to get Gagne to shake hands. Gagne gives him a kick to the face and noggin-knockers the heel team before Diamond ends up getting ping-ponged back and forth between Gagne and Gibson, eating right hands from both men. Tag to Gibson and he comes off the second rope with a double axehandle onto Diamond, picking him up for an Irish whip into the corner. Gibson charges in after him and Diamond moves out of the way, meaning Gibson went all the way through, ramming his shoulder into the ringpost. Diamond gets the tag to Tanaka and Tanaka works over the arm immediately with a deep armbar. Tanaka holds onto the trunks for extra leverage and when Gagne argues with the referee about it, Diamond and Tanaka pull an illegal switch. Diamond grabs the hair and yanks Gibson down into the armbar again. HARD elbow from Diamond to the gut of Gibson and he tags Tanaka back in for more work on the arm. Gibson gets a trip to reverse the armbar but it's only for a moment as Diamond gets the tag with Tanaka and mocks Gagne a little before moving back to the armbar. Gibson gets to his feet and throws some right hands but Diamond blind tags Tanaka and he cuts Gibson off with some right hands and a headbutt. Gibson gets a right hand and crawls through Tanaka's legs to get the HOT TAG TO GAGNE!! RIGHT HANDS TO TANAKA AND DIAMOND!! KNEELIFT TO TANAKA!! FLYING DROPKICK BY GAGNE!!! 1-2...TANAKA KICKS OUT!! HUGE BACK BODYDROP FROM GAGNE!! Diamond drops an elbow to break up the pin attempt and all four men are in the ring. Gibson gets sent out to the apron as Gagne gets a roll-up on Tanaka. Diamond grabs Gagne and THROWS HIM OVER THE TOP ROPE TO THE FLOOR!!! The referee turns around and calls for the bell!! Winners: Greg Gagne and Robert Gibson (disqualification, over the top rope rule) Match Analysis: Another week, another hot tag main event for the AWA. How unlucky are the R n' R's with flights as this was the second time one of them wasn't there because they missed a "connecting flight". And if they were such close partners, wouldn't they have been travelling together and BOTH missed the plane? Anyhow, the match itself was like the usual AWA tag team matches in that it started slow, picked up really well for the heat sequence in the middle and by the end the crowd was sucked in big time. It shows how great Diamond and Tanaka as a team really were because they could do this with ANYONE and make the crowd get into it, even a makeshift team. Gagne did well as a fill-in for Morton as well, but part of me was a little disappointed to not see the R n' R's against Badd Company, for obvious reasons. Larry Nelson stops the faces after the match and gets some words with them at ringside. Gagne thinks that Badd Company threw him out over the top to save their hides and then he thanks Robert Gibson for asking him to be his tag team partner. He puts over Gibson and says that anytime he needs a partner, he can call Greg Gagne. Gibson says that it's not going to stand and that Rock n' Roll and Greg Gagne are going to be around for a long, long time. Final Thoughts A pretty good show from top to bottom. Nothing outstanding, but nothing overly terrible either and a lot of things were featured and progressed, which is about all you can ask for in an hour of television. The main event saved the show a bit though because it was heading for a thumbs in the middle, semi-decent show before the last match put it over the top. Thumbs up, but mainly for the main event, the rest of the show was just kind of there and mainly worked to keep the guys that were on top over and keep the storylines in motion. Fun With Comments From Guest. : "You know, when Rocky Mountain Thunder is not the worst worker in a match, it's pretty bad. Krusher Krugnoff had a lot of sloppiness in that match, dropkick aside. The dropkick reminded me of Vader's bad dropkick from a long while back actually, but that might've been the worst match I've seen on the AWA, and it didn't even feature someone's back broken to lighten my spirits. And hey, RMT has a flannel tonight, furthering the transfer to hobo." Yeah, that was a BAD dropkick. I think that BMF really was just a hobo that they had found somewhere and decided to throw him into the ring. I'm sure the bindle was full of the sandwiches Verne paid him to wrestle. From HMFiles: "Even though Dundee was a second-tier (at best) in other territories, he was a deity at (or slightly below) the level of The Almighty Jerry Lawler in Memphis. To Mempho fans, it was not necessarily out of the question for Dundee to win the World Title, especially at the expense of someone with whom he's traded countless victories over the decades. It's just kind of weird for this match to be featured in a national AWA telecast, since Dundee would have had virtually no credibility in the eyes of many AWA fans." I agree that on the local level, Dundee would have been a big draw, but like you said, Dundee meant nearly nothing on a national level at this time, so to have him challenging for the AWA title and to have to have Lawler cheat to beat him by the skin of his teeth made Lawler and the title look a little weak. I get that that was how it worked in the territories, but that was before TV too and the champion could get away with stuff like that. From Random Guy: "I remebered something fun on masa Saito. Now, he invented two moves, the Saito Suplex, and the Kneeling Figure-Four Leglock which he called the Jailhouse Lock. Think the name came from his experiences?" It very well could have. I'm not touching that any further. From Frozen: "Is it just me or did it seem like Krugnoff gave up while in the bearhug but the ref didn't hear or see it? When Krugnoff left the ring, he seemed pretty resigned to the fact that the match was already over. I don't know, maybe it's just me." That could have been the case because it seemed like Krugnoff thought the match was done. Thinking back on it, that makes a lot more sense than just the countout finish they ended up going with. From DP: "in the words of a current superstar Curt Hennig was that damn good. Hennig should of got a reign even if it was transational, he always got amazing heat as a heel in WWF/E." I couldn't agree more. Hennig deserved a chance to run with the ball on a big-time level. From Joe K. : "This may sound odd but Big K is becoming a draw for me. I'm draw to the segment just to see how boring he can actually get. I was funny to hear him declaring the NWA the "minor leagues", though. At least the NWA was running PPVs and not relying on other promotions to help fill up their PPV cards. Oddly enough, the two "similar" promos you mentioned sounded like better takes of the previous ones, so I wonder why they didn't just go with the second takes. Oh, and I'm calling a AWA/Indy darling dream match right now...Big Mountain Fudgecake v. NECRO BUTCHER! One things for sure, one of the two would be dead by the end of the match. And BMF's only shot would be to use that Widow's Peak botch." Big K is terrible and deserves to have his tongue cut out because he is committing assualt on the English language on a nightly basis. From awafan: "My dream of a "Best of" for Big Mountain Fudgecake is coming true!!! Man that DVD would make a great Father's Day gift. Also, A Wilbur Snyder match and no abdominal stretch? What gives? The man invented the hold for God's sakes let him use it. Also, Nice to see Hennig help the elderly with his match versus the Baron. They should run the segment with Larry Nelson yelling "Oh Criminey" over and over instead of Big K." I guess they couldn't fit Snyder's stretch into the two minutes they showed of the match. I laughed at your take on Hennig helping the elderly. That was good stuff. Larry Nelson yelling "Oh Criminey" on a loop over and over and over again is running in my head, 24 hours a day. That is possibly the funniest thing I've seen in my time covering this show. From Guest: "Hennig never gets mentioned among the top workers like Bret, Bockwinkel, or Steamboat, but to those of us who've been watching him on these shows its clear he's in that class. People tend to take away credit from him because his prime was cut short due to injury unlike the others. Make no mistake, I think its pretty clear that from 87-91 Curt was the best thing going in wrestling." Agreed, 100%. Curt and Flair were neck and neck in my opinion. Finally from Rob: "I look forward now to DDP's promos, just to see how ridiculously goofy Tanaka & Diamond look standing there with their heelish grins, and DDP reading the teleprompter. I'm also getting a big kick out of Teijo Khan's facial expressions during Soldat's promos. The thing that still stands out to me is how much more life Verne could have given to his shows by using entrance music. I know he's stubbornly old-school, but your World champ and your TV champ should not just be strolling out from the back. Make it a big deal, dammit. Brandi Mae better bring her lunch and her supper. If she forgets, I'm sure Debbie Combs will remind her another 11 times." DDP's promos in front of that awful pink backdrop are hilarious because he does his schtick and then goes right into naming off the towns for five seconds, THEN goes right back into the schtick. It's like he's got ADD or something while he's doing them and it always makes me laugh. I agree on the entrance music, since there were only certain guys that got it and that never made sense to me. As for the Brandi Mae deal, it was kind of funny to hear Combs saying the same thing over and over again like that. I guess it was her catchphrase, just too bad it was a crappy one.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:02:50 GMT -6
88
AWA Championship Wrestling
It's time for another dose of the MAJOR LEAGUE OF WRESTLING~! Larry Nelson does his welcome spiel with Lee Mullet and they talk about the main event between Jerry Lawler and Soldat Ustinov. We get to see Cousin Luke and Teijo Kahn along with Manny "The Raging Prick" Fernandez tonight as well, and they talk up his flying burrito before we end up in the ring for the first bout.
Match One: Mike Luca vs. Teijo Kahn w/Soldat Ustinov
Luca takes off his ring jacket while waiting for Kahn and it must be chilly in the Showboat because he's still wearing a sweater. Oh, that's just his mane of luxurious chest hair. Kahn kicks Luca in the gut and chops at him before chopping hiim down to the mat. Kahn chokes his man against the bottom rope and then Irish whips him in for the BIG reverse elbow. Kahn tries to set him up for a diving chop but Luca gets out of the way and locks in a headlock until Kahn hits him with a HARD belly-to-back suplex. Kahn goes with more chopping offense and then rams Luca into the top buckle, distracting the referee to allow Ustinov to do some choking outside the ring. Kahn gets a forearm to the kidneys and distracts the referee again to allow Ustinov another chance to attack. The guy with the middle fingers on the hard camera side is having a field day with the two "furreners" and he keeps getting blurred out by ESPN's crack editing team. Luca gets a shot to the gut but Kahn goes to the throat with a big choke to cut it off and it's Irish whip time for a VICIOUS double chop to the chest. OH CRIMENY~! Kahn gets a snap mare into a nerve hold on the neck of Luca, letting it go for a headbutt before he goes back to the nerve hold. Funny moment as we hear referee Marty Miller asking Kahn, "Did you just pull the hair there?". I don't know, it made me laugh. Kahn hits another headbutt to the brain stem and Irish whips Luca into the ropes for a HUGE flying clothesline. Kahn starts pacing around the ring and waits until Luca gets to his feet and hits him with A HEART PUNCH!!! OX BAKER FTW~! 1-2-3 and it's all over.
Winner: Teijo Kahn (pinfall, heart punch)
Match Analysis: Short, to the point, and Kahn actually did well not to mess anything up. The guy with the middle fingers was kind of annoying, but if that's the worst thing that I can find with a match, I guess it was alright.
It's bumper promo time!! Ricky Rice is talking to us now, along with his partner Buddy Lembeck, er....Jon Paul. They cut a REALLY generic babyface promo and threaten Badd Company and the whole AWA. The AWA Notebook comes back with more birthday wishes. This week's notable names, referee Gary DeRusha, singer Pat Boone, and actor Stacy Keach, who is known now for his recurring role as the warden on Prison Break, but I remember him best as Christopher's cranky father on the short-lived but awesome show Titus. What the hell, since I mentioned it, here's one of my favorite episodes of that show EVER.
