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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:49:22 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Larry Nelson welcomes us in and hopes we all had a great Christmas, going on about the Fan of the Week this week, who wrote the letter on Garfield paper. She's either 12, or she's 35 and never getting married. He gives us the show rundown and it doesn't sound too terrible as we've got Curt Hennig and Wahoo McDaniel in an Indian strap match as our main event. Could be worse. He finishes up his business, then throws us to the ring for our first bout.
Match One: Kevin Collins vs. Soldat Ustinov
Ustinov gives us all a rather rude gesture and the bell rings to get us underway. Ustinov throws Collins to the mat off of a lockup and lets out a yell before doing it again, complete with another banshee yell. Collins gets a top wristlock off of the third lockup but Ustinov just throws him off to the mat. Forearm smashes and a big chop from Ustinov and he rams Collins into the top turnbuckle. Irish whip in and Ustinov hits a shitty looking hip toss, covering Collins for two before picking him up and working a neck crank. Ustinov chokes Collins against the top rope and lays in some boots before picking Collins up and chopping him right back down to the mat. Another Irish whip and Ustinov catches him with a big boot before raking his eyes with the soles of his boots. Double-thrust chop to the throat by Ustinov and he follows that up with the RUSSIAN BACKBREAKER!!! Collins gives it up and Ustinov just flings him to the mat, yelling at the crowd, telling us all where to stick it, and dropping a couple more boots in on Collins after the bell.
Winner: Soldat Ustinov (submission, Russian backbreaker)
Match Analysis: Short and to the point, exactly the way Ustinov's promos should have been. It was fun to see him somewhat debut his new RUSSIAN finisher, but other than that, this was just a regular old, run of the mill squasheroo. Moving on.
Match Two: Mike Tolos vs. Greg Gagne
Gagne gets a quick go-behind and he and Tolos trade reversals as Rod Trongard welcomes shrill-ass Donna to the broadcast. Tolos gets a top wristlock off of a lockup but Gagne manages an armdrag takedown reversal. Tolos is right on him again though, locking in a full nelson, but again, Gagne reverses, dropping down and kicking Tolos off. Stepover toehold from Gagne now into an Indian deathlock and Tolos goes to the eyes out of desperation to break the hold, ramming Ggne into the top buckle. Gagne fires back with a kick to the gut and a big bodyslam before going back to the stepover toehold. Tolos goes to the eyes again and gets a couple of shots in before shoulderblocking Gagne down. Off the ropes and Tolos runs right into a drop toehold and leglock from Gagne. Donna is convinced that she taught Greg everything he knows and tells embarassing stories about Greg as a kid. Tolos goes to the eyes again and Irish whips Gagne into the corner, but misses a reverse elbow charge and Gagne rams him into the opposite turnbuckle before Irish whipping him in for a big back bodydrop. Gagne follows it up in his personal Five Moves of Doom with a couple of dropkicks and he slaps on the Gagne sleeper until the referee calls for the bell.
Winner: Greg Gagne (submission, Gagne sleeper)
Match Analysis: Greg Gagne's matches are getting progressively more boring the more I watch these old AWA shows. He is being completely exposed as a guy who could do a few moves really well, could sell some of the "amateur wrestling" aspects, but couldn't do much outside of the formula. Just a bland, heatless match and again, I'm starting to think I can have a Gagne template. For those asking, Greg's Five Moves of Doom are the Indian deathlock, back bodydrop, flying headscissors, dropkick and Gagne sleeper. There will be AT LEAST four of them in every Gagne match and this one was no exception.
We're back to Larry Nelson in the AWA studios and he talks about the house show circuit and then brings in Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie and Soldat Ustinov. Sheik talks about Nord The Barbarian and how he got the suspension lifted and thanks him for it, mentioning that Nord is nowhere to be found because he's afraid of Ustinov. Sheik makes a challenge to the World Heavyweight Champion as well as a challenge for the Tag Championship as well. Ustinov calls Nord a coward then says they'll destroy Curt Hennig or anyone to get what they want, while Sheik yelps in Arabic. The usual nonsense promo from these two, nothing terribly new in it.
Match Three: Kevin Kelly w/Nick Kiniski vs. DJ Peterson w/Madusa Miceli
This one is apparently part of the convoluted AWA TV Title tournament, which means there will probably be a screwy finish. Peterson shoves Madusa to the ring while she pouts, still wearing the footie pajamas but with a nice shower cap thrown in now. She stomps and pouts some more in the corner as she rips off her shower cap. Rod Trongard notes that this is her last night of service for DJ Peterson and that after this match, her thirty days are up. Peterson and Kelly hit a lockup and Kelly takes advantage with a shot to the gut on the ropes. Kelly rams Peterson into the top turnbuckle and Irish whips him into the corner to follow it up. BIG bodyslam from Kelly and he talks a little shit on Peterson in the midst of the beating. Forearm shots from Kelly and an Irish whip in, but Peterson catches him with a kick to the face and both men are staggered. Kelly gets his wind first and takes Peterson down with a big forearm smash before working a bearhug, ramming Peterson back-first into the turnbuckles. Irish whip from Kelly and there's a big reverse elbow that gets Kelly a two-count. Peterson catches Kelly by the legs and drops a leg to the "lower abdomen", following that up with some forearm shots and a HUGE hip toss off the ropes for a two-count. Peterson moves to an armbar and cranks away on it, turning it into a hammerlock that puts Kelly face-down into the mat. Kelly gets to his feet and steps through the ropes to break the hold, but Peterson takes him right back over with an armdrag and goes right back to the armbar. Kelly gets the hair and pushes Peterson into the corner, hitting a hard forearm shot to the chest. Irish whip into the corner by Kelly, but Peterson reverses it and catches Kelly with an armdrag into another armbar. Kelly gets a knee to the gut to break the armbar and whips Peterson in for a WICKED clothesline. Kelly whips him into the ropes and they botch a spot and end up lowering their heads and ramming into each other. Kelly follows that up with a bodyslam, but Peterson rolls out of the way as Kelly tries an elbowdrop and Peterson gets a small package for two. Peterson with rights and lefts agaisnt the ropes and he whips Kelly in for the dropkick and he gets two off of that before he hits Kelly with a snap suplex. Peterson's up to the second rope and there's the TNT SHOULDERBLOCK!!! Madusa tries to get away on the outside and that distracts Peterson from getting the pin as he heads out to chase her around the ring. Nick Kiniski runs around to the other side and hands something to Kelly, just as Madusa rolls into the ring. Peterson has Madusa in the corner and Kelly WAFFLES him from behind with whatever it was he had in his hand and gets the three-count!!
Winner: Kevin Kelly (pinfall, foreign object shot)
Match Analysis: This one wasn't terrible, but you knew there was going to be shenanigans as soon as you saw everyone at ringside. I will give the AWA credit for actually having a finish in a TV Title tournament match for once though. Again, nothing bad, nothing good, just kind of there to fill the time.
After the match, Kiniski goes to work on Peterson in the corner and Kiniski PILEDRIVES HIM!! He didn't even take his ROBE off!! JT Southern and Pat Tanaka come into the ring now to defend their partner-in-zebra prints and they save Peterson from more damage at the hands of Kiniski and Kelly.
Larry Nelson's in the studio, talking about how no one likes the actions of Kelly and Kiniski and then mentions that Madusa is back with Kelly and Kiniski before bringing in Kevin Kelly. Kelly says that he and Nick didn't cheat and that he beat DJ Peterson by the rules. He talks about how 1988 is going to be the year of Mr. Magnificent. Kelly says there's only one thing missing and that's the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. He tells Curt Hennig to look over his shoulder because he's coming after him. He wonders what to get Madusa for Christmas, whether it'll be a diamond or a "fox coat", before he does some lame Superstar Billy Graham rip-off for catchphrases. If he didn't seem so wooden in the delivery they might come off a little better.
Larry Nelson's STILL in the studio and he's talking about the main event for today's show. He talks about the strap match and brings in Curt Hennig and Hennig says he can do whatever he wants to do. He brings out the National Enquirer and talks about the top twenty syndicated shows in the country and talks about how All-Star Wrestling is ranked at #12 before bagging on Larry Nelson and his $60,000 salary. Nelson's feigned indignance is hilarious. Hennig shuts up Nelson and his whining and mentions that the ratings for shows were done before he became AWA Champion. He says that now that he's the champion, they're going to be #1. He mentions the great wrestlers and says that when you're as good as Curt Hennig, you can walk and talk however you want to and that things are going to stay this way for a long, long time.
Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship STRAP MATCH Wahoo McDaniel vs. Curt Hennig (c)
Hennig flinches on the apron when he hears mention of the strap and then kisses the belt before he even comes close to getting into the ring. Rod Trongard talks about how the strap match between McDaniel and Boris Zhukov led to Zhukov leaving the AWA altogether. That one was a Russian chain match, but I guess, they have to revise history wherever possible. They finally end up hooked up and Hennig is begging off immediately, taking a shot to the arm with the strap. Hennig dances away and tries to keep his distance but ends up taking another shot with the strap and getting dragged back into the ring by Wahoo. Wahoo gets Hennig in the corner and chokes him with the strap, dragging him out to the center of the ring, but Hennig goes to the eyes to break the choke. Wahoo has Hennig cornered again and Wahoo gets some straps in before Hennig kicks him in the gut and breaks the momentum. They hit a lockup and Hennig gets to the ropes, kicking McDaniel off of a break and raking the strap across his face. Wahoo comes back with a shot that puts Curt down onto his ass and they lockup again with Hennig getting a snap mare into some stomps to the forehead. Wahoo is busted open already and Hennig gets a choke with the strap before proudly exclaiming, "That's what I think of Indians!" to the camera.
Right hands from Hennig now and he puts Wahoo to the mat, stomping away at him and working on the cut, stopping to yell at the crowd. Hennig ties him up and starts to drag Wahoo around the ring, touching two of the corners before he stomps at Wahoo and clotheslines him with the strap. Hennig gets a STRAP MARE and then just chokes the hell out of Wahoo with it before starting to drag him again. First corner for Curt, and there's the second, but Wahoo KICKS HIM AWAY!! Right hands from Hennig again and Wahoo comes back with a right hand and chops of his own, raking the strap across Hennig's forehead and snapping off more right hands. STRAP MARE FROM WAHOO!! Wahoo tries a vertical suplex but can't get Hennig over and they trade rights on the mat. A BIG chop from Hennig puts Wahoo down and Wahoo comes back with a shot to the throat before he WHIPS HENNIG WITH THE STRAP!! Irish whip in and Wahoo clotheslines him with the strap!! Wahoo's dragging Hennig around and he's got one corner, he's got two corners, he's got THREE CORNERS.....but Hennig kicks him low to stop the momentum and keep Wahoo out of the fourth corner. Wahoo whips Hennig's back again with the strap and Hennig pushes him into the corner, peppering him with rights and lefts before pulling him out with a SNAP SUPLEX!!
Hennig's on his way to the corners, making it to the first corner, following it up with the second corner, but Wahoo kicks Hennig away before he can get to the third. Hennig slaps Wahoo in the face and they trade punches with Hennig coming out the better and putting Wahoo down. Henning up to the top rope but Wahoo jerks him off the top with the strap!!! Wahoo wraps Hennig up again and starts dragging him. Buckle number one, and there's buckle number two! He's at the third and has one more buckle to get to, Hennig's fighting it off and HERE COMES ADRIAN ADONIS!! ADONIS HAS A KNIFE AND CUTS THE STRAP!!! HENNIG STARTS WAFFLING MCDANIEL WITH RIGHT HANDS AND HERE COMES GREG GAGNE!! RIGHT HANDS FROM GAGNE SEND HENNIG FLYING TO THE OUTSIDE!! Referee Gary DeRusha raises Wahoo McDaniel's hand and says that because of the outside interference from Adonis, Wahoo is the winner. Hennig is getting looked at by the doctor at ringside because it appears he was cut by the knife that Adonis was wielding and he's off to the back to get some medical attention. On the replay, you can see that Hennig's hand was REALLY bleeding badly, so it must have been one hell of a gash with that knife.
Winner: Wahoo McDaniel (disqualification, Adonis-ference)
Match Analysis: This one was just starting to get going before they had the finish cut short (heh, see what I did there?), by Adonis and his butcher knife. For the life of me, I can't understand why they wouldn't just send him out with scissors or something. Adonis legitimately sliced Hennig with that knife and could have ended up cutting off fingers or something. Stupid, stupid idea, but then again this is the AWA where stupid ideas reign supreme. Thankfully Hennig ended up alright, but it was still retarded. Fun match while it lasted, but again it was the same basic strap match Wahoo would have with anyone, just made a little better by Curt.
Larry Nelson's back with the rundown of the show and he says that Hennig has a SERIOUS cut on the hand from the main event and then reminds fans that the AWA will be on ESPN on New Year's Eve, taking everyone right up to midnight. He thanks the Fan of the Week again and thanks everyone for joining the AWA before reminding us again about New Year's Eve '87!!
Final Thoughts
Meh. That's about all that can be said about the show. Kelly/Peterson was alright, if not a little predictable and the Strap match main event was good, but not great. I'm not going to go with a full thumbs up on this one, but I'm firmly in the middle leaning up because there was nothing that was outright offensive on the show, which is something that I can't always say about the AWA programs.
Fun With Comments
From Steve: "After looking at the ESPN Media Zone website, I can safely assume that Tuesday's AWA show will be the last of the 1987 shows we will be seeing on ESPN Classic. Looking at the ESPN Classic schedule listings, it looks like we will be going into 1990 at the end of July and throughout the month of August, so be on the lookout for the AWA's final year on ESPN Classic. "
Oh, BABY!! This should be a real treat and I'm hoping that it's going to be as big a disaster as I remember it being.
From Joe K. : "Get the TiVo ready for Turkey on a Pole! "
I am on it and can't wait to see it on YouTube!!
From DaFranchise: "Man, I remember thinking Kevin Kelly was "kind of like Lex Luger" when I saw these broadcasts originally - I was 7 or 8, cut me some slack.
Anyway, I didn't even recognize the guy when he was Nailz and remember thinking "What happened?" when I found out that they were one and the same.
After seeing Kelly again on these re-broadcasts, I realize...nothing happened. I was 8 years old and the guy was chiseled and I didn't know any better.
Thanks for ruining childhood memories, AWA and ESPN. "
Yeah, there's been a lot of that really. I've actually gotten a few e-mails from people to that extent, saying that seeing it now that they're older, it's a lot different and a lot worse than their golden memories. Don't be too hard on yourself, it happens to everyone.
From Trashy: "Milkman Mania will run wild!
And if you thought the scoring system was complicatedly non-existent in the TV title tourney, wait 'til they try and explain the team challenge series."
Oh, I'm more than ready for the Team Challenge Series. This is going to be VERY exciting for me as I had pretty much stopped watching the AWA regularly at that point, so a lot of this is going to be new for me. I'm very nearly giddy!!
From Steve: "Oh, and I forgot to mention this earlier, on Thursday's show, during the "AWA's 1987 Year in Review Part 2", Larry Nelson mentioned a wrestler by the name of Paul "The Avalanche" Neu wrestling with the AWA in April 1987. He was better known for portraying a "White Rapper" gimmick in WCW in the early 90s with the name P.N. News. Yep, Mr. "Yo Baby, Yo Baby, Yo!" got his career started in the AWA. Unlike Leon "Vader" White, Neu didn't really go anywhere.
And so April 1987 was when The Blaster's "Wall Crash" happened. It's too bad ESPN Classic didn't show those early 1987 shows with P.N. News and The Blaster wrestling on them. It would have been very interesting to see those episodes, in my opinion. "
God, I had forgotten that PN had a little run in the AWA. Goes to show how much of an impact he had since I don't think he had many TV matches. I too am still holding out hope that I get to see that Blaster segment and that I can have it on DVR for all eternity to watch and giggle at at my leisure.
From Dave: "Did I hear one of the announcers say (during the second match) that one of the wrestlers fell 65 feet when body slammed? (I mean I know they're supposed to stretch things a little and say 5 or 6 feet but that one was just out there.)
Oh, and am I the only one when they first said Alan West and thought they were talking about Batman? "
That was Rod Trongard and I believe a little later on he admitted that it just "seemed like it was 65 feet", rather than a literal height.
From Nick Ditherington III: " I was watching Memphis at the time Phil Hickerson "returned from the Orient" and "found Buddha", transforming himself into P.Y. Chu-Hi. It was good goofy fun to see a big brawler like Hickerson mix in chops and the odd judo throw to the mix. I believe they even gave him a silly finisher name, like "Smiling Golden Dragon of the Four Winds" for a simple backbreaker or something like that. Announcer Lance Russell was gold at making fun of Chu-Hi during these segments.
Then the evil redneck contingent got serious, with The Stud Stable breaking Jeff Jarrett's arm, running a racial angle with Brickhouse Brown and such. Robert Fuller bought all of the Stable gold watches, except for Brown, whom he gave a roll of toilet paper and a bottle of Crown Royal..next week they patched things up only for Fuller to celebrate Brown's secondary title win by wheeling out a watermelon with birthday cake candles on it. "Gorgeous" Gary Young - complete with hair dyed red - was hilarious in the watermelon segment, chowing down and spitting seeds.