Match Two: Tony Leone vs. Cousin Luke
Good god, this hillbilly may actually want me to watch a Big Mountain Fudgecake match. He's wearing shoes at least. They're over his shoulder, but hey, he's wearing them and that's a big step. He immediately kills his gimmick as a down-home redneck by shaking hands with two black guys in the front row. He gets in the ring and waves to the crowd before he stops to put his shoes on before the match starts. Luke shakes hands with referee Gary DeRusha and DeRusha throws it away, seeming worried that you can catch stupid from skin contact. Leone takes a breather and leans outside the ropes as Rod Trongard notes that he may be confused by Cousin Luke. Well, it's only fair since Cousin Luke is probably confused by the indoor plumbing at the Showboat. We finally get a lockup and Luke shoves him off into the corner. Lee Marshall says he's surprised that Luke put the shoes on, but I'd say I'm more surprised that he knew how to tie them. Hip toss from Luke and he gets a BIG bodyslam that causes a bit of pause for Leone. They hit the Greco-Roman knucklelock and DOWN GOES LEONE! Leone tries to fight back out of it and he goes down again!! Leone's on his knees and I swear he's having a Deliverance moment before Luke lets loose with a hog call. Leone fires off some shots and starts choking Luke in the corner with the tag rope before using the sole of his boot for the same purpose. A couple of punches land for Leone and DeRusha YELLS at Leone to break a choke. Irish whip from Leone and Luke "hits" a kneelift before Leone goes back to the shots to the gut. Irish whip into the corner from Leone and Luke reverses it, landing a follow-up elbow and Luke whips him into the ropes for a double-sledge to the chest. HUGE slam from Luke and he bounces off the ropes with a big splash for the three-count. Larry Nelson hits the ring and oh good christ, he starts dosie-dohing with Luke. I swear to all that is holy, if someone makes me a gif of that, I will owe them forever. HIGH-STEPPIN' NELSON~!
Winner: Cousin Luke (pinfall, splash)
Match Analysis: My eyes will never recover. I honestly don't know what the hell Verne was thinking. I mean at least this guy seemed like he knew how to work, which puts him one up on Fudgecake, but not by much. Horrible gimmick and just a bad match all the way around.
Nelson's in the ring for an interview now and he congratulates Luke and he says that he sees that Luke's gotten his share of cornbread and beans. Luke says that he hasn't been able to find any possum and 'taters and then complains about airline security taking his moonshine. How do you think he'd feel now when they take his toothpicks, nail clippers and mouthwash. Wait, my bad. Nelson asks where Hogwaller, TN is and Luke talks about travelling from Tennessee to Kentucky and how he's got a catfish farm in Mississippi. Nelson congratulates him again and I feel about 40 IQ points stupider just for watching it. Tenneseein is TENNEBELIEVIN!!
Match Three: David Koorijion vs. Manny Fernandez
Fernandez gets a straight armbar into a drop toehold and then struts around the ring, rather proud of himself. Lockup into another straight armbar and he CHOPS Koorijion down to the mat, HARD. Headbutt from Fernandez and he talks some shit to the front row before Irish whipping Koorijion in for a reverse elbow. Koorijion tries a forearm to the chest and Fernandez takes SERIOUS offense to that, chopping him back down to the mat and slamming him hard to the mat. HARD turnbuckle smash from Fernandez and Koorijion actually gets an Irish whip into the corner but Fernandez elbows off Koorijion's mustache when he tries to charge. Lee Marshall talks about the flying burrito and how many countless opponents it's finished off. I've heard Manny used to use it to finish off a few girlfriends and rats as well. Making him look like a mulletted prophet, Fernandez whips Koorijion in and nails him with the FLYING BURRITO~! Fernandez even helpfully yells out "AND THAT'S THE BURRITO" before pinning his opponent for the three-count.
Winner: Manny Fernandez (pinfall, flying burrito)
Match Analysis: More stiff, borderline uncomfortable offense from Fernandez, but at least it was kept somewhat shorter this time. Kind of funny to hear his running commentary while he was handing out the beating, but that's about the only positive really.
After the match, Manny grabs the microphone again, claiming that the crowd must have some Indian in them because they're all ignorant. He starts talking some shit on Wahoo McDaniel and then says that he's going to take Wahoo's Indian pride. Wow, nothing like a little racism to make things uncomfortable for everyone. Madusa cuts a bumper promo and it literally looks like her brain stopped when she tried to read Grand Forks, North Dakota. That's ok honey, you don't have to say anything, just stand there looking gorgeous. They're lucky the microphone stayed out of her mouth for the whole thirty seconds.
Larry Nelson's got Verne Gagne with him and it's time for another Olympic interview and I hit the DVR button to fast forward through it. Nelson then talks about Jimmy Snuka and Gagne says that he first saw Jimmy doing a firedance at one of the local nightclubs in Hawaii. Gagne takes credit for starting him out and then Larry Nelson pimps the Olympians before sending it to Greg Gagne for this week's Mat Classic!
Match Four: Mat Classic Bobby Duncum vs. Wahoo McDaniel
Joined in progress with Duncum dropping some right hands on Wahoo and Wahoo firing back with some of his own. Duncum takes over with an Irish whip and a hard knee to the gut. You can tell this is an old match because Wahoo took a bump. Duncum drops a knee and then uses his shin to choke McDaniel on the mat. He does it again and tries to hide the choke from the referee before going for a pin and getting a two-count. Irish whip into the ropes and Duncum gets a reverse elbow for another two-count. Duncum moves to an armbar-type move and Wahoo goes to the eyes to break it before hitting him with a couple of big chops. Duncum gets an Irish whip and tries for a back bodydrop but Wahoo turns it into an inside cradle for the 1-2-3!!! Duncum is MAD, working over Wahoo in the corner after the match, but once Wahoo starts his war dance, Duncum heads for higher ground.
Winner: Wahoo McDaniel (pinfall, inside cradle)
Match Analysis: Even the Mat Classic seems to be suffering today. This was a shorter clip than usual, featured a guy that's still at the top of the promotion when the show aired (somewhat giving away how "old" he was), and it was lots of punchy-kicky, which wasn't very interesting. Hot finish though, but that was the norm for the AWA in this time period.
After some product sellers, Big K joins us from his basement rec room and talks about Manny Fernandez and Mando Guerrero before bringing up Cousin Luke. He suggests a teaming with Big Mountain Fudgecake and that Badd Company would tear them apart. I don't think I'd be able to handle having both of them on the same team. He talks about the Top Guns team and how great they seem and he says if they want to go far, they should talk to Big K. After he's done yammering Baron Von GQ is here to talk about Teijo Kahn again. Seriously, that suit is unnerving. He says that every time he gets in the ring with Ustinov, Kahn causes trouble. He says that he's dressed for business and he's goign to do business in Minnesota and Iowa, before threatening that it's going to be him and Teijo alone in Las Vegas. He's still carrying the bat too, and I swear I've seen videos on the internet that started with two people alone in Vegas with a baseball bat. Frightening.
Match Five: AWA World Tag Team Championship Larry Biccone and Brian Costello vs. Badd Company (c)
DDP does his introductions of his men, wearing a hideous zebra print tuxedo and a black cowboy hat. He asks where all the talent is when it comes to tag-team wrestling. Um, Charlotte and New York last time I checked, Page. Here comes the champs, complete with their awesome music and Tanaka's gotten a haircut from the last time we saw him, and it looks a little better with the shorter top. Diamon and Biccone start things out with a lockup and they separate before getting another one with Diamond getting a top wristlock. Biccone drops him with some power and Diamond complains about a hairpull. He gets the top wristlock again and goes down again, complaining about another hairpull before taking over with some shots to the gut. He Irish whips Biccone into the corner and charges in but there's no one there and Biccone capitalizes with a standing arm-wringer. Irish whip from Diamond and he gets a HARD knee to the gut before tagging in Tanaka, who works some shots to the gut and a chop before they trade tags and punches, rapid-fire. Diamond grabs a STOMACHBREAKER on Biccone and then drags the carcass over to his corner to tag in Tanaka. They both hit some shots before Tanaka gets a HARD headbutt. Tag to Diamond and he gets a snap mare but misses the follow-up elbowdrop and here comes Costello with a bodyslam and some shoulderblocks, trying for a third but eating a flying clothesline from Diamond. Tag to Tanaka and Costello fucks up the slingshot but they still hit the SLINGSHOT DDT~! It's all over and they lay a few shots in on Costello after the bell sounds for good measure.
Winners: Badd Company (pinfall, slingshot DDT)
Match Analysis: Sq-sq-sq-sq-squash from the Badd-d-d-d-d-d Company!! All of their usual spots, though it sucks that Costello couldn't get up on the finish like he should have. I won't hold that over Badd Company though, cause it's still cool as hell and they're still one of the best things on this show.
Match Six: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Soldat Ustinov w/Teijo Kahn vs. Jerry Lawler (c)
Lawler looks a little like he's been enjoying the buffets at the Showboat a little more since he's been champ, though he did always look a little..doughy. They hit the lockup and Ustinov pushes Lawler into the corner, landing a right hand before Lawler fires back with one of his own. Another lockup and Ustinov throws Lawler onto the ropes in his corner, prompting Lawler to lay one in on the face of Teijo Kahn on the outside before he struts on the inside. Lockup and Ustinov pushes Lawler into the ropes, working a shot to the gut before he picks Lawler up for a HUGE delayed bodyslam. Ustinov tries for a legdrop to follow it and he misses it, with Lawler grabbing a reverse chinlock out of that. HARD right hand from Lawler and Ustinov does a little complaining about it before they move to the Greco-Roman knucklelock. Lawler goes down to a knee for a moment, with a big "USA" chant coming from the crowd. Lawler gets back to his feet and hits a PUNISHING right hand, leading Ustinov to break the hold.
Ustinov gets another shot to the gut out of a lockup and then Irish whips Lawler into the ropes for a bearhug. Lawler sells it like he's getting a leg ripped off and screams even louder when Ustinov starts biting his arm. Another "USA" chant from the crowd and Ustinov rams Lawler's back into the turnbuckles before picking him up in the bearhug again. He lets it go again and hits some HARD shoulderblocks in the corner, following it up with a big forearm shot that puts Lawler down. Ustinov distracts the referee and Kahn starts choking from the outside, letting go in time for Ustinov to come back and choke Lawler with the sole of his boot. Ustinov choeks at Lawler in the corner and Irish whips him into the opposite corner, catching Lawler coming off the buckles and grabbing the bearhug again. Lawler gets to the corner and Ustinov has to break the hold, but he grabs a choke instead. Another Irish whip into the corner and Ustinov charges but EATS A LAWLER RIGHT HAND!
Ustinov cuts off the comeback, raking the eyes of Lawler before trying a snap mare that doesn't work. Ustinov distracts the referee again to let Kahn choke Lawler over the second rope and rake the King's eyes. Ustinov tries for a pin off of that and gets a long two-count before Lawler kicks out. Right hands from Ustinov and DOWN COMES THE STRAP!!! RIGHT HANDS FROM LAWLER!!! HEADLOCK INTO RAPID-FIRE RIGHTS!!! USTINOV WHIPS LAWLER INTO THE REFEREE!!! Ustinov holds Lawler for Kahn to come in and attack him but LAWLER DUCKS!!! KAHN CLOTHESLINES USTINOV!! RIGHT HAND PUTS KAHN TO THE FLOOR!! HERE COMES THE REFEREE!! 1-2-3, IT'S ALL OVER!!!
Winner: Jerry Lawler (pinfall, Kahn-ference)
Match Analysis: This was the beginning of a decent twenty-five minute match. It's too bad that it only got ten and it felt like the ending was just jammed onto it. I meant it all made sense in the context of the match, but it's still a shame that it seemed like they got the opening sequence of a longer match before having to go home. They could have easily cut Cousin Luke or Manny Fernandez's monstrositites and given this one a bit more time, since it seemed like it was heading towards being decent. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.
After the match, Kahn and Ustinov attack Lawler, beating him down in the middle of the ring before they PUNCH LAWLER OVER THE TOP TO THE FLOOR!! Ustinov and Kahn pace around the ring celebrating as referee Gary DeRusha checks on Lawler on the floor. LAWLER'S GOT A CHAIR!! DeRusha gets the chair away from him and Larry Nelson is over to talk with Jerry Lawler. Lawler cuts a promo with Kim Jong-Il standing behind him in the crowd, saying that anytime, anywhere, they can have a piece of the Champ!! He says that they both need to get some balls and attack him from the front instead of from behind and Lawler gets up onto the apron, prompting DeRusha to get in the middle and stop the potential slugfest. That's it for the match and that's it for the show!
Final Thoughts
Thumbs down for me on this one. Nothing exciting in the undercard and a rushed main event doesn't make me very happy. I'm not even touching the Cousin Luke thing, and for me, the best part of the show was Badd Company and that was even a match that had a botch in it. Ah well, at least this week's batch of shows was more good than bad and they have the weekend to break the streak before Monday's show.
Fun With Comments
From OB1Jabroni: "Mmmmm... Magnificent Mimi is milf-a-riffic, gotta love the 80's style ozone killing, a little final net goes a long way, hair-do's of the era. Manny Fernandez is a bigger prick in real life than he is in the ring. He used to stay in a town near mine and the guy was known for causing a scene, acting like a badass, and just never getting out of his role outside of the ring. His forehead looked like a roadmap everytime I saw him in person. Ricky Morton works several house shows around here, and the last one I saw was at the high school I work at. He was the main event, and during the other matches, he was out back drinking beer and puffing on the reefer. The funny thing was, he never offered me any and I was the one who gave him several t-shirts from the lost and found (true story)!! Talk about graditude. Good recap as always, the best part of 411 is your column, keep it up bro"
Thanks for the support OB1, it's good to know that I'm a favorite. I agree about Mimi though, and thank you for the rather hilarious Morton story.
From Rhoda Morgenstern: "Someone needs to get the Big K over as another IWC meme, like Dennis Stamp or Lex Luger not knooooowing."
Maybe someday, Rhoda. Maybe someday.
From Guest. : "Ahh the difference in wrestling in 20 years. Today, there'd be talk of a big beatdown in the back on Morton, which is why he couldn't come out, which would then lead to Greg with Gibson. But anyways, I think the R&R are on their way out here, but its real nice that Greg Gagne was able to at least attempt some retribution on Badd Company, before being thrown out. Still, another good tag match, and its almost sad that Badd Company's carrying the AWA at this point, what with Lawler only part-time and Hennig on his way out.
Also, I wasn't paying full attention, but with Manny Fernandez, even if he was taking liberties, he was still set up as a badass who just destroyed his opponent. It all fit his "Raging Bull" persona I guess."
Yeah, there would have been a lot more of an explanation and maybe even a backstage vignette of a beating to explain where Morton was. Almost sad, but awesome that Badd Company was there. Could you imagine how bad the show would have been without them? I agree that it was part of Fernandez's persona, but he still seemed like an asshole.
From Joe K. : "I guess the appeal of Manny "I DIDN'T play on the 1972 Miami Dolphins but I'll say I DID" Fernandez is that he doesn't look like he would be in ring shape for today's day and age but he still looks like he could kick the shit out of you, you know? I guess it also helped that he fashioned himself as a real life ass kicker, too.
And I hate to think where that Magnificent Mimi magazine ended up if one was in Larry Nelson's posession. "I think me and Mimi are going to get along just fine, if you know what I mean." Shudder."
Yeah, Larry is a creepshow and I'm still figuring that one of these days I'll turn on Dateline and he'll be talking to Chris Hansen and crying that this is the first time he'e ever done anything like that.
From awafan: "Did Wahoo really hit the elbow? on second look the camera shows he missed by a solid foot. Plus, Big K the man who knows all about wrestling doesn't know if Verne's roast involves tennis, golf, or horseshoes. I'm guessing shuffleboard. Why did Verne get the pin in the Mat Classic if Mad Dog had the fued with Blackwell and the Sheik?? Loved the Nintendo Wrestling graphics for the return of Superfly Jimmy Snuka, who's his first match against, Starman or King Slender??? The main event was good even though Greg Gagne was involved and not Ricky Morton. Almost as depressing as Midnight Rockers vs. Midnight Express from a few shows back. Damn Condrey and Rose!!"
I LOVED Nintendo Pro Wrestling when I was a kid. Starman was the man, but I used to always use The Amazon, cause it looked like he was biting people's faces off. Good times. Verne got the pin because he owned the company. I'm surprised he didn't pin Blackwell AND Sheik at the same time quite frankly.
From Guest: "To clarify Madusa's Playboy comment, she posed back in 87 for them but never signed the photo release, thus the pictures were never published. Yeah, that sucks doesn't it?
Curt vs. jobbers are the highlights of the show for me. The sad part is if I remember my chronology correctly the only other "name" guys he worked were one match with Greg Gagne and a title rematch with Lawler."
That Madusa news saddens me to no end. I honestly think I'm near tears. Yeah, he pretty much worked with Gagne and Lawler and then was gone, so we won't get to enjoy him for much longer sadly.
From guest: "Did anybody else have flash backs to Cheapseats during the Manny Fernandez match? I mean he called one of the first moves in the match "The Flying Burrito" even though it didn't involve "flying". I figured any second he'd start calling every move a "Mexican Surfboard". BTW Anybody else notice Curt was already doing the gum swat thing. (Yes, I'm another Hennig fan and thought the WWF could have done way more with him. Then again at the same time I thought WCW could have done way more with Muta so what do I know."
There was some flying cause Fernandez actually got off of his feet, but I agree, there was definitely plenty of Cheap Seats moments in that episode, as well as this one. I marked out every single time that Curt did the gum swat. I'm not ashamed to admit it.
Finally from Guest. : "You know, I noticed it watching tonight's AWA (with Lawler/Ustinav), but why is there a clown in the front row in a blue suit and facepaint? That's aboutas annoying as the guy who has to be continually blurred out cause of flipping the double bird."
I noticed the clown too, but hoenstly after seeing Cousin Luke, the clown fit right in. Yes, the double-bird guy is annoying as HELL because he keeps causing the middle of the ring to blur out, which sucks as a recapper, but such is life.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:04:11 GMT -6
88
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson and his pledge drive beard are here and he runs down the show, which will feature Wahoo McDaniel, Badd Company and Mando Guerrero, and a six-man tag main event with Teijo Kahn, Soldat Ustinov and Manny Fernandez going up against The Top Guns and a mystery partner. SMELL THE EXCITEMENT~!
Match One: Chris Curtis vs. Wahoo McDaniel
I hope Curtis brought his applesauce cause here come the CHOPS! Wahoo fakes a chop and they hit a lockup with a clean break off the ropes. Wahoo gets a side headlock but gets shot into the ropes by Curtis, leading to a big shoulderblock that puts Curtis onto his ass. Wahoo gets another headlock but gets taken over by Curtis and Wahoo ends up getting him in a headscissors, prompting Curtis to scream "NO, NO, NO, NO" before Wahoo chops his back and pulls Curtis' arms into a position I've only seen in prison documentaries. Wahoo moves to a reverse chinlock and then starts raking away at the face. We inexplicably cut away from the action to see Lee Mullet onscreen, talking about the action. Wahoo gets Curtis into the corner and chops away before sending him across for an Irish whip into the corner. Irish whip into the ropes and Wahoo gets a HUGE CHOP!! Curtis manages to stagger to his feet and Wahoo just takes him over with a double-underhook suplex and gets the three-count off of it.
Winner: Wahoo McDaniel (pinfall, double-underhook suplex)
Match Analysis: The usual from Wahoo, so I won't belabor the point any more. Funny to watch Wahoo stretch him a little bit though.
From there, we move to Nelson talking about Magnificent Mimi and we see Mimi's interview with Larry from last week and he still looks as pervert-creepy as he did last time I saw it. Then we see Mimi in the ring, confronting Madusa and saying that she's been all over the world looking for Madusa before challenging her to a match in front of GOD and everybody. Madusa snatches the mic from her and calls Mimi a "scraggly broad". Tremendous. She says again that to get to Madusa, Mimi will have to go through Brandi Mae and then tells Mimi to sit ringside and take some notes on the ass-kicking. You tell her, dollface. Now we get to hear another promo from Madusa, saying that Mimi is full of baloney and that no one's seen her credentials. She says that she's bringing more to the AWA Championship Committee than baloney. I think she's implying that Mimi knows how to smoke sausage as well. Those Minnesotans are crazy about smoked sausage.
Larry Nelson welcomes us back from the break and we get to hear that Verne Gagne is with two twin amateur wrestlers. SNOOOOOORRRRE. The only interesting thing is that one of them beat former WCW wrestler Craig Pittman to get to their Olympic spot. The rest is boring as shit so I accidentally lean on the FF button on the DVR.
Match Two: AWA Tag Team Championship Pete Sanchez and Mike Luca vs. Badd Company
No intro for the jobbers and we're right into Diamond Dallas Page, talking about how they've run the Midnight Rockers and The Rock n' Roll Express out of the AWA and then he screeches for Badd Company to come to the ring. Anything to get his hideous pink zebra-print tuxedo off my screen. B-A-Double D, BADD!! Yeah, that promo was pretty bad, Page, good of you to notice. Tanaka and Sanchez start things out and Tanaka shoots him into the ropes but eats a shoulderblock and then ends up getting slammed a couple of times before Sanchez lays the badmouth on him. There's a lot of empty seats at the Showboat Pavilion for this show. Swirling around the drain time, I suppose. Sanchez gets a side headlock on Tanaka and tags in his partner, Mike Luca, I think. It's hard to see him through all the hair. Tanaka ends up pushing Luca into his corner and tagging Paul Diamond. Diamond comes in and tries an Irish whip, but Luca fucks it up and it looks like ass before Diamond hits a big boot and rams Luca into the top turnbuckle. Diamond tries an Irish whip into the opposite corner but Luca reverses it and ends up hip tossing Diamond out of the corner. Tag to Sanchez and he goes back to the side headlock on Diamond but Diamond just powers him over to tag Tanaka. Tanaka lays in a HARD chop and then tries an Irish whip but ends up getting reversed, though he catches Sanchez with a HUGE superkick on the charge in. Tag to Diamond and he rams Sanchez into the turnbuckle before trying an Irish whip but missing the charge. You'd think that they'd have learned to stop using Irish whips after EVERY one of them has failed, but I suppose. Maybe that was Big K's advice to them. "Use the Irish whip every chance you guys get because I hate Verne Gagne!! They told me there was going to be whishkey in this goddamned basement!!!" Anyhow, there's a tag to Luca and he tries to lock in a side headlock but Diamond folds him up with a NASTY belly-to-back suplex. They hit the WGTT's leapfrog finisher and Tanaka pins Luca with one foot on the chest. FUCK, do I loves me some Badd Company.
Winners: Badd Company (pinfall, leapfrog clothesline finish)
Match Analysis: Badd Company is still on and on a roll, but still, this wasn't very good at all. They seemed to be a little listless and kept doing the same Irish whip moves over and over, which made it a little rough at times. I still love them and I might be completely biased, but whatever, they're awesome.