So with such "serious" angles going on, their comedic ally Chu-Hi and his manager Tojo were shipped off to the World Class/Texas side of the USWA."
That makes sense about Chu-Hi, since there wasn't really any way that he could have been considered anything but a comedy heel. I missed that portion of things, but it would have been fun to see Lance Russell busting Chu-Hi's balls on commentary since I agree with your assessment about Russell being gold on the Memphis mic. He didn't really translate to the NWA, but in Memphis his voice was just right for those wild brawls.
From Teijo Kahn: "Steve's right- here's what's listed for Thursday night's show- Wayne "The Train" Bloom vs. Baron Von Raschke; The Trooper vs. Mean Mike; Eight Man Elimination between teammates - Killer and Psycho/ The Hangmen/ Stewart and the Unknown Soldier/ Tommy Jammer and Paul "Hard Rock" Diamond. "
Oh sweet mother of GOD, that looks like a horrible line-up and I'm so excited. They teased me with crappy 1990 AWA before and then didn't deliver, so I'm really hoping they manage to make it happen this time.
From piperfan01: "Although I didn't remember watching him from back in my childhood, I am gaining respect for the old guy bouncing on the trampoline from Beyond the Mat, Dennis Stamp. I have to say with shows like this he really is a rare highlight. I didn't think I could be more bored with wrestlers than I was with watching Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski seperately, but when they put them together, its even worse. Seperate topic, how did Bill Dundee ever get over, he is right up there with Eric Embry as far as wrestlers I will never understand the love for."
As much as it's hard to say with how he came across in Beyond The Mat, he was actually really good at what he did as enhancement talent. As for being bored with Kelly and Kiniski, join the club, they really were pretty terrible, especially when to some of the great teams that the AWA had previously. With the Dundee and Embry situations, it was a big fish, small pond kind of deal and neither of them were able to come close to re-creating those successes on a national level.
Finally, from Rob: "I have to admit, I laughed out loud at the end of this show when Soldat disappeared off screen and then suddenly reappeared with his picture of Lenin with this goofy look in his eyes. God bless Soldat.
Bobby Eaton must have been a miracle worker, because I still see absolutely nothing in Dennis Condrey, yet the Midnight Express was a pretty good unit before Dennis disappeared. Of course, they added Stan Lane and were instantly 10x better. "
Eaton was the MAN and I agree about Condrey being the weak link of both versions of the Original Midnight Express. Soldat and his goofy Russian expression was always tremendous to watch and I still feel like he could have done a ton of business as a Santino-esque comedy heel.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:50:45 GMT -6
87
AWA Championship Wrestling
New Year's Eve, 1987!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Larry Nelson's in Minneapolis at Jukebox Saturday Night and he's surrounded by some of Minnesota's drunkest. That's not even mentioning the guy that has a jean jacket, an "I Love My Attitude Problem" T-shirt and the molesterest mustache this side of the trailer park. Larry throws it to the ring and GETS ROWDY!! Knowing how pissed to the gills Larry probably was, he fits right in.
Match One: Art Washington vs. Billy Jack Strong
Dances With Muscles comes to the ring with a little feathered wristband, and Indian necklace and a WICKED case of back-ne. I guess Strong gets his "strong" in liquid form. He methodically makes his way to the ring and methodically locks up with Washington before shoving him into the corner. Another methodical lockup and another shove-off from Strong before he shoulderblocks Washington onto his ass. Strong turns around to methodically pose for the crowd and Washington dropkicks him in the back, to no effect. Strong VERY methodically turns around and shrugs off some eyerakes and biting from Washington, clubbing him to the mat and then Irish whipping him into the ropes for some sort of sack of shit slam. He just kind of dropped him really. Irish whip again and Strong hits a shoulderblock that Washington sells as if he was backing away from a possum in his office. Strong looks offended at the hideous sell, picks up Washington and METHODICALLY DDT's him. You'd think that would be enough but Strong just picks him up again and drops him with ANOTHER sack of shit slam that was probably supposed to be a side slam, but again, Strong just drops him. He picks Washington up again and hammers him with a forearm to the chest. Strong: "GET UP!!". He slams Washington before Irish whipping him in for a POWERSLAM!! Strong methodically covers and gets the three-count before methodically flexing over his fallen foe.
Winner: Billy Jack Strong (pinfall, powerslam)
Match Analysis: Squash, yet still mildly entertaining to watch Strong and his complete disdain for the man he's working with. I'm sure it's probably why he never got very far in the AWA, but it was kind of funny to watch him dumping Washington like he was a crash dummy.
Larry Nelson is back at Jukebox Saturday Night and he's got Wahoo McDaniel with him. Wahoo talks about how great a year 1987 was for Wahoo and for the AWA and he says that the AWA has the finest talent possible and then he talks about how things like Curt Hennig nearly putting out his eye and Adrian Adonis breaking Tommy Rich's wrist might have soured some people. He mentions the Midnight Rockers coming back and says that 1988 will be the year the AWA will be back on the top of the wrestling world. Wahoo says that his priority is to be the World's Champion in 1988 and that the only way to settle the score with someone like Curt Hennig is to take his title. Wahoo sounds half-drunk and repeats himself from the beginning of the promo about the Midnight Rockers and 1988 and Larry gives him a big handshake and wishes him a happy 1988. Wahoo says he's going to get himself a cool one, and I'm sure he and Larry will be at the bar double-fisting them in no time.
After the commercials, it's back to Larry Nelson at the bar and he asks some drunk about who his favorite wrestler is and he says "LARRY NELSON, yer my favrit rassler". No shit. Then it goes to him slurring through a sentence or two about how Curt Hennig is his real favorite. The drunk thinks that the Midnight Rockers are awesome and some other drunk says "Gagne's Number One!!". He must have had a LOT to drink.
Match Two: Pete Sanchez and Tom Stone vs. Alan West and Mitch Snow
Ugh. The best worker in the match is Tom Stone. This should be a fucking dandy. Sanchez and Snow get us started and Sanchez is already complaining to the referee and stalling before we even hit a lockup. I know Larry Zbyszko, and YOU SIR, are no Larry Zbyszko. They finally hit a lockup and Sanchez grabs a side headlock, popping Snow in the face with a right hand. Sanchez goes back to the side headlock and hits him with another right hand and then complains to the referee about the closed fist. Snow whips him off the ropes and takes a shoulderblock before Snow catches him with a powerslam off the ropes. Snow gets a two-count and then rolls out of the way of a Stone elbowdrop, which catches Sanchez in the chest. Snow does a cutesy spot and ends up causing the jobbers to run into each other and prances like he's hot shit before West comes in and they hit a double-dropkick, sending Stone and Sanchez to the floor. Stone gets in with West now and Stnow grabs an armbar before tagging in West, whipping Stone in for a drop toehold while West drops a legdrop onto Stone's head. Standing arm-wringer from West into a short armdrag takedown and West gets a one-count before he goes back to the arm-wringer. Stone shoots him into the ropes and tries a kick but West catches the leg and trips Stone down, following it with a hamstring pull, rolling through to punch Sanchez in the mustache. HUGE bodyslam from West and he follows it with an elbowdrop that gets a two-count before Stone rakes the eyes and tags Sanchez back in. Sanchez kicks West in the gut and then goes to the throat before ramming West into the turnbuckle. We get a TOTALLY RANDOM CUT to Stone working over Mitch Snow in the corner and then hammering away with right hands against the ropes. Side headlock from Stone and Snow hits West with the blind tag, shooting Stone into the ropes for West to catch him with a HIDEOUS belly to belly suplex and there's only a two-count because West picked him up. West with a tag to Snow and Snow comes off the top with a SUNSET FLIP that he actually hits well this time, and THAT gets the 1-2-3!!
Winners: Alan West and Mitch Snow (pinfall, Snow sunset flip off the top rope)
Match Analysis: Bleah, at least they didn't botch the finish this time, but I still don't like these two as a tag team. As I said in the open, Stone was pretty much the best worker in the match, which should tell you a lot. The weird cut kept it from getting too plodding, but also makes you wonder what the hell happened in between. Just an odd choice of a match, on every level, to put on the show.
Larry Nelson has the Midnight Rockers with him and Marty talks about how they're doing what they do best and that's partying. He says there are a lot of midnight rockers in the bar tonight and then throws it over to Shawn, who says that the Midnight Rockers are coming back to where they made their mark, the AWA. He says that the serious stuff is the Midnight Express and he says that the Midnight Rockers have done it before and that they can't beat them. Jannetty says that when it comes time to take care of business, they know that they can beat the Express.
Back from the break and AGAIN, we're at the bar with Larry Nelson and he's got Mitch Snow with him now, as well as a chick who looks like she's from the Classy Skank Whore Ranch. Snow talks about how '88 is going to be his year and how he has his sights set on winning the TV Title tournament. Snow calls him "Hairy Larry" and kind of yammers on without a point to end the promo. Larry Nelson asks the drunk skank if she's having a good time, in a move I'm sure was re-enacted on countless nights in many a bar across America when Larry was on the prowl.