Bumper promo time!! Ricky Rice is here with his tag partner, Tommy Bradford...errr..Jon Paul. Dammit, why do I keep doing that? Rice thanks all the beautiful women that follow the AWA for their support and he says that they've been training for the...Wait a minute..this is the exact same bumper promo from last time!! I feel so cheated.
Match Three: Bryan Costello vs. Mando Guerrero
They lockup and Guerrero gets a standing arm-wringer and transitions that into a standing sunset flip attempt for a two-count. Test of strength time, but Mando gets a drop toehold into a leglock and transitions that into an armbar. GREAT armdrag takedown from Mando and Costello makes it to the ropes. Side headlock from Costellon and Mando counters with a flying bodyscissors into a mounted pin attempt that gets two. Greco-Roman knucklelock again and Mando does a little flip into a headscissors takeover and Costello pitches a tantrum that Christian would be proud of. Costello gets the side headlock again and he follows up on it by throwing Mando through the ropes to the floor. He cuts Mando off as he tries to get back into the ring and lands a forearm but Mando uses the ropes to flip over and headscissor Costello out to the floor. FLYING CROSSBODY OVER THE TOP ROPE BY MANDO!! He slingshots Costello in and tries an Irish whip but it gets reversed by Costello. Mando does a headstand on the buckle, flipping over into a sunset flip and getting the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Mando Guerrero (pinfall, sunset flip)
Match Analysis: Really cool exhibition for Guerrero's skills, but there wasn't much of anything interesting about it. A fun little spotfest, but meh. I want to see Mando fighting someone decent sometime soon.
Match Four: Mat Classic Mr. Saito vs. Curt Hennig
Salt Lake City, November, 1984 and we join the match in progress with Saito holding onto an abdominal stretch, though Hennig gets a reversal into one of his own. He lets it goe and hits a couple of elbows before throwing right hands to Saito in the corner. He hip tosses Saito out and hits a dropkick for a LONG two-count. Saito gets a shot in to take over and then rams Hennig's head into the top turnbuckle before picking him up with a backbreaker. He cranks on Hennig's back over his knee and Hennig reverses into a headscissors that gets another two-count. They stand and trade right hands and chops and Hennig gets an Irish whip into the ropes, landing a hard shot to Saito's gut. Hennig with a powerslam and he gets another long two-count. Hennig with another Irish whip and he GETS THE AX!! COVER BY HENNIG!! 1-2...SAITO GETS A FOOT ON THE ROPES JUST AS THE TIME LIMIT EXPIRES!!
Winner: None (time limit draw)
Match Analysis: Probably the worst of the Mat Classics so far, which pains me to say because I like Saito and love Hennig. For whatever reason, they just didn't click and it showed in the match. The crowd in Salt Lake City was really dead for it too, which didn't help things. It seemed like this was probably the first or second match on the card since it was still early in Hennig's career, but still, the crowd was sitting on their hands.
Back from the break and it's time for Big K in his Curious George yellow jacket to abuse the English language with more of his drunken ramblings. He seriously reminds me of a guy that sits at the end of a bar somewhere at two in the afternoon and tells everyone else what they should be doing with their lives. As I fast forward through, I see Madusa and she's beating the crap out of Brandi Mae. He jabbers a little and then we see a clip of Magnificent Mimi again. More jabbering and I see DDP and Badd Company and stop fast forwarding to hear what he says about them, but instead of talking about them, he's putting over his past career as Krusher (with a K!) Kowalski. Honestly, why do they even bother. He is a giant, yellow, black hole of suck.
After another commercial break, Bill Apter is in the AWA studios with Baron Von GQ and his nappy suit and it's Press Conference time. He says that AWA officials have promised a huge announcement that Apter uses to pimp his magazines. Smart man. He then gives a statistic that 362 wrestlers have suffered head damage from the Baron's clawhold. He says that he's wrestled a lot of wrestlers in his career and he supposes that there might have been guys with brain damage, but he figures they had it before they stepped in with the Baron, before he admits that the claw might have made it worse. Apter asks about how Baron likes hearing the cheers from the fans and he says that he may have been a little lost in the beginning in the AWA and that he might have been a little overzealous in his heelishness. He says that there's no feeling like the fans cheering and he loves the fans and he's glad that they love him.
Match Five: Six-Man Tag Main Event Teijo Kahn, Soldat Ustinov and Manny Fernandez vs. The Top Guns and A Mystery Partner
My money's on Jerry Lawler, but I have no idea because I haven't seen the match listings yet. Rice talks to Larry Nelson and Nelson wonders abou their tag-team partner and apparently The Top Guns think that they can take them on by themselves. The heels crash the ring and Larry Nelson looks like he's going to shit his tuxedo before Soldat threatens The Top Guns. Nelson continues on, saying that The Top Guns have a surprise for the heels. INTRIGUE~! Hey, it's Robert Gibson, maybe this won't be so bad.
All six men brawling to start out and the faces clear the ring of the heels and the bell sounds to finally get the match underway. The face team gets the crowd rocking behind them and the match officially starts with Gibson and Fernandez. Manny lays a shit-talking onto Gibson and they lockup with Fernandez getting a headbutt but Gibson uses his speed to get a flying bodypress, a dropkick and an armdrag takedown into a tag to Jon Paul. Paul starts working the arm-wringer and moves to a standign armbar. HARD chops from Fernandez that put Paul down, but he kips up to his feet and holds onto the armbar. Fernandez breaks the armbar with a couple of headbutts and tags in Kahn, but Paul gets an armdrag into a tag to Rice and he starts working over Kahn's arm with some yanks into a straight armbar. Tag to Gibson and he lures Fernandez into the ring to make an illegal switch with Jon Paul. Paul works the armbar and the face team does another illegal swithch, bringing Rice into the ring. Rice starts to stretch the arm of Kahn on the mat and yanks away, leading to Fernandez trying to break it up. Gibson gets another illegal switch and works the arm before taggin to Paul legally.
Kahn goes to the eyes and then tags in Soldat Ustinov, who gets a big boot on Paul and an Irish whip, but Paul lands a flying cross-bodyblock for a two-count. Tag to Rice and he tries an armbar but gets dragged into the heel corner and they work him over some before making a switch. Fernandez in now with a HARD short right hand and he measures another HARD shot to Rice's face. NASTY chops from Fernandez and he flings Rice through the ropes to the floor, where Teijo gets a BIG slam on the concrete floor. Paul heads over to check on his partner and I'm sure Rice is wondering where the hell he was ten seconds earlier when Kahn was working him on the floor. Paul leaves him to his own devices and this time Manny Fernandez hits the floor to cheap shot away at Rice, ramming him into the front row chairs before slamming his head into the ring apron. Rice finally crawls back into the ring and gets a couple of right hands on Fernandez but Manny headbutts him down HARD. A tag to Kahn and Fernandez Irish whips Rice in for a drop toehold as Kahn drops an elbow. Kahn gets a big bodyslam and a HARD shot to the face that gets a two-count.
Tag to Soldat Ustinov and he gets a kick to the gut of Rice into a HUGE powerslam that gets another long two-count. Snap mare from Ustinov into the nerve pinch and he gets Rice up off the mat with a front facelock, tagging in Fernandez who Irish whips Rice into the ropes for a BIG reverse elbow. JUMPING KNEELIFT FROM MANNY! Ouch, that had to hurt. VICIOUS belly-to-back suplex from Fernandez and he tags Kahn who hits a backbreaker before picking Rice up for a hard double-chop to the throat. Rice falls into his corner and it's a HOT TAG TO GIBSON!! GIBSON WORKS OVER KAHN AND PAUL GRABS FERNANDEZ!! Gibson rams Fernandez and Kahn's heads together as Rice gets a big dropkick on Ustinov and OH CRIMENY~!, Rice almost crippled himself by landing on his head after getting a dropkick on Kahn. More brawling from all six men and Fernandez rams Robert Gibson into the announce table. All six men on the floor, hammering away and THAT DAMN BELL WON'T STOP RINGING!!! They're fighting over at the commissioner's table now, sending some old bat scurrying with her bamboo purse in tow. The heels decide to take a walk and OH WAIT, FERNANDEZ ATTACKS GIBSON!! ALL SIX MEN BRAWLING AGAIN!! Fernandez and Gibson in the ring, as well as Rice and Ustinov. Running clothesline from Gibson on Fernandez and Rice gets a HIGH back bodydrop on Ustinov, sending all the heels back outside to lead to a stand-off with the heels on the outside, the faces on the inside. Ustinov's bleeding from the mouth, probably from the Rice dropkick and THEY'RE STILL FIGHTING!! GIBSON FLIES OVER THE ROPES TO GET AT HERNANDEZ!! GIBSON RAMS HERNANDEZ INTO THE FRONT ROW!! RICE WITH A TRIO OF DROPKICKS TO THE HEELS ON THE CONCRETE!! FERNANDEZ GRABS HIM AND GETS A DDT TO RICE ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR!!! HELL YES!! The crowd is buzzing and goes NUTS!!
Winners: None (double-disqualification)
Match Analysis: Hot finish, but a really dull opening. No one seemed to buy the Top Guns as being credible, so adding Gibson to the match was a stroke of genius so that there was someone that the fans could buy into on the face team. The finish was pretty cool and totally Southern booking, but the match before it was just kind of meh. Nothing flashy, but just kind of solid until the big brawl at the end.
That's it for the show, no closing, no Larry Nelson, just the face team making their way back to the ring! We out!!
Final Thoughts
A really hit and miss show for me. Every match had moments, but there was never just one really good, start-to-finish match. I was entertained at the end by the brawl, but up to that point it was just a really middling, somewhat boring show. I guess it's to be expected sometimes, but this show really showed how heavily they were leaning on Hennig/Lawler and Badd Company for entertainment value.
Fun With Comments
From D.P. : "I thought Verne getting the pinfall was lame also. man DDP is annoying on the mic."
Yeah, he's pretty annoying, but really his schtick was such that when he was decent on promos it wasn't so much that he got better, just less annoying. Then he started calling everyone "Scum" and it was right back to square one for him.
From Scrotum Pole: " "He immediately kills his gimmick as a down-home redneck by shaking hands with two black guys in the front row." It's writing like that that puts you near the top here. Is there anyway you could write most of the columns here at 411? Nicely Done."
Thanks for the support, man. I don't know who you'd have to talk to to get me more columns, but if you wanted to go to bat for me I wouldn't complain. Thanks again for continuing to check out my stuff and being a fan. Very cool to know that people are enjoying it.
From Guest. : "The best part of the show actually came from Big K this week. He brought up Krusher Krugoff, then berated him for the letter K since it was his letter and how he was The Original Crusher. I'm surprised, Kayfabe, Verne'd let him have an open forum on the show he produced.
Anyways, I was thinking of teaming up Cousin Luke with RMT myself, then K comes up with the idea. That would seriously be an awesome team, and I'd want to see them vs. Badd Company, potential ****** match there.
Also, looking at Fernandez's match, he really wasn't taking liberties. The chops were hard and stiff, but all his elbow shots were protected, and the Flying Burrito (so that's where Heenan got that from) didn't seem to be that vicious comparatively. On a slightly taking liberties matter though, I appreciated the post match beatdown for Jobber #4 botching the Slingshot DDT."
Well, you can call me a hypocrite for saying it, but I was fine with Badd Company doing a little post-match beatdown since that guy seemingly sandbagged their hot finisher. As for Fernandez, he doesn't so much take liberties as he just works a lot stiffer than he probably has to.
From Tiger Mask 69: "I almost can't blame the guy for giving the camera the one-finger salute throughout the hour. Of course, flipping the bird was still a novelty back then, having just been invented the previous summer.
I thought The Flying Burrito was what Jesse Ventura called Tito Santana's finisher in mid-80's WWF?"
I think it was, but I'm blanking on it at the moment. It was either Ventura or Heenan, that much I can remember. The bird guy was just annoying. Period.
From Brian: "First, I just can't resist addressing the "Cousin Luke" match and interview... You said, "I feel about 40 IQ points stupider just for watching it." LMAO!!!!! I read your recaps daily, (because I enjoy both them and the old AWA) and that HAS to be one of the best lines you've had!!!!!!!!!! Priceless.
On this show, I even thought that the Badd Company match was...YAWN...what was I saying?
What a waste of a Wahoo match on "Mat Classics." With everything the AWA must have had on file, THAT was a "classic?" Ummm, okay. Big, Bad, Bobby Duncum likely had about 2,000 matches better than that himself. (Seriously, he was a top talent in his day.) That being said, Wahoo must have had about 10,000 matches that were better than that. I base this on ONLY seeing the last couple of minutes of their match. If that was the "highlight"...I'm THANKFUL that we weren't exposed to any more of it."
Thanks for the kudos, and I'm glad that you enjoy the report. I still have fun doing it, even when it seems like a chore to get through the show, because I know that it can entertain, which is cool. Yeah, the Mat Classic was kind of a waste with Wahoo/Duncum but I can see why they picked it because the crowd was into it. Plus, I think they're trying to not use up all their good stuff at once so every once in a while there has to be a dud.
From guest: "Geez, am I the only one that can't wait for the olympians? Ok, I kid but really it is funny hearing them talk about it now know 88 is the start of Karelin's 12 year undefeated streak.
Say can anyone remember, did ESPN show GWF back in the days? I'm wondering if once they finish their showing of AWA will they be able to show that. (It'd be weird since that league had X-Pac and he didn't suck at the time but people think I'm imagining things.)"
Yeah, those Olympians that Verne was interviewing today seemed CHOCK full of personality. It is kind of funny to hear things like that on shows when you're watching something from that far back. When you watch the show, there are times that you just watch it as wrestling and forget that it's over twenty years ago. God, that depresses me.
From guest: "If they make the Mat Classics segment any shorter, there might be an episode of ring intros and no match."
Now that made me laugh, and that would be one hell of a feat. I think that I'd have fun doing that show on some perverse level though.
From Tiger Mask 69: "I believe it was ESPN2 that aired GWF, and I would mark out so hard if Classic re-aired them. So many great guys in their younger days: Waltman, Jerry Lynn, Booker T & Stevie Ray, the friggin' PATRIOT~! And Cactus Jack as well which would make him part of the Triple Crown of ESPN low rent-fed wrestlers(he jobbed on AWA, UWF, and GWF)!"
I also think that it was ESPN2 that had the GWF show and it would be fun if Classic aired them, but hopefully not for a long while because there's still a lot of "good" stuff that they need to get to in the AWA series before they move on. And I'm sure that Foley would be proud of his low-rent Triple Crown. He seems cool like that.
From McGann: "Best part of this show was graphic that said "T. Joe Khan" as TEIJHO approached the ring! Seriously awesome."
I don't know if it was Verne underestimating the intelligence of his crowd, but that's the way they always spelled it. I'm not sure why they thought it made more sense phonetically because seriosuly, how many people from Singapore would be named T. Joe?
Finally from Arnold_OldSchool: "Dave M WON 3/21/88:
Stan Kowalski is headed in as a heel manager. He'll be given an interview segment and a big push, which means Paul E. Dangerously isn't coming back. "Leave it to the AWA to have a choice between a hot new manager and a guy who has been out of the business for 15 years and choose the older guy. I couldn't make up comedy this funn"
That is possibly the greatest note that this report could have ended off on. Funny on about a million levels and completely befitting of Meltzer, who was and still is pretty much the smartest man in the business.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:05:38 GMT -6
88 AWA Championship Wrestling Larry Nelson welcomes us to the show and runs down everything we're going to see, including a main event featuring Mando Guerrero vs. Pat Tanaka. HELL YES!! Match One: Chris Curtis vs. Cousin Luke If it wasn't for Mando/Tanaka, I'd turn this show off right now. I'm still waiting for my gif of Cousin Luke high-stepping with Larry Nelson, which was hilarious. Cousin Luke's got Brandi Mae with him this week, presumably to pop the crowd for the short shorts. If they're really Tenneseeans, they probably really are cousins. Watch for the wedding ceremony on next week's episode. Luke ties his shoes and waves to the crowd like a Special Olympian before Curtis makes the world-renowned pantomime for Luke being an idiot. They hit a lockup and Luke pushes Curtis into the ropes, with Curtis complaining about a hairpull. Curtis pushes Luke into the ropes but doesn't break clean and hits him with a forearm before begging off. Curtis does the exact same thing again and then it's a third time, but Curtis turns his back and Luke hits him in the head with a double-sledge. Some guy in the crowd yells "BORING" and I couldn't fucking agree more. Sad thing is that the word is five letters long so it's probably baffling Luke. They lockup into the corner and Curtis rakes the eyes before Luke takes over with a couple of right hands and a turnbuckle smash. Curtis goes back to the eyes and hits some knees in the corner before trying an Irish whip and Luke ducks under, catching Curtis with a big clothesline on the return. Irish whip and Luke hits a double-sledge again and hits the big splash off the ropes which prompts Lee Marshall to excitedly exclaim "Whooo!". You can take the mullet out of the trailer park, but you can't take the trailer park out of the man. Three count mercifully finishes and here comes Brandi Mae and her ass-shorts. Yum. Winner: Cousin Luke (pinfall, splash) Match Analysis: Do you even really need to ask? Larry Nelson's in the ring to interview Cousin Luke and this should be like watching a young Cronkite in action. Luke says he had inspiration in his corner and he says they call it "Country cousins". I swear to you, I couldn't make this stuff up. Brandi Mae gets on and says that she was glad to help him out "country style" and be his back-up. Nelson brings up Luke's winning streak and Luke says that every Saturday night, they either have a bath or a ho-down. My guess is that there are about 50 ho-downs a year. Nelson gets a kiss on the cheek and nearly blows a load in his pants but Luke follows it up with a kiss of his own, sending Nelson's fantasy-land into shambles. After the break, Bill Apter is with the Top Guns for another AWA Press Conference. He runs down all the names the tag team has been called and surprisingly misses "The Losers of the Match" and "The Greatest Tag Team Never To Reach Six Wins". Apter asks about where they started and Rice says that they grew up together, played hockey together and now they're a tag team. He says that they want the AWA belts and that anytime Badd Company is willing to sign, they'll take them on. Talk turns to Teijo and Soldat and Paul says that it's a way for them to move up the ladder to get their tag title shots. Apter speculates that the way that they put down America might upset the Top Guns. Can't imagine why really. There's no formal challenge coming to Badd Company yet, but it's coming according to the Guns. Paul is asked for their American pledge and he holds up his hand like he's swearing himself under oath and says "I did not have sexual relations with that wom..." Wait, wrong pledge. He says "We pledge to win the AWA tag team belts". So the pledge is basically the same thing they said through the entire interview. Why not just start with the pledge so that everyone could have been spared the five minutes? Match Two: Larry Biccone and David Koorijion vs. Soldat Ustinov and Teijo Kahn I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie. He'd make these two stiffs a lot more interesting. Kahn and Koorijion start things out and Kooriijion gets a shitty armdrag takedown that Kahn doesn't even bother to sell and he just chokes at Koorijion against the bottom rope. Kahn drags him out and chops the piss out of him and drops him with a headbutt, before sending Koorijion in for an Irish whip. The godawfullest excuse for a powerslam I have EVER seen in my life follows and Kahn gets a shot to the ribs and another before tagging in Ustinov. Ustinov with a BIG turnbuckle smash and an even bigger yell before he picks Koorijion up and clotheslines him across the top rope. That gets a two-count and Ustinov Irish whips him in and Koorijion botches a hip toss bump. Another two-count and the heels trade tags before Kahn Irish whips Koorijion into the ropes for a HUGE Ustinov clothesline that gets the 1-2-3!! Winners: Soldat Ustinov and Teijo Kahn (pinfall, Ustinov clothesline) Match Analysis: Squash to the tenth power. Sadly, both teams end up looking horrible because Koorijion's selling and botches made it look like Ustinov and Kahn didn't know what they were doing. I mean sure, both guys were a little green but those were all on Koorijion. At least they kept a brisk pace while they did it. Match Three: Bryan Costello and Pete Sanchez vs. The Top Guns Paul and Rice run around ringside to slap hands with the front row like the ass-kissers they are and Rice and Sanchez get things underway with a lockup. Sanchez gives him a clean break and looks REALLY proud of himself for it. The crowd, not so much and he tells them to shut up. Sanchez tries an Irish whip but eats a kick for his troubles and after a little bit of nothing, Rice loads up with his HUGE dropkick and puts Sanchez to the floor, while Paul hits Costello with a dropkick of his own to send Costello reeling. Costello and Sanchez share a man-hug on the outside and Sanchez sloooooooooooooowly makes his way back into the ring. Top wristlock from Rice and he starts cranking away at the arm before tagging in Jon Paul for a modified Mexican armdrag. Sanchez tags in Costello and they lockup with Paul giving a clean break off the ropes. Costello pushes Paul into the corner and lands a forearm before following it up with some hard knees and headbutts. He goes to the eyes and blinds Paul for a moment before Irish whipping him across into the corner. Costello charges in and hits a running splash before trying the Irish whip again. Paul counters this time and makes the tag to Rice, who comes in and works the arm-wringer before whipping Costello into the ropes for a big back bodydrop. Rice tags Paul and hits a HARD powerslam before Paul comes off the top rope with a flying elbow. Paul with the pin and it's all over! Winners: The Top Guns (pinfall, Paul top-rope elbow) Match Analysis: They tried really hard with the Guns, but to me it just alway seemed like something was missing. If they had been able to team someone with Ricky Rice who had the same amount of potential, both in-ring and on the mic, I think that the team would have done a lot better. This match was pretty much the same as any other Top Gun match from the time period with them putting their rudimentary high-flying moves on display every chance they got. Bumper promo from Madusa and she calls Mimi a broad again before saying that she needs to have some credentials before she even thinks of stepping in the ring with Madusa. Miceli tells Mimi to get a partner, but doubts she can because no one knows who she is. Madusa says that her and Debbie Combs will take on Mimi if she can manage to scrounge up a partner. If she's wrestling Combs, Mimi's tag partner better be her lunch and dinner. Match Four: Mat Classic The Fabulous Ones w/The Crusher vs. The Road Warriors w/ Paul Ellering Sadly, this is the same Mat Classic that they've shown previously between these two teams which means I won't bother to do it again. Still fun to see Winnipeg Arena full for the AWA though. Back from commercial and it's Big K time. He shittily acts through a "phone call" with DDP before starting in with his idiocy. He talks about Cousin Luke and says that the guy is "greased lightning". He tries to put over The Top Guns and talks up on them before saying that he wants to see Kahn/Ustinov vs. The Top Guns. He talks about Hennig and Gagne's match, saying that if Hennig wanted to win, he