Match Three: AWA Television Championship Greg Gagne vs. Adrian Adonis w/Paul E. Dangerously
Dangerously looks like a mulleted lunatic and then in an interesting dichotomy, dabs sweat from the brow of Adonis with a towel on the floor. Adonis has some make-up on one eye that actually just looks like a black eye, and the crowd is loudly chanting "Paul E. Sucks". Holy HELL, there's a guy in the crowd dressed like Shiek Adnan El-Kaissie. I don't even know what to say. Some other guy in the crowd has a telephone with him and is mocking Paul E. with it. Adonis gets his robe off and we're finally reaady to get this one underway, after months and months of tedious TV Title tournament action!!
Adonis gets a quick hammerlock out of the gate and Gagne gets a reversal almost immediately and Adonis just walks over to the ropes to get the clean break. Adonis moves to a standing arm-wringer and turns it into a bit of a double-armbar move. Gagne nearly reverses it, but Adonis keeps the hold locked in by reversing the reversal. Gagne gets the reversal finally and Adonis breaks the hold by walking over to the ropes and standing on the second rope, prompting Gagne to just let go of the hold and Adonis falls onto his ass before rolling out to the floor. Adonis rubs his tookis on the outsie and Paul E. gives his lower back a rubdown as the crowd continues to get on him and Adonis. Adonis gets back into the ring and grabs a side headlock, but Gagne shoots him off into the ropes, eating a shoulderblock and then getting a drop toehold on Adonis into a leglock. Adonis goes to the eyes to break the hold and moves back to the corner, popping Gagne with a right hand. More right hands and elbows from Adonis and he chokes on Gagne in the corner before Irish whipping him into the opposite corner chest-first. Gagne blocks a right hand and hits one of his own, hammering on Adonis and ramming him into the top turnbuckles before hitting a NASTY chop. Irish whip into the corner by Gagne and Adonis reverses it, catching him coming out of the corner with GOODNIGHT IRENE!! GOODNIGHT IRENE IS LOCKED IN!! Gagne ducks under the ropes and RAMS ADONIS INTO THE BUCKLE TO BREAK IT!! Adonis picks Gagne up for a slam and to presumably drop him across the top rope, but Gagne goes over Adonis' back and locks in THE GAGNE SLEEPER!! PAUL E.'s ON THE APRON WITH POWDER!! RIGHT HAND BY GAGNE AND PAUL. E GOES FLYING!! RIGHT HAND BY ADONIS IS DUCKED AND THERE'S THE GAGNE SLEEPER AGAIN!! Adonis is close to being in la-la land now and HERE COMES BOB ORTON!! ELBOW TO GAGNE!! THE REF'S CALLING FOR THE BELL!! Irish whip from Orton and a BIG reverse elbow and he holds onto Gagne for Adonis to work him over with punches. Orton tries to pick him up for a piledriver and HERE COMES WAHOO!! He must loves him some pork cause he's GOT CHOPS FOR EVERYBODY!! Wahoo and Gagne brawl and there goes Adonis to the floor!! Orton's cornered by Wahoo and Gagne and beats a hasty retreat!! The crowd is going NUTS over all of this, including Shiek Jr., and we hear that Adonis was disqualified and Greg Gagne is the winner and new AWA Television Champion!!
Winner: Greg Gagne (disqualification, Orton-ference)
Match Analysis: Good match with a white-hot crowd, but it REALLY needed a finish. I don't think Adonis needed that much protecting that he couldn't take the pin. They hamstrung themselves twice in this match, once with the ten-minute time limit which took away anything good they could have done with the match, and again with the finish. Looking back at the history of the TV Title though, I guess the screw finish makes sense in the end.
Mick Karch gets a word with Gagne and he says that every time you wrestle Adonis, you have to keep one eye open for Paul E. Dangerously on the outside. He talks about how Adonis can't be anybody one on one and then says that anytime Adonis or Orton want a shot at the belt, they've got it. If they want a tag match, he'll get Wahoo and take them on that way!! He almost calls Paul E. a swear word but stops himself just short.
Match Four: Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski w/Madusa Miceli vs. The Midnight Rockers
Hey hey!! This might not be terrible. Mick Karch is so happy introducing the Rockers, his voice cracks, and in a cool moment, Shawn Michaels walks on a row of empty chairs, high-fiving the crowd, including Mike Tenay at ringside. The Rockers jump into the ring and Kiniski and Kelly jump the Rockers, leading to a four-man brawl to start things out. Double-Irish whip from Kiniski and Kelly and the Rockers manage to reverse into a double-noggin knocker and a double-dropkick that sends Kelly and Kiniski over the top rope to the floor. The Rockers finally get to take their jackets off and it looks like we're ready to start things proper with Shawn Michaels and Nick Kiniski. They hit the lockup and Kiniski pushes Michaels intot he ropes, tryiing a right hand but Michaels blocks it and pops Kiniski in the face, leading to Jannetty getting a couple of shots in too. Another lockup and Kiniski gets a big knee to the gut before whipping Michaels into the corner and hammering away. Another Irish whip into the corner by Kiniski, but Jannetty takes the brunt of the blow from the apron and Michaels comes back with a kick tot he gut and a right hand. Michaels goes for an Irish whip and Kelly tries to do the same block for Kiniski but Kiniski reverses the whip and Michaels goes in and kicks Kelly in the gut, waffling Kiniski with another right hand and they're back out to the floor. The crowd is going batshit over this turn of events and the return of the Rockers.
Kiniski makes his way back into the ring and both teams have a little confab session before we Michaels grabs a side headlock off of a lockup. Kiniski tries to shoot Michaels off but can't and Michaels takes him over with the headlock. Kiniski reverses that into a headscissors, but Michaels kips out and get back to his feet, staring down "Slick" Nick. Michaels goes back to the side headlock and gets shot into the ropes, punching Kelly as he tries to interfere and then going right back to the side headlock. Madusa and Kevin Kelly complain to the referee and while they're doing that Michaels and Jannetty make a quick switch and Jannetty cranks onto the headlock, getting a couple of takeovers out of the corner before he backflips over Kiniski and gets another big headlock takeover. Kelly comes in to try to break the hold and the Rockers pull the phantom tag again, with the crowd just EATING it up. Michaels works over Kiniski with the headlock and they get back to their feet with Kiniski shooting him off into the ropes. Two shoulderblocks and a hip toss by Michaels later, Kiniski is right back into that side headlock. Kiniski pushes Michaels into the corner to break, but Michaels gets a tag in to Jannetty and Jannetty catches Kiniski with the side headlock as he turns around, taking him back over to the mat.
Kiniski shoots Jannetty off and Kelly tries to catch him with a knee in the back but can't and Jannetty goes right back to the headlock, tagging in Michaels before Irish whipping Kiniski into the ropes. Drop toehold by Jannetty into a BIG elbowdrop from Michaels and Kelly's in to complain and Jannetty catches him with a right hand! Michaels has the cover and when the referee finally has control of the match, he can only get a two-count. Side headlock again from Michaels but he gets pushed into the heel corner. Michaels fires off right hands and fights his way out of there before he can be double-teamed, but Kiniski manages to tag in big Kevin Kelly. Kelly flexes for Michaels and shows off a little before telling Michaels to bring it. They hit a lockup and Kelly bulls Michaels into the ropes and hits a hard knee to the gut before he press slams Michaels. Not just press slams, but does reps with him. Kelly flings Michaels out to the floor and Kiniski is on him like a vulture, SLAMMING MICHAELS ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR!! Jannetty comes over to check on Michaels and I'm sure Shawn is wondering where the hell he was a minute before. Michaels sees Kiniski coming and they brawl a little on the floor until Kiniski gets the edge and throws Michaels back into the ring, right into an armbar from Kelly.