should have listened to Big K. If I have to hear him say that one more time, I jam a pencil into my eardrum just so I won't have to "listen to Big K". Surprisingly though, he keeps it short. He must have used all his material up when he was acting earlier. Larry Nelson throws it to comments from Teijo Kahn and Soldat Ustinov and Ustinov says that Kahn is crazy like him and then they threaten Baron Von Raschke and Ustinov says that he has a partner in mind for Baron. He suggests the Sgt. Slaughter before talking shit on Slaughter, saying that he's nothing more than a cartoon character and that he means nothing to the Russian people. Match Five: Mike Luca vs. Manny Fernandez This should be short and violent unless Luca's chest hair gets a chokehold on Manny. Fernandez pushes Luca into the corner and chops him before getting whipped into the corner and Luca catches him with a back bodydrop out of said corner. Not a good idea, Mike. Fernandez pushes him into the corner again and lands a couple of headbutts before hammering with a forearm. Irish whip into the corner and Fernandez CHARGES and rams headlong into Luca. Irish whip off the ropes and a SNAPPING chop lands for Fernandez before he does a little war cry to mock Wahoo. Reverse elbow off the ropes from Fernandez and he calls for THE BURRITO!! Lee Marshall explains that a burrito is a Mexican sandwich and that Fernandez sandwiches his opponent. That doesn't make any sense at all. It's FLYING BURRITO TIME~! There's the three-count and Fernandez comes off the second-rope with a flying kneedrop. He goes up for another one and we cut to some woman laughing in the front row and HERE'S ANOTHER KNEEDROP FOR YOU!! Fernandez yells about how bad he is and here comes a stretcher for Luca. Winner: Manny Fernandez (pinfall, flying burrito) Match Analysis: It was short and it was violent. I still get that they were trying to make Manny out as the legitimate badass and maybe he was, but to me I just don't feel it. Personal distaste aside, I'm sure that the people watching at the time bought into it at least a little, so it worked to an extent. If he'd picked a fight with anyone other than Wahoo though, it probably would have been dead in the water. Post-match, Fernandez steals the mic again saying that it's all about "pain, dues, and agony" and that he's been running around the world trying to beat all the trash that they put in the ring with the best wrestler in the world. He talks about Wahoo and his Indian pride again and HERE COMES WAHOO!! Wahoo says that he's whipped his ass once before and that Fernandez needs to take his ass back to the locker room so that Wahoo can talk! Wahoo turns his back and FERNANDEZ ATTACKS!! DOWN GOES WAHOO!! FERNANDEZ TEARS UP HIS HEADDRESS AND DROPS THE FEATHERS ON WAHOO!! Wahoo makes it back to his feet and he's PISSED. Larry Nelson comes in and asks Wahoo how he's feeling and Wahoo says that it's embarassing. He says that it's not funny because it means a lot to him. He says it's not something you just go and buy somewhere and talks about how it was handed down to him by his father. He says it's embarassing because it's like his heritage was torn up and then Wahoo tells him to get ready because that headdress is nothing like what Fernandez is going to look like when he's finished with him. Match Six: Mando Guerrero vs. Pat Tanaka w/Diamond Dallas Page DDP says that because Badd Company is too good as a team, they will be split up to wrestle as singles from time to time. He messes up his B-A-Double D catchphrase and after some of the usual stalling, this one is underway. Mando mocks Tanaka with the Crane pose again and Tanaka doesn't like it at all. Mando flips himself out through the middle and bottom ropes to chase after DDP and Tanaka comes out to protect his manager. The match finally gets underway with Guerrero getting a wristlock on Tanaka, reaching down deep with it before taking Tanaka over. Mando lands a series of kicks before taking Tanaka down again, dropping some elbows on the outstretched arm of Tanaka. Mando works the rowboat on Tanaka's arm before landing three straight heel strikes to Tanaka's face. Mando mounts Tanaka and gets a two-count before Tanaka executes a bridge to break the pin attempt. Tanaka reverses it and Guerrero has him cradled, rocking him up and down a little before Tanaka goes to the eyes to spare himself further embarassment. Tanaka lands some shots in the corner before moving to an arm-wringer, transitioning that into a hammerlock. Mando flips over Tanaka onto his back, kips up and gets a roll-up off the ropes for a two-count. Tanaka claims a pull of the tights and Guerrero responds by getting a go-behind into a bodyscissors. Mando rolls Tanaka around the ring with the bodyscissors before getting a pin attempt that scores him a long two-count. Guerrero ties up Tanaka's arms around his own neck and Tanaka breaks that with a foot to the gut before Irish whipping Guerrero in for a flying forearm. Tanaka with some right hands and he rams Guerrero into the turnbuckle before getting a snap mare into a side headlock. Guerrero gets a belly-to-back suplex out of that though and a vicious pair of forearms before he puts Tanaka down with a standing dropkick. Two-count for that and Guerrero moves to a backslide for another two-count. Armbar from Guerrero gets broken up by a Tanaka knee and Tanaka tries an Irish whip into the corner but it's reversed, though Mando misses the charge, ramming his shoulder into the buckle. Tanaka takes over with a hard chop into a headbutt that gets him a long-ish two-count. Reverse chinlock from Tanaka and Guerrero gets to his feet and rams Tanaka head-first into the top turnbuckle before getting a series of right hands and a chop. Tanaka in the corner and Mando gets a MONKEY FLIP! Double-stomp to the gut from Guerrero and he follows that up with a weird looking suplex. Guerrero sets Tanaka up for the Mexican Surfboard and Tanaka sells it even before the hold is applied, screaming to be let go from it. Once Guerrerro cranks him into the air he REALLY starts selling, screaming blue murder and HERE COMES PAUL DIAMOND!!! STOMPS TO MANDO!! IRISH WHIP FROM DIAMOND AND MANDO FLIPS OVER A BACK BODYDROP ATTEMPT AND AVOIDS BOTH MEN LONG ENOUGH TO HIT A DOUBLE SPLASH!! The referee calls for the bell and Badd Company hits a double-clothesline before they hit their WGTT finisher. Tanaka slugs down the referee and they tie Mando up in the ropes feet-first. Tanaka hammers away on the outside and DIAMOND THROWS THE REFEREE TO THE FLOOR!! HERE COME THE TOP GUNS FROM THE BACK!! BADD COMPANY TAKES THE HIGH ROAD!! Winner: Mando Guerrero (disqualification, Diamond-ference) Match Analysis: A little too much stalling in the beginning and a pretty predictable finish, but still a lot of fun in the meantime. Mando was still doing all of his next-level stuff and Tanaka was a guy that could keep up with it and bring his own innovations to the match. I loved Tanaka's selling the whole way through and after seeing him a few times, they really should have tried to keep him around and get him further up the card, but no one thought that people would be interested in that at the top of the card back then I suppose. Rod Trongard is DISGUSTED and calls it some of the most despicable actions he's ever seen. Lee Marshall is DISGUSTED!! I'm DISGUSTED...at the show, and we're out for another edition of the AWA on ESPN Classic!! Final Thoughts A pretty fair show all the way around, but it all came off fairly flat. The main event was really solid with two seasoned professionals, but even that was still only enough to get my thumb to the middle. The only guys that seemed like they had the crowd's full attention were Mando and Tanaka and even their good match wasn't enough to offset the suck that was Cousin Luke. Thumbs in the middle, but still a much better show than I thought it was going to be when it started out with that retarded hillbilly. Fun With Comments From James: "All due respect, Arnold, but I think I posted that WON tidbit a few shows back. (the Meltzer recaps on the "Passion for the Business" board are awesome, are they not?) I bet Randy will put up with DDP's annoying interviews knowing that it could have been the Big K there instead. Even if I am now marking out for K in spite of myself, just cause these segments are so bad they're good. If you disagree, you need to use Baron Wron Rashley's baseball bat as a toothpick (see the gems you miss by FF'ing the segments? ) When did DDP meet Kimberly, BTW?" Yeah, Kowalski would do a little better with his promos if he didn't sound like he was chewing on a couple donuts at once. As for DDP meeting Kimberly, that was around 1990 or so at one of his nightclubs in Florida as I've heard it told a few times. It seems solid enough for me, so I'll go with that. From Greg: "K, here's something that annoyed during the 6man. WHY THE FUCK DOESN AWA CUT TO A CROWD SHOT EVERY TIME THE HEEL DO A MOVE! Sorry for the caps but that drove me nuts. I can only imagine the conversation Paul and Rice had in the back when they went looking for a partner Rice" K, who wants to join us in a fight against a guy with a fake russian accent, an asian who can';t work, and a mexican who won't sell and is stiff as hell?" "silence" Paul" There's a 40 of JD in it for whoever joins us" Gibson" I'm in" " Sadly, that's probably not very far off from the real conversation. Still hilarous though, so well played. From Guest: "I've never heard a more dead crowd for a Hennig or Saito match than the Mat Classic. If I'm not mistaken Curt was just coming off of his Portland run and at the time in the AWA was still really only known as Larry Hennig's kid and came down with the Greg Gagne Syndrome where your matches get no heat because the only thing people know you for is who your daddy is. Saito was a known commodity, and could get heat, but he was never booked as a big time player in the AWA until his matches with Zbyszko so the crowd didn't have any reason to care about the match. Shame too because it was fine in-ring work, and probably better than some of the other stuff on the card featuring people like Mad Dog Vachon and the Crusher." That was by far the deadest crowd that I've seen for pretty much anything on the AWA shows. You're right about the work being decent enough, but the crowd just killed it for me. From Frozen: "I agree w/ Greg re: the cutaway shots. It's really maddening when they cut to a fan while a pin is being attempted. Also, on the subject of the fans, it's interesting to see how many senior citizens were fans back then as opposed to today's wrestling. Same thing with women. There seemed to be more chicks at the matches back then." There were lots of seniors in the crowd, which leads me to believe that they must have taken a wrong turn on their way to the Showboat's early-bird buffet. As for the women, I don't think Chippendales was a Vegas attraction yet and the men needed somewhere to drop their ladies off before hitting the strip clubs. From Rob: "Wow. Now THAT'S what the AWA was missing - action between wrestlers that fired the crowd up. That was one hell of a brawl after the six-man match was thrown out. Just all out mayhem. Logically, you would think they'd do a cage match to contain those guys, but we'll see. How did they miss the boat on Mando Guerrero? That guy was way over, but I don't recall him ever getting a big push. He would have been a much better TV champ than Greg. One thing Verne did get right was how he made Badd Company seem like a very big deal. I get fired up now when that music starts and they stroll out to the ring like true badasses. Too bad Vince wasted them as the Orient Express, because these guys could go." Funny you, thinking that the AWA would do anything logically. To me, they probably didn't push Mando because he was just a special attraction that was probably only going to work the tapings before heading back to Mexico. As for Vince wasting The Orient Express, they were never quite as over as they were in the AWA because they got stuck in a corner when Sato left and I don't think they could have just dropped Diamond in and recreated Badd Company. They had to plop Diamond into the Express under a hood and despite them having good matches, they could never catch the lightning they had in the AWA. From Scrotum Pole: " "HARD" chops by Fernandez." Are there any other? Tramp stamp shot of the night: "He is a giant, yellow, black hole of suck." BULLSEYE!" Well, I call them like I see them, giving my behind the scenes scoop of all the action from twenty years ago. From Guest#2516: "I know one way Mimi could have improved her interview. Tell us how Gene taught her how to choke people out until they mess their pants." That would make anything more interesting really. Judo Gene is the man. From Joe K. : "Did you notice that when the Top Guns were interviewed, Rice was mouthing Paul's lines from the teleprompter when Paul was talking. Tremendous amateur hour stuff there! And to prove Big K was once the smartest man in wrestling, he once lost a match to The Crusher in the early 70s over the right to use the name crusher (as Big K was Crusher Kowalski). So what did Big K do? Come back the next week as KRUSHER Kowalski! With a K! HHH couldn't have been any smarter! SCUM!" I did notice that. It was pretty funny in a high-school newscast kind of way, and showed that even their interviews were green. As for Big K, I'd be loathe to call him smart for any reason, but that's a good way to get a gimmick over and get some decent paydays from The Crusher when he was huge. That part is smart. The rest of it is classic Big K. Terrible and seemingly pointless. From Kayfaber: "The multiple dropkicks outside the ring officially got Ricky Rice's foot in the door with me. Gotta give props to that." Yeah, I'm sure those helped, though they seemed pretty high on him to begin with. I'd give him some props if he hadn't nearly crippled himself on that dropkick in the ring. That was ugly and he's lucky he didn't end up seriously hurt off of that one. Finally from Guest. : "Sick last night, and the usual guy who puts the AWA stuff up on Youtube didn't have the 2nd part of the tag match, so I didn't see that, but show thoughts. 