Michaels to his feet but Kelly yanks the hair and sends him right back down to the mat. Michaels makes his way to his feet and there's an Irish whip and a duck-under and Michaels get the cross bodyblo...oh no, Kelly catches him and gives him a WICKED backbreaker!! Tag to Kiniski and he picks Michaels up for a side slam and gets a long two-count off of that one. Another pick-up from Kiniski and he hits ANOTHER backbreaker for another long, long two-count before wrapping Michaels up in the CANADIAN BEARHUG!! Michaels gets double-underhooks to relieve the pressure and takes Kiniski over with a hip toss, but Kiniski tags in Kelly and Kelly takes Michaels down with a forearm to the back. Irish whip in by Kelly and it's AMERICAN BEARHUG TIME!! Kelly gets a pair of two-counts off of the bearhug in a spot that I haven't seen in yers and as Kelly picks him back up, Michaels starts wailing away with right hands. Kelly tags Kiniski and MICHAELS GETS THE HOT TAG!! JANNETTY WITH AN IRISH WHIP AND A REVERSE ELBOW TO KINISKI!! RIGHT HANDS TO KELLY!! DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER!!! Michaels is back in and they have the heels in opposite corners and it's MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION TIME!! KELLY OUT TO THE FLOOR!! DOUBLE-DROPKICK ON KINISKI!! Michaels goes up to the top rope and MADUSA GETS ON THE APRON AND PUSHES HIM OFF!! JANNETTY CHASES MADUSA, KELLY CHASES JANNETTY!! Madusa is up on the apron and holding onto Michaels and Kiniski comes off the ropes with a cross bodyblock but MICHAELS DUCKS!! KINISKI WAFFLES MADUSA!! Jannetty shoves Kelly back into the ring and they hit a DOUBLE SUPERKICK!! ALL THREE HEELS ARE CHASED FROM THE RING!!
Winners: The Midnight Rockers (disqualification, Madusa-ference)
Match Analysis: Great match, great main event. Finally, the AWA manages to make a decent match and a decent main event after all this time. Kelly and Kiniski couldn't do much, but they didn't need to because Shawn and Marty were fantastic and could cover everything. The headlock work at the beginning kind of slowed the pace and killed the early part of the match, but once Michaels started selling the crowd was on the edge of their seats.
We're back from commercial and back at the bar and not surprisingly, Larry Nelson's in the drunk tank. Wait, I'm sorry, that was a typo. He's in a DUNK tank. Force of habit when talking about Larry. Who is holding the microphone for him but one ERIC BISCHOFF!! FORESHADOWING!! The Rockers and Mitch Snow are getting ready to try to dunk Nelson. Michaels with a throw.....and he misses. Jannetty with a throw...and he misses. The Rockers just head over and push the switch and LARRY'S IN THE WATER!! HE'S DROWNDEDING!!! SOMEONE GET THAT DRUNK OUT OF THE WATER!! Larry finally pops his head back up and wishes everyone a Happy New Year before dunking back under the water.
Final Thoughts
I don't know if it was the party atmosphere or actually getting some decent wrestlers back in the territory, but this was a REALLY fun show. The squash with Strong was interesting because I couldn't look away for fear of missing him crippling poor Art Washington, the TV Title match had a fun (but retardedly screwy) finish, and the main event was a great formula tag match. For the first time in a VERY long time, the hour actually flew by and I actually enjoyed it. Thumbs up for this one from me, and with a smile on my face, let's hit the comments!
Fun With Comments
From Guest. : "I think I remember the early 88 shows referencing this strap match, and Henning's near loss of limbs from it. Its kinda funny in retrospect, especially with Adonis in his poncho waddling out to interfere for no real reason. "
Indeed, they did show the highlights of the finish of this one when Adonis and Gagne had their rematch in, I believe, Fargo at the TV tapings with the horrible mustard yellow backdrops.
From Steve: "That's funny that the AWA was saying that John Nord was the one who lifted Sheik Adnan's suspension, when Nord didn't appear in the AWA at all around late '87 or early '88. Was the AWA expecting Nord the Barbarian to come back by the beginning of 1988?
I wonder what drove Larry Nelson to start having these "Feigned" reactions, because when he first got started, he seemed very calm. Check out this interview with Nick Bockwinkel from mid 1984 that I found online. When Bockwinkel starts talking about the "creepish humanoids"
Anyways, did the AWA producers want Nelson to do the reactions to show more interest in the interviews? "
I'm guessing that you're probably right and that they wanted him to be a little more animated, in the ilk of Mean Gene, to sell the promos and put a little pizazz into them. Lord knows we weren't getting much pizazz from the actual performers in '87 or '88, save for a couple. As for Nord, I believe he was supposed to be coming back to the AWA and them saying that he had asked for Sheik's suspension to be lifted was their way of foreshadowing his comeback. Of course, Nord didn't come back until '89 and even then it wasn't as Nord The Barbarian, but as that retarded lumberjack gimmick.
From piperfan01: "As a kid I looked forward to Wahoo, but that was back when he was in the NWA. Although obviously limited in the AWA, he still brings back the memories. I look forward to the team challenge series, I also stopped watching back in the day before that. I always thought Slaughters team would end up winning. But never thought the Milkman would be the man. Oddly enough I am looking forward to Patera and Brad tag team. Patera was a strange wrestler to me, I always looked forward to seeing him, but 30 seconds into any of his matches I always wondered why I was so excited. "
Wahoo was quite limited by the time he hit the AWA, but he was still capable of a good match if he was in there with the right guy. Hennig could have wrung a good match out of a sponge, so being in there with an old pro like Wahoo must have been easy for him. If you notice, Wahoo gives him a ton of stuff too, a sure sign of respect from the veteran. By the way, I laughed at your description of waiting to see a Ken Patera match as you might be the only one that felt that way. By that point in his career, everyone else was usually apathetic upon knowing they'd see him and then thirty seconds in, be heading to the concessions or the pisser.
From Scrotum Pole: ""This one was just starting to get going before they had the finish cut short (heh, see what I did there?), by Adonis and his butcher knife."
I bet that was his personal dinner knife for "deboning"(couldn't resist) his meat.
Randy, on the Adonis knife, what do you consider the worst foreign object ever brought to the ring or used in a match? "
That would be the worst in my opinion, just because of how stupidly dangerous it was. I mean most of wrestling is gimmicky violence, but to send Adonis out there with a fucking butcher knife was retarded. In terms of the worst for comedic purposes, I think that honor would go to Owen Hart for the story Mick Foley told in his book about the Hefty bag of popcorn. Seeing Owen making popcorn angels would have been the funniest thing ever.
From Joe K. : "I am digging Mike Tolos' shirt selection each show. This time, it was a Man from U.N.C.L.E."
Mike Tolos' pre-match T-shirt work is worthy of Hidden Highlight status in nearly every match he's in. Someone get on that and make sure he gets into that column at some point!!
Another comment from Joe K. : "Wouldn't have made more sense for Adonis to come to ringside with some barber shears, considering how he left the WWF that year? At least they would have been easier to steady against that strap than a fucking butcher knife! "
ANYTHING would have made more sense than a legitimately dangerous weapon, but I guess they weren't exactly thinking clearly at that point. They're just lucky they didn't end up injuring Hennig to the point that he couldn't compete again because I'm pretty sure that would have been the end of the AWA right there, three years before the real end. I thought as soon as I saw the knife, why not have him come down with a big pair of scissors or hedge clippers or something controllable that would be very easy to protect everyone from, but I guess they thought the knife would look cooler or something.
Finally, from Heretic: "Don't forget the knee drop from the second rope. So I guess Greg Gagne has six moves of doom. "
I haven't seen him use that one much lately and that came more in '88, but rest assured, once he starts using it more again, there will be an amendment made to his personal moves of doom list.
Another edition of the AWA is in the books and if the rumors are true, that gets us one day closer to the death rattle of the AWA and the absolute STINKERS that were the 1990 shows. I personally can't believe that they managed to survive to see that new decade, but I also can't wait to see the craptacular shows it brought about. See you all tomorrow, folks!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:52:22 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Lee Marshall and Ralph Strangis are ringside and they with us a Happy 1990 before they run down the card, featuring such luminaries as Tommy Jammer, Yukon John Nord and Kokina Maximus. I am so excited to rip this apart I can barely stand it!! I hope it's bad bad, like MST3K bad, and not just bland, boring bad.
Back from the break and we have an ERIC BISCHOFF SIGHTING!! He's in front of one of the cheapest green screen set-ups I've seen, and it's blatantly obvious. I mean his hair is tinted green by it. He wishes everyone a Happy New Year and then talks about a bodyslam match in the main event with John Nord vs. Kokina Maximus. Then he throws it to the ring for the first match featuring Tommy Jammer.
Match One: Bad Boy Brown vs. Tommy Jammer
Oh sweet Christ, Donna Gagne is the ring announcer. And you thought Mike McGuirk was shrill and annoying. Bad Boy Brown is billed as being from Detroit, but the ad on the back of his jacket is from Minneapolis. I wonder if they're just sponsoring him like he's a Little League team or something. Tommy Jammer comes to the ring with all the neon one man should be allowed to wear and he looks great, but we'll see how he wrestles. Brown is rocking tights that are practially up to his armpits, but he looks great compared to all that neon green. Brown gets a go-behind but Jammer reverses, pushing Brown into the ropes for a break. Another lockup and they tangle around the ropes before breaking clean again. Third lockup and Brown pushes Jammer into the ropes, following with one of the WEAKEST right hands in the recorded history of combat sports. He "hits" Jammer with another one and then Jammer just kicks Brown in the gut, sending him sprawling backwards onto his ass. Jammer picks him up for a BIG bodyslam, ramming him into the turnbuckle before hitting a standing dropkick. Brown is honestly built like a flagpole and moves just as fluidly. These bumps are horrible. Jammer gets a go-behind into the abdominal stretch and Brown yells and screams until the referee calls for the bell.
Winner: Tommy Jammer (submission, abdominal stretch)
Match Analysis: Jammer = generic. He didn't really do anything really well, but then again he wasn't in there for long and he had a terrible jobber to work with. I don't know if he got any better or not, but there certainly wasn't anything here that led me to believe he was going to help turn the sorry state of the territory around.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back and then talks about how Yukon John and "Bertha" are here to clear out all the "bad timber" in the AWA. He says that we get a double-dose of Yukon John today, first in this match and then in our main event. Tremendous.
Match Two: The Menace vs. Yukon John Nord
Nord comes to the ring with CCR's "Bad Moon Rising" playing him down the aisle and he looks hideous. Think Big Josh from WCW, with a wolf pelt as a hat. It looks like he has a real ax with him too, smart considering how the fans and kiddies are all flapping their hands in front of him to touch him and high-five him. Great future lawsuit material there. There's a LOT of empty seats in that arena as Nord makes his way around the ringside area to high-five the folks that did show up. Nord goes through a big production getting all of his Yukon gear off, wrestling in jeans and what look to be beaver-skin boots. The Menace charges him and gets shoulderblocked down onto his ass. Another charge from Menace and he EATS BEAVER!! Nord lets out a wolf howl, according to Ralph Strangis, and Nord kicks Menace in the gut and forearms him down. Irish whip from Nord into a HUGE dropkick and there's another wolf howl as Nord headbutts Menace in the gut. They hit a lockup and Nord forearms him to the mat again before he picks him up for a HUGE RUNNING POWERSLAM!! WOLF HOWL!! Nord runs the ropes four or five times and drops a HUGE legdrop to get the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Yukon John Nord (pinfall, guillotine legdrop)
Match Analysis: Weird to see Nord doing almost the exact same character as his Barbarian character, just without the HUSS HUSS HUSS-ing and the cheating. The Menace wasn't much to work with, and I'm noticing that as the AWA has gone down, so has the quality of their jobbers. When you've got some greener guys or guys that need a little help, the right jobber can make them look like a million bucks. So far, these guys aren't getting it done and the contract talent aren't looking very good.
Eric Bischoff is back and he tells us to hold tight because the Texas Hangmen are coming up next. Absolutely giddy.
Bischoff's back and bullshits that he can hear the cowbells in the back of the arena, which means the Texas Hangmen are coming.
Match Three: Jimmy Magnum and Red Tyler vs. The Texas Hangmen
Psycho and Killer are the Texas Hangmen and they look like they've stolen their ring gear from an S & M club. Worse than Demoltion because the Hangmen have the leather assless chaps look going. Red Tyler starts out with who I'll assume is Killer. Killer throws him off into the corner and gives a yell. Side headlock from Killer and he follows it with a right hand to the throat and a snap mare before dropping a short knee and raking at Tyler's eyes. Killer gets a headbutt and then flings Tyler out to the concrete floor before distracting the referee. Psycho heads to the floor and rams him back-first into the apron before Killer hits a huge forearm, sending Tyler back to the floor. Psycho gets ahold of Tyler again and picks him up for a bodyslam but RAMS HIM INTO THE POST!! Psycho flings him back into the ring and Killer chokes him with the sole of his boot before making the tag. Psycho gets a snap mare into a short elbow and then picks him up in a bodyslam, laying him across the top turnbuckle. Tag to Killer and they wail away at Kelly with punches to the stomach while he's laid across the buckle and Killer follows that up with a big bodyslam. It turns out that I had them pegged right in the beginning and that this is indeed Killer who is slamming Tyler's face into the mat. Killer heads over and shoves Magnum before they hit a DECAPITATION ELBOWDROP BEHIND THE REFEREE'S BACK!! 1-2-3-4-5-6-100, it's ALL OVER!!
Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, decapitation clothesline)
Match Analysis: Magnum looked a little like a "special" kind of wrestler when he was introduced, but he proved to be the smartest man in the ring by letting Tyler take the ass-kicking all to himself. The Hangmen did a lot of rather generic big-man offense with clubbing shots and slams, but that finish was pretty damn sweet. Someone's got to steal that these days but turn it into a legdrop or something.
We get thrown back to Bischoff and he's got Paul "Hard Rock" Diamond with him. Diamond says that he's got a big six-man tag battle royal Team Challenge Series main event match next week. Bischoff asks about his physique and Diamond no-sells the question and talks about Johnnie Stewart and Doug Somers being in the match as well. He says that as long as he and Jammer work as a team, they'll stand tall in the middle of the ring. God, Diamond is a terrible promo guy. No wonder Vince put him under a hood and made him mute.
Bischofff reminds us that next week, the ENTIRE CARD is going to be devoted to the Team Challenge Series and talks about hearing from Paul Diamond and then talks about Larry Zbsyzko getting surprised by Mr. Saito. He throws us to footage from a couple of weeks before featuring Larry Zbyszko vs. The Unknown Soldier.
Zbyszko is awesome, shoving down the ring announcer and exclaiming "THAT'S NOT THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER!!" over and over again. I wonder if the body frame and the JAPAN written down his tights were a giveaway. Zbyszko gets on the mic and says that the referee sucks and everyone else sucks, while Bischoff says that the man in the ring is "licensed" to wrestle as The Unknown Soldier. Zbyszko is PISSED. We should get a good ten minutes of stalling out of this. Zbyszko calls for a time-out on the apron as he still has the belt and the ring jacket on. He comes down to the floor to yell at Lee Marshall and tells the crowd to shut up. We clip forward into the match with Zbyszko whipping Saito into the corner (I'm not keeping up the charade, deal with it) and charging in, taking a big clothesline. OFF COMES THE MASK AND IT'S MR. SAITO!! Saito starts chopping the PISS out of Zbyszko, picking him up for a headbutt and another headbutt!! FUJIWARA ARMBAR!! Zbyszko is screaming and we cut again to Saito hitting Zbyszko with some chops before locking in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK!! Zbyszko is wailing in pain and trying to hold on as he finally makes it to the ropes. Saito rams Zbyszko HARD into the top buckle and picks him up for a HUGE SIDE SUPLEX!! LONG two-count and Saito works over Zbyszko with forearms before he gets thrown to the floor. We clip ahead again to Zbyszko running Saito shoulder-first into the ringpost. Zbyszko's back in the ring and he gets a vertical suplex on Saito, floating over for a two-count. Irish whip from Zbyszko and Saito kicks him in the face, peppering Zbyszko with right hands and putting him out to the floor. Saito goes after Zbyszko and rams HIM into the ringpost!! Zbyszko has ahold of Gary DeRusha's leg and Saito rams Zbyszko into the ringpost again as the bell is being rung. SAITO'S GOT A CHAIR!! Here comes the jobber brigade to pull Saito and Zbyszko apart and we've got Mr. Saito in the ring again!!
Match Four: Todd Becker vs. Mr. Saito
The AWA seems to be the home of the mullet as every match has had at least one guy with them so far tonight. Becker's is especially outstanding. Saito makes his way to the ring and we're underway with Saito pushing Becker into the ropes off of a lockup before grabbing a side headlock. Standing switch to a front facelock and Saito moves to the Fujiwara armbar as Becker crawls his way to the bottom rope to break the hold. Saito tries a hip toss but Becker can't get over on it so Saito just kicks him in the back. He picks Becker up to re-try the hip toss spot and Becker FUCKS IT UP AGAIN!! Good lord, someone get Dennis Stamp on the phone, STAT!! Saito is going to fuck this mullethead's world up now. Becker gets rammed into the buckle and Saito takes him out of the corner with a HUGE hip toss. Becker had no choice but to fly so he couldn't screw that one up. Saito picks him up for a BIG bodyslam and whips Becker in for a back bodydrop before picking Becker up and chipping him in the throat. Another chop to the chest from Saito and he puches Becker into the corner for more chops. SAITO SIDE SUPLEX AND THERE'S THE PINFALL!!
Winner: Mr. Saito (pinfall, side suplex)
Match Analysis: Saito was getting around the 25 year mark in his career but you couldn't tell it in this match. Nothing special to watch, but seeing Saito move around as well as he did was pretty sweet. Again though, the jobber didn't know how to take even the most basic of hip toss bumps and made Saito look terrible for that middle portion of the match. I hate to keep harping on it, but it's the truth.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back to the program and brings in Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie, manager of Kokina Maximus. Sheik yells that Kokina is ready and he'll destroy anyone that steps into the ring with him. He says that Kokina is not in the building yet, but he will be here if Sheik has to pay for a Lear jet himself. He mumbles and Eric gets in a line that sums up the AWA in 1990: " Ok, stay tuned. Coming up in the main event, Big John Nord, Yukon John, and..someone?". That's just great, nothing like a good old bait-and-switch to get people excited.