1: I have to give it to Verne for his beliefs in promoting Amateur Wrestling, even if it was boring TV. I'd like to see him still around today, having grabbed Lesnar and Benjamin, just to see how hard he'd have pushed those two. 2: Am I the only one who noticed the goofy look on Diamond's face when he came out? It being the time period, I'd have no doubt he was on something coming into the match, though Paul Diamond high is still better than 75% of the wrestlers today. 3: I wonder if Mondo Guerrero was only in the AWA part-time, because along with Badd Company, he's really becoming a fun part to watch, even if the quality goes down before our eyes. 4: Honestly, when the Top Gunns announced their mystery partner, I was thinking Wahoo, or Greg Gagne since he usually was that guy. Morton.... not a good choice. Don't get me wrong, real good wrestler, but the R&R Express were already out of the AWA, as mentioned by Page's promo, he was gone as well, so why not further the Wahoo/Manny feud, or hell, throw Raschke in there for that feud. Morton made for a good match but he really didn't have any long-term viability. 5: Got to mention, I saw this right before I began vomitting the second time, but I loved the look on Khan's face after that throat chop, in what I don't think was a planned spot, and was the teams improvising as it'd been stupid not to do that at that point." Sorry to hear about the sickness. Get better soon. As to your comments... 1. He'd have pushed them to the moon and they still wouldn't have been able to save the territory. The simple reason being that they'd have no one to work with. I get what Verne was trying to do with his commitment to amateur wrestling, but still, it was TV time he could have used to get someone else over that was actually with the company. 2. Yeah, something was up with Diamond, but honestly, he has the same goofy look in nearly every interview they did in front of that hideous pink backdrop. Diamond was weird in that when you looked at him from far away, he looked tremendous, but when you closed in on him, he had that kind of goofy looking face. Must be why Vince stuck him under the hood. 3. I'm fairly certain that he still was, making himself available to the AWA for the TV tapings and the odd spot show while still maintaining a pretty full schedule in Mexico. They really should have tried to bring him in full time though. I mean it wouldn't have saved anything, but Mando deserved a shot because his work was pretty much the best stuff on this show at the time besides Badd Company and Hennig/Lawler. 4. There were lots of better ways they could have gone with that six-man, but my guess is that they wanted Gibson in there to legitimize the Top Guns as the new rock n' roll team. Kind of a passing of the torch or something like that. That and I'm sure that Verne wanted to get as much out of Gibson for the money he'd already paid them before Gibson took off. 5. Kahn had some decent facial expressions, I'll give you that. Too bad he couldn't work worth a damn to go with it. If he'd been a decent worker and knew a little about psychology he'd have been pretty good but he was learning on the job and didn't really get the time to be any good.
|
|
|
Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:06:52 GMT -6
88
AWA Championship Wrestling
The usual two schmucks run the show down and it looks like it should be interesting. Soldat Ustinov, The Top Guns, Baron Von Raschke, and Brandy Mae against Madusa in the main event is what we have on tap today and it's time to get to the ring for our first match-up.
Match One: Greg Robertson vs. Soldat Ustinov w/Teijo Kahn
They're in the Showboat in Las Vegas again and the entire crowd is dark except for the first three or four rows, which tells me that there's probably no one there to see this taping and the sad decline that leads to the end of the promotion has truly begun. Teijo or Ti Jioe as the graphic calls him, is on the outside looking crazy. Really, the AWA shows have the worst graphics and spelling errors out of any wrestling show I've ever seen, even including two-bit local promotions. Ustinov tries to shake Robertson's hand and when he finally suckers him into it, he smacks Robertson upside the head like an angry Russian pimp. Ustinov throws him to the mat off of a couple of lockups and then pushes Robertson into the corner, landing a hard forearm shot to the chest. Robertson actually gets a shot back of his own which kind of stuns Ustinov a little bit. Side headlock by Ustinov into a couple of shoulderblocks and when he tries for a third, Robertson actually gets a hip toss. Short-lived advantage for him though as Ustinov goes to the eyes and then chokes him across the middle rope. Irish whip into the ropes and a BIG boot to the face from Ustinov gets a two-count , before Ustinov starts dropping elbows to the top of Robertson's head. Robertson tries a comeback but Ustinov goes to the eyes to break it up, hitting a delayed vertical suplex for another pin attempt. Ustinov picks Robertson up at two and then starts cranking away at Robertson's head. Robertson tries another mini-comeback and gets an Irish whip into the corner but Ustinov reverses it and CLUBBERS him with a clothesline out of the corner for the three-count.
Winner: Soldat Ustinov (pinfall, clothesline)
Match Analysis: It's almost like they were trying to make Ustinov into a 1985 version of Nikita Koloff, but Ustinov is no Nikita and Teijo is no Ivan, so it comes off as a bit of a lame attempt. No real heat for the match outside of a USA chant near the end of it, but at least both guys had their work boots on so the match was decent. The AWA should have still fired that graphics guy though.
Larry Nelson's with Verne Gagne, trying to get information on a big announcement that Verne will be making next week. Verne says it's going to be a blockbuster within all of wrestling, but then tells Larry he'll have to wait. Verne talks about some horse riders in the Colorado mountains and gives shout-outs to some of the eighty-year old men that go on the ride. Verne seems crushed that he can't go in 1988. Don't worry Verne, another couple years and you'll have all the time in the world to ride horses.
We're back from the break with Larry Nelson talking about the AWA house show circuit before we hear from Brandy Mae in the interview area. Lee Mullet says that Brandy's been training hard for her shot at the belt, and she says that she has been and that she's ready for the opportunity. She says that Madusa may be very tricky, but she's ready for it and that whenever she's in the ring, she's fighting for all the country folks. Madusa gets her rebuttal, saying that there is a country bumpkin trying to take her belt. She says that she's going to show Brandy Mae what it's all about and that she's ALWAYS going to be the AWA Women's Champion.
Match Two: Hunter Thompson and Dennis Stamp vs. The Top Guns
Don't ask me how they got him out of hiding and into the ring, but I'm a big fan of Fear and Loathing, so I'm happy. Seriously, that arena is so dark that at certain points the camera nearly loses Rice and Paul as they make their way around ringside for their ass-kissing handshakes. The heels attack as the Guns get into the ring and the Guns fire back with some stereo hip tosses and fistdrops and Thompson and Stamp bail to the outside. Stamp and Rice get set to start this match properly with Rice getting a top wristlock into a straight armbar and Rice drops a leg onto the arm before tagging in Paul. They whip Stamp into the ropes and hit a double-reverse elbow that gets a two-count. Paul tries another Irish whip but Stamp blocks it and Paul just takes him over with an armbar and legdrops his arm before tagging Rice back in. Rice hits a leapfrog over Paul onto Stamp's outstretched arm and goes back to the armbar but Stamp catches him with a shot and takes over with another shot to the throat, choking Rice across the top rope. He rams Rice's head into Thompson's knee and makes the tag as Thompson comes in and hammers away at Rice before grabbing a side headlock. Rice shoots him off and shoulderblocks Thompson down, allowing him to make a tag to Paul. Paul nearly gets a flash pinfall off of a roll-up and there's a tag to Rice with a big powerslam and he tags Paul, who comes off the top rope with a really awkward-looking shoulderblock. Did I say the shoulderblock looked bad? Well the double-team finisher looks hideous, with Rice jumping for the dropkick, realizing he's not going to get it and just kind of whacking Thompson with his forearm for the three-count. Yuck.
Winners: The Top Guns (pinfall, Rice forearm shot)
Match Analysis: Ugh. The Guns had a ton of energy, but they weren't very polished in the ring, at a time when Verne needed all the hands that he could get in the ring. They did alright in this one and looked good until the botch at the end, which was just kind of bleah. They're still a hundred times better to watch than Cousin Luke, but it seems a lot like too much, too soon for these kids.
After the commercials, The Top Guns get a bumper promo with Rice saying that they don't scare easy and that Teijo and Soldat are a stepping stone for them and Paul says that they have the fans on their side while the two loser foreigners don't.
Match Three: Randy Greenway vs. Pat Tanaka w/Diamond Dallas Page and Tonya, The Diamond Skank
DDP snatches the mic from Larry Nelson and cuts a meandering promo about Badd Company and being asked about all of his diamonds and his tag team and his Diamond Dolls. The music hits and here comes a new Diamond Doll, who looks a little less like the butterface that the last one was. She's leading Tanaka down to the ring and seeing Tanaka in two straight singles matches makes me think that Paul Diamond is probably hurt. They hit a lockup and Greenway pushes Tanaka into the ropes for a clean break before Greenway takes him over with a good armdrag takeover. Another lockup and Greenway gets a standing arm-wringer that sends Tanaka scurrying to the ropes for the break. Greenway gets a top wristlock and ends up getting taken over by a hairpull from Tanaka, which leads to a Tanaka armbar. Tanaka rams Greenway into the top buckle and Irish whips him into the corner but it gets reversed and Greenway gets another armdrag takeover into an armbar out of the corner. Tanaka gets to his feet and whips Greenway into the ropes, missing a clothesline and bumping himself off the middle rope, making the new guy look like a million bucks. That ends pretty quickly though when Tanaka drops him with a hard shot and chops the piss out of him before hitting a headbutt. Tanaka gets an Irish whip into the ropes and Greenway reverses it, but Tanaka reverses the reversal as Greenway tries for a back-bodydrop and DDT's him down for the 1-2-3!
Winner: Pat Tanaka (pinfall, DDT)
Match Analysis: Tanaka did his usual work, bumping his ass off and making the other guy look good, which leads me to wonder if Greenway was just a jobber that they wanted to run fairly even with Tanaka because he had some talent, or if he was a guy that they maybe had hopes for in terms of keeping him with the company and turning him into something.
More rundowns of the house show circuit by Larry Nelson leads to Lee Mullet talking at ringside with AWA World Heavyweight Champion, Jerry Lawler. Lee asks who Lawler sees as top challengers and Lawler names off guys like Curt Hennig, Greg Gagne, and Kerry Von Erich, who all think that they're champions. Lawler says that the belt means that HE is the real World's Heavyweight Champion and all the rest are just contenders.