Bischoff is back in front of the green screen and talks about the Kokina situation before throwing it to the ring for the main event featuring Yukon John and "he thinks" Kokina Maximus.
Match Five: Bodyslam Match Yukon John Nord vs. Kokina Maximus
Donna introduces Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie and he's with Larry Zbyszko. There doesn't seem to be much of an idea what's going on now, even as Yukon John makes his way to the ring. Lee Marshall's in the ring to explain the rules of the match, saying it's a Team Challenge Series match, and it looks like we've got no Kokina Maximus. Sheik and Zbyszko are outside arguing with an AWA official and Eric Bischoff interrupts Lee to try to make sense of things. Zbyszko is pissed because it's his Larry's Legends team that is going to get screwed. According to the lawyer, because the contract was signed and Sheik is Kokina's second, he has to take the match. Baron Von Raschke is out now, since I assume Nord is on Baron's Blitzers.
The REAL Match Five: Bodyslam Match Yukon John Nord vs. Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie
Referee Gary DeRusha makes sure that Sheik knows he has to get into the ring and both Sheik and Zbyszko are on the outside, freaking out and yelling at anyone as Baron puts on Nord's wolf pelt on his head and starts howling. Gotta love Baron rocking the "Edina Realty" t-shirt and probably getting 25 bucks for it. Larry Zbyszko on the apron is HUGELY pissed and Sheik is apparently confused. Well, he is ESL, so that's understandable. Nord gets on his knees and howls at Sheik as someone in the crowd is holding up a sign proclaiming Larry Zbyszko as a wife-beater. That's clearly impossible because Zbyszko didn't start hanging out with Austin until the Dangerous Alliance in '92 in WCW.
Sheik, for his part, has fully embraced the 90's style with a gaudy pair of neon-splashed tights under his wrestling singlet. Sheik stalls like hell before heading out to the floor to confer with Zbyszko. Nord takes that time to talk to his captain on the opposite side and Sheik essentially runs away from Nord as he attempts the lockup. Nord finally gets the lockup and pushes Sheik off into the ropes, prompting Sheik to complain about a hair pull. Strangis: "This is the kind of matches that have exemplified the Team Challenge Series!" Me: "Shitty ones?" Lee Marshall: "Absolutely right!". We get the lockup again and Nord pushes Sheik into the corner before hammering him with forearms and boots. Nord drops to his knees and howls again as Zbyszko does even more complaining on the outside.
Sheik grabs a side headlock and Nord shoots him off into the ropes for a HUGE shoulderblock that sends Sheik down and scurrying to the outside. Apparently, the AWA producer has said that Kokina has been delayed at the airport in Chicago. Two interesting things out of that statement. Firstly, the AWA has producers? Secondly, who's taking bets that Kokina got stuck trying to walk through the metal detector and now they're trying to wedge him out with one of those motorized carts. Sheik gets back into the ring and Zbyszko is up on the arpon distracting Nord so Sheik can ATTACK FROM BEHIND!! EYERAKE FROM THE SHEIK AND HE RAKES THE BACK!! BEAVER TO THE FACE OF THE SHEIK!! Nord gets some big right hands into an Irish whip and MORE BEAVER TO THE FACE OF THE SHEIK!! Sheik is back outside to the floor, trying to adjust his singlet over his man-boobs.
Sheik gets a cheapshot to the gut and tries for the slam, but Nord is just too heavy. Nord tries for a slam of his own and Sheik ends up hooking the top rope to force Nord to break. There's literally been about two minutes of action in a seven minute match so far. Standing arm-wringer now by the Sheik and he works some forearms to the arm, but Nord reverses and cranks on it himself. Sheik goes to the eyes to break the hold and then rakes the eyes again, just to show he's still got it at 64. Rake of the nails on the back of Nord and Sheik hammers Nord to the mat with forearms before raking his nails again. NORD IS JACKING UP!! NORD IS JACKING UP!! HE FEELS NOTHING FROM THE SHEIK!! DOUBLE CHOP FROM THE SHEIK AND NORD FLOORS HIM WITH A RIGHT!! Sheik to the outside and Nord chases him around the ring, shoulderblocking Zbyszko on the floor in the process. Sheik's back in the ring and Baron Von Raschke threatens him with the clawhold from the apron! Sheik turns around and NORD PICKS HIM UP AND HOLDS HIM BEFORE DROPPING HIM WITH A HUGE POWERSLAM!!
Winner: Yukon John Nord (bodyslam)
Match Analysis: You knew it was going to be stalling, you knew it was going to be Nord getting the win and you knew that Zbyszko and Baron were going to figure into the finish. Knowing all of that going in, John and Sheik were going to have to pull a rabbit out of their hat to make this one entertaining. They tried their damndest, but they just didn't do it for me.
Eric Bischoff is ringside with Yukon John, Bertha, and Baron Von Raschke and Nord says it felt great to finally get his hands on the Sheik. He says that he and Bertha's job is far from done in the AWA. Lots of wiseguys goign around, thinking they're tough and he says that he's going to stick together with "Daddy Baron". Baron gives another wolf howl and we go back to green screen Bischoff and he talks about next week's show with a Football Clash, a six-man tag-team battle royal and a Greco-Roman battle royal match. Just wait, six weeks from now on Impact, be prepared for a Greco-Roman battle royal. Bisch wishes everyone a Happy New Year and we're out!!
Final Thoughts
Ugh. Well, it was as humorously bad as I was hoping it was, but it's one of those situations where you ask for something without fully comprehending the consequences. Now that we've made it to 1990, I realize that I'm in for a LONG few weeks of bad AWA action. I'm ok with it, I just know that there are going to be lots of thumbs down shows like this one. The comedy value was a thumbs up, but the show itself was horrible. Small, dead crowd, bad matches and no real bright spots, even in the promo department, means this one is DOA. Dud on Arrival.
Fun With Comments
From Rob: "Billy Jack Strong. Sigh. That may be the worst match I've ever seen, and that's saying something considering Rocky Mountain Thunder was in the not too distant past. He couldn't even execute a simple side slam, botched a DDT, and his powerslam was hideous. Yikes.
Forgive me for saying this, but Alan West and Mitch Snow looked really good together in the ring. Nice, crisp double team moves. If this statement is repeated, I will vehemently deny it. "
I'll call you on it at some point down the road, I'm sure. I agree about Strong being dangerous, but I think it was just him trying to play his ambivalent character and going a bit too far with it to where he wasn't protecting the jobber at all. West and Snow were alright together, but both of them were just bland when it came to drawing reactions outside of their introductions. If people can't get behind you when you're losing in the matc, they won't get behind you when you finally win.
From Guest. : "Its amazing what happens when you put Greg Gagne, Kevin Kelly, and Nick Kiniski in there with talented workers.
I think the issue with Greg and his 5 (6?) Moves of Doom is that he only wrestles squash matches. When you put him in real singles matches (see Hennig, Adonis, later on in 88 vs. Tanaka and Diamond) or in tag affairs (his tag match with Snuka vs. Brody and Nord, any of his High Flyers stuff), he breaks out of his comfort squash zone. That plus he was pushing 40 at this time, and losing his speed and some athleticism, he's bound to begin sucking.
Anyways, if anyone ever asks what makes a good worker, one just needs to show tapes of Kiniski & Kelly vs. Mitch Snow and whoever he was teaming with, then show them vs. the Midnight Rockers. Can't wait to see the '90 shows. "
I agree. It's all about having enough guys that can go so that the rest of your roster can learn from them and have their deficiencies covered until they're able to go on their own. The problem with the AWA is that the guys that could go were either retiring or leaving for more money, leaving the AWA with a ton of green guys that had potential and no one to teach them. Keeping Bockwinkel around behind the scenes to work with some of the younger guys could have done a WORLD of good in keeping the talent level somewhere near high in the promotion.