Match Three: Kevin Collins vs. Baron Von Raschke
Baron's gotten rid of the weird mustache and looks like the Baron we all know and love now. Quick armdrag from Baron, well as quick as it can be with him being so old. He gets a fireman's carry into an armbar and we cut to see Magnificent Mimi in the front row, with Lee saying that she's the number-one challenger to Madusa's women's title in his mind. Way to cut the legs out from your main event, jackass. Collins pushes Von Raschke into the ropes and gets a clean break before Baron gets a go-behind into a takedown for a one count. Someone must have yelled at Lee on the headset because now he talks about how there are a bunch of other great women's contenders and mentions Brandy Mae at the top of the list. Collins and Baron hit a lockup with Collins getting a forearm on the ropes and then Irish whipping Von Raschke into the ropes. Baron kicks Collins in the face and then nearly falls over dropping a forearm. He snap mares Collins over and cranks on Collins' head. Baron gets a knee to the gut off of an Irish whip and grabs a front facelock, forcing Collins into the corner for the break. Knee to the gut from Collins now and he picks Baron up for a big bodyslam into a two-count and Baron comes right back with a couple of forearms and a hip toss. BARON'S GOOSE-STEPPING AND HERE COMES THE CLAWHOLD~! Collins is down and it's all over after a three-count!!
Winner: Baron Von Raschke (pinfall, clawhold)
Match Analysis: I've said it before and I'll say it again. Baron had no business being in the ring, though he would be wrestling right up until the end of the promotion. Sad, sad, sad. The good part is that at least he didn't fall over at all in this match, though he came close a couple of times.
Larry Nelson is back to pimp the huge announcement and a bunch more of the house show matches before throwing it to Soldat Ustinov, with Teijo Kahn. Soldat cuts a terrible promo, saying that Baron is going to be destroyed for the millionth time before challenging Badd Company and saying that they'll be the future AWA Tag Team Champions. Honestly, just terrible stuff. Why they didn't give these guys a mouthpiece and make them silent and violent is beyond me. Commercial break, Big K, these guys have to listen to me and I'll make them stars, I tell it like it is, yada, yada, yada. From what I can tell, he talks about Gagne, Lawler, Snuka and Larry Nelson and Lee Marshall.
Back from the break, we get to hear from former AWA champ, Curt Hennig and he says that Jerry Lawler is running and hiding from the greatest wrestler in the world. He says that he's going to do all the promoters in Michigan and Wisconsin a favor by showing up to wrestle there against Greg Gagne or Wahoo McDaniel, saying that he's determined and unpredictable. He says that you can throw any type of garbage in front of him and he'll sweep it under the rug where it belongs.
Match Four: AWA Women's World Championship Brandy Mae vs. Madusa Miceli (c)
Miceli has Curt Hennig with her and he grabs the microphone, saying that he's tired of the way that the AWA has been treating them both before saying that he's there to make sure that justice is served and no foul play takes place. He badmouths Larry Nelson off-mic and Larry just throws his hands up and leaves. Brandy Mae heads to the back, and I'm sure you all know who she's coming back with. Oh CHRIST, it's Big Mountain Fudgecake. Well, that was a swerve for me cause I was expecting Cousin Luke for sure. Miceli and Brandy Mae badmouth each other and because Fudgecake has no manager's license, he's going to have to leave. Hennig has one so he's good to stay. Mountain threatens Hennig, but Hennig just brushes him off and sends him on his way. Awesome.
Brandy Mae finally gets into the ring and Miceli is rocking a Jackie Joyner-Kersee look today, in a zebra-print. Rod Trongard almost seems like he's going to start fwapping at ringside. Madusa shoves Brandy Mae and they circle each other and blab at each other before Madusa throws her down off of a lockup. Side headlock from Miceli and Brandy Mae shoots her into the ropes, but Madusa reverses it into a hip toss. Miceli takes a powder by leaning outside the ropes and then comes back in with a big slam on Brandy Mae. Brandy Mae gets a trip takedown off of a lockup and then they hit the same side headlock/hip toss sequence, but with Brandy Mae working the offense. Brandy Mae gets an armdrag takedown into an armbar but Madusa is able to headscissor her way into a reversal. Madusa lays a couple of boots in on Brandy Mae but she comes back with another couple of armdrags before working the armbar again on Madusa.
This is all pretty sloppy work so far, by the way, and Madusa goes to the eyes before trying to hit her own version of a Perfect-plex, but she fucks that one up pretty badly. They don't seem to know what to do now and the match kind of pauses before Brandy Mae trips Madusa to the mat. Brandy Mae gets a hard bodyslam into a long two-count, but Madusa takes over with some forearms before hitting an AIRPLANE SPIN INTO A SAMOAN DROP!! EYERAKE WITH THE BOOT!! Now THIS is what I want to see!! Madusa works over Brandy Mae with some kicks to the gut but Brandy Mae fires back with a couple of kidney shots before whipping Madusa in for a clothesline. Another Irish whip into a big back-bodydrop and Brandy Mae gets a slam for another pinfall attempt, but she's too close to Hennig and he shoves her off before the referee can get to three. Madusa gets a roll-up while Brandy Mae is arguing with the referee and they roll too far, putting Brandy Mae on her stomach. Madusa spanks her and nearly gets a handful of cooch before just mounting Brandy Mae and pinning her for the three-count.
Winner: Madusa Miceli, (pinfall, botched roll-up)
Match Analysis: This was BAD. I mean, botches all over the place, really fake looking offense from both women and an awful finish. I actually had some hopes for it, but nope, this was just rough from start to finish.
After the match, BMF comes back out and gets in the referee's face about the Hennig interference before he turns his back and HENNIG ATTACKS HIM!! BIG BABYFACE POP FROM ME!! Hennig tries a shoulderblock on BMF and can't take him down, but drops him with a big clothesline before Hennig heads to the back with Madusa. The best way this show could have ended. Oh wait, Larry Nelson's up in the ring with BMF and Brandy Mae. Brandy Mae shrills her way through a promo, saying that it proves how low they'll go to keep the belt. BMF says that he'll take Hennig anytime, anywhere and he's going to get it and he's going to pay!! We get a replay of the finish with Lee Mullet and Rod Trongard at the announce table. Trongard's jacket is spectacular, looking like he ripped the fabric for it off of the comforter in his hotel room at the Showboat.
Final Thoughts
This show was really light on the wrestling, what wrestling there was was terrible, and there was no Mat Classic. BOOOOOOO-URNS. This is an easy thumbs-down for me because honestly, the best part of it was after the finish of the main event when Hennig waffled BMF. Thirty seconds of decent compared to forty-three and a half minutes of crap means that I'm wishing I had that hour of my life back. Let's get to the comments before I get any more bitter.
Fun With Comments
From Guest: "You know I feel like an idiot because I never recognized Khan as The Barbarian's partner in the all time film classic "Body Slam".
That being said Tanaka-Guerrero was enough for me to give it a thumbs up. Sometimes a match just does it for me to save a show and it did."
To me, Grunt: The Wrestling Movie, will always be way better than Body Slam, though they're both pretty awesome. I need to find those on DVD somewhere because I haven't seen those movies in years. Tanaka/Guerrero was good, but like I say, the stalling at the beginning kind of killed it for me at a time when they needed to go all-out, all-action to save the show.
From Joe K. : "Luke ties his shoes and waves to the crowd like a Special Olympian...
Now we know where Nick Dinsmore got his inspiration to perfect the Eugene character."
Or Luke was Eugene's daddy..which would make him Eric Bischoff's brother if I remember the Bischoff family bloodline correctly in terms of the storylines and that would explain a LOT of what went wrong with WCW near the end of the NWO era.
From Jake: "Some guy in the crowd yells "BORING" and I couldn't fucking agree more. Sad thing is that the word is five letters long so it's probably baffling Luke
BORING Has 6 Letters Not 5... And I am From Tenn..."
I know it has six letters, I was mocking Luke because he would have been so slow, he'd think it was only five letters, but I guess it didn't translate as well to paper. Eh, I'll live with being thought of as stupid.
From Brian: "Well, well, well...It appears that Cousin Luke is a "kissin' cuzzin'" (Heh) Who do you think would win in a match between him and Rocky Mountain Thunder? Could you stay awake all the way through a Thunder/Luke match? I think it would be entertaining...instead of a spot fest, they'd have a botch fest!!! Woo Hoo!!! (Honestly, it would be SO bad, we'd all be laughing.) Great recap of that match by the way. You had me snickering. Funny stuff.
Top Guns, AKA: Team Mullet, AKA: NoMoJo, AKA: Gagne/Brunzell WannaBees...okay, I'll stop.
Seriously, it's kind of depressing to see the AWA like this. I grew up near Minneapolis and was an AWA fan since the early 70's as a young child. The AWA circa late 80's, is like seeing Muhammed Ali now as compared to in his athletic prime.
It just makes you kind of sad."
The world would collapse under the amount of suck that would rain down if there was ever a BMF/Cousin Luke match. I like the names of the teams too, and yes, it was really sad to see what the AWA turned into. The Muhammed Ali comparison is a good one, since at this point the AWA was shaking and twitching its way towards a rest home after being on top of the world.
From OB1Jabroni: "Being from the south , I always had to either watch AWA on ESPN or read about it in the PWI, Inside Wrestling, The Wrestler, etc.. Man I wish for those days now. I usually agree with your recap Randy, but this was a poor show. Maybe it is from hearing all the parents of the kids who are going to fail my class blame me for their grades, or just I don't give a fuck and waiting for the summer to begin. At any rate, let's hope for a better show 2nite. It could be worse, I could be a hockey fan I guess"
I used to love the once a week I'd get to go to the drugstore and buy a new wrestling magazine when I was younger. Those magazines were so cool to read, with all the stories from territories that I would never be able to see in Canada. Looking back on it, the show was a lot closer to a dud than on first inspection, but I stick by thumbs in the middle, merely because I know that it's going to get way, WAY worse. Consider it my version of grading on a curve.
From Adam: "I hope they start showing GWF reruns soon, because this sucks. I don't know if they show some of the CWA on the AWA shows since Lawler doesn't want to leave Memphis too often; maybe that will make the shows better.
I don't care if I see the dying days of the AWA. I would say the top 15 guys in the AWA from 1970-91, excluding Verne and Greg, were: Nick Bockwinkel, Billy Robinson, Larry Zybszko, The Crusher, Sgt. Slaughter, Baron Von Raschke, Wahoo McDaniel, Rick Martel, Ray Stevens, Jerry Lawler, Mad Dog Vachon, Larry Hennig, Jerry Blackwell, Ken Patera, & Curt Hennig. These guys were seemed to be loyal to Verne and he seemed to take care of them. How many of these guys are we going to see between now and when the promotion closes, that can still carry a match.
About eight years ago, I was at the Nitro grill that WCW used to have here in Las Vegas waiting for Bret Hart to sign autographs. I was talking to a guy in line who said that Cousin Luke was his dad. I feel sorry for that guy every time I see Cousin Luke in the ring. What was his mother thinking!"
As much as you don't care to see the dying days of the AWA, I'm a total masochist and I want to see the epic rise of Jake "The Milkman" Milliman. To answer your question about who we're going to see between now and when the promotion closes, I think we get Larry, Slaughter, and Ken Patera. That's about it.
From greggagnesucks: "I dont know if this was mentioned before but ... Is it just me or did they just give Daryl Nickles a Russian gimmick(Krusher Kruger) and still keep him as a jobber? That didn't make sense.Were they trying to make him part of Soldat's team but realized he didn't have what it takes? Pretty weird even for Gagne standards."
Nickle and Krugnoff were two different guys and I do think that what was happening was that Krugnoff was supposed to end up being another big Russian heel, but he had shit-all to offer in terms of talent on any level.
|
|