From piperfan01: "Well there ya go, The Rockers do the impossible and make Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski look like pro wrestlers and capable ones at that. I actually sat through it and didn't use my TIVO button once. Ok I used it once to check out Madusa, but that goes without saying. I'm actually enjoying Adonis the most in these recent shows, his moves are brutal looking and he looks like he is in a real fight. He actually reminds me of Regal quite a bit in that respect, and thats a good thing. It is sad that he couldn't get in better shape, but he did the very best he could with what he had. Patera was terrible, but I always had a place for him because of that amazing Coliseum Video opening when he had Jimmy Powers in the swinging full nelson, simply awesome. Sadly, no matter how many snoozefests he had with One Man Gang or Bad News Brown could ever live up to that one clip.. "
I remember that Ken Patera clip and I agree that it was indeed awesome. Not as awesome as his blond perm, but close. As good as Adonis was in these '88 AWA matches, imagine him in the late-70's, early-80's in the East/West Connection with Jesse "The Body". He was incredible then, and probably one of the best workers of the time period behind guys like Bockwinkel, Flair, Steamboat and the like. A real shame about his accident as he was apparently getting himself back into better shape for one last prime run.
From Steve: "I'm currently on vacation right now, so I don't have ESPN Classic as part of the cable system at the place I'm staying. Luckily, I have wireless internet here, so I can check here for the recaps of the AWA shows that I missed.
And thank god for Youtube user surefoot1970 posting these shows in full, because after watching the episode on Youtube, this episode was, dare I say it, tremendous. Gotta love the ending with Nelson getting dunked by the Rockers & Mitch Snow. "Hairy Larry" was a clever nickname. And those drunk Jukebox fans were funny, especially the one who shouted "Gagne". "
Glad to be able to help fill the void for you Steve. As for the Nelson ending, it was pretty funny to watch him get the dunk. Say what you will about Larry, but he was always willing to show ass on camera to try to entertain people. He may not have been very good, but you have to respect him for that.
From Scrotum Pole: ""Wahoo sounds half-drunk and repeats himself from the beginning of the promo about the Midnight Rockers and 1988 and Larry gives him a big handshake and wishes him a happy 1988."
I believe a Special Olympics after the race hug would have been more appropriate for Wahoo.
On Paul "Dangerously" Heyman, did he go straight from this abomination in AWA to ECW or was he booking indy spots in between. I think I saw were AWA lasted into the early 90's and I think ECW was started in 94. Help me out guys. "
The answer will be coming later on and again at the end of the comments.
From Joe K. : "Eric Bsichoff's humble start as Larry Nelson's mic stand. Imagine the drunkedness that didn't make it on to this episode from JUKEBOX SATURDAY NIGHT!
Larry: Your the greatest, Shawn! Shawn: No, you are, Larry! Larry: No, you are! Shawn: Ok, I am!
Larry: Eric, just stand there and keep the mic steady for the shot. Eric: (to himself) Someday, Eric...someday! "
That's some laugh out loud stuff there Joe. I agree that Larry's man-crush on the Rockers was a little uncomfortable at times, but I guess how else was he supposed to satisfy his pervert leanings unless he was rolling for tail with the two best-looking guys in the promotion. As for Eric, I'm sure that as much as he claims he was thrown into the whole production by Nelson's DUI arrest, he probably didn't mind it as much as he says. He seems like he has always been one to enjoy the ego boost.
From Bryan: "This was the best episode in quite some time. How could Verne book Billy Jack Strong as a face though? Could he act any more heelish in that match?
Hopefully they will also show the episodes from 1989 at some point. I remember there was one show where they did the draft for the Team Challenge Series. The two items from this episode that were funny were the drafting of wrestlers on to teams that had not been around the AWA for a while (Bob Orton and the Rock N Roll Express I believe) and also jobbers being drafted on to teams. Nothing like hearing The Baron have to sell how great it is to have Todd Becker on his team.
I believe after leaving the AWA, Paul E. Dangerously was working in Continental when Eddie Gilbert was their booker. This was only for a few months, but from what I have seen it was very good quality and somewhat early ECW-ish."
That's part of the answer for our good friend, Mr. Pole. As to your comments on Strong, Verne booked him as a face because he thought that every big muscleman could be the next Hulk Hogan. I don't think he even considered that Strong's work in the ring would nearly immediately make him a heel. In terms of the draft featuring guys like Bob Orton and The Rock n' Roll Express, you've got to love Verne and his kayfabe. It's like his deal where guys that left the promotion didn't leave to go elsewhere, they got "suspended indefinitely". Poor, simple Verne.
From Dave: "I have to say about Larry asking those kids of course they were enjoying the show, they were plastered.
Anyway I wonder what it says about the AWA that I'm absolutely astounded that a black guy from Hershey Penn didn't get saddled with a nickname involving chocolate. Still, I got to feel sorry for him having to wrestle the unofficial Warrior. Everything he did looked sloppy and seriously dangerous. I'm surprised the guy didn't break an arm or leg from that garbage.(Since DiSalvo did nothing to protect him.)
Oh almost forgot, how the heck did Wahoo get away with admitting they were second rate at this point? I mean I know he was drunk too but Verne must have been flipping out when Wahoo was saying maybe they'll reach the top in 88."
Yeah, I'm betting Verne wasn't too thrilled with the semi-burial of the promotion by a semi-drunk Wahoo, but at the same time, it's a post-produced show. That could have VERY easily been cut, since Wahoo didn't say anything pertinent that NEEDED to stay in the show. Verne essentially brought it on himself, so I feel no pity there. Strong was sloppy as hell and I too am surprised he didn't hurt Washington with how he was flinging him around. Speaking of plastered, that's probably about the only way to enjoy the AWA show around those times.
From Guest. : "At the beginning. was that Jerry Saggs mugging for the camera in the background? "
Nope, random drunk asshole.
From Eric: "Billy Jack Strong aka Steve Strong aka Steve Steroid or whatever you wanted to call him. Steve DiSalvo was a ham n' egger in a couple of regional promotions, and yes, he was -that- green. Back then, unfortunately, Gagne was at a low point where, outside of his main eventers, he didn't have much to show for any undercard. This was one big reason why house shows suffered. You could load up the top with the Midnite Rockers, Hennig, Gagne, and even Wahoo....and what else did you have? Not much.
Those New Years Eve interview segments were absolutely horrible weren't they? They could have done their taping at Chuck E. Cheese for all I cared. It's one thing to do a shoot-work interview in a remote location, but back then kayfabe was still pretty much in full swing. You don't attempt to do an interview segment when you're half in the bag. Only Scott Hall could sort of get away with it. Not Wahoo. Poor guy.
It was unfortunate that Adrian Adonis lost the TV title match, because that would be one of his last appearances with the AWA. He would die in a car crash months later (tho I might be wrong about that). Adonis could actually pull a good match out of Greg Gagne. That was the thing with Greg: he was horrible to watch in TV squash matches, but when paired up with a good worker like Adonis, or in a tag team match, he did well. It meant that he did not have to shoulder all the responsibility during the match. When the AWA went out of business, he'd be done. Good thing too.
I still find it amusing when Shawn Michaels and Nick Kiniski were in a match together. They were tag team partners in Southwest Championship Wrestling in San Antonio. When Michaels left to do more time in Missouri, his replacement would be another future AWA tag team star - Paul Diamond. Go figure.
And on a side note to Steve, I LOVED that 1984 Bockwinkel interview. Say what you will about his age (he was hovering around 50 at that time), but he ALWAYS gave you an intelligent interview segment. Heel or face, same thing. I always looked forward to hearing him talk up an upcoming match against a Gagne, or Hennig, or Martel, or Hogan, etc. Honestly, he never needed Bobby Heenan as a mouthpiece for him. When he spent a little time in Memphis he had Jimmy Hart in his corner. Hart didn't speak too much there either. His matches with Jerry Lawler were classics. Bockwinkel carried Lawler in longer matches...alllll the time.
and I'm out... "
Your info always speaks for itself, but I would add my two cents by saying that I LOVED Bockwinkel interviews too, even when I was younger. He was always so calm and confident in any situation and had those big long words that made him sound smarter than Einstein and Jesus combined. The New Year's Eve segments were indeed terrible and looked like they were shot with someone's Betamax handicam that got dragged out of a box in the basement. As I've stated on numerous occasions, I fully concur on the Gagne assessment. If he was the driver of the car, it was terrible, but if he was the passenger, things turned out a LOT better.
Finally, from Guest#2424: "You're joking right?...Paul E. Dangerously went to the NWA/WCW in 1988 with the Original Midnight Express. Then he managed the Samoan Swat Team, Hosted the Danger Zone on World Championship Wrestling,managed Mean Mark(Undertaker, and then became an announcer. Had a fued with Missy Hyatt and Jason Hervey, and then got "fired" from announcing where he established the fabulous Dangerous Alliance in late 1991. The Dangerous Alliance had a great run in 1992 and then Paul left WCW in late '92/early '93. "
And there's the last part of the answer to Scrotum Pole's question. Paul E. went through the NWA/WCW and Continental before heading to the Tri-State area and ousting Eddie Gilbert as Eastern Championship Wrestling booker. The rest is history.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:54:21 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling Lee Marshall welcomes us to the broadcast and talks about how people who have been reading the magazines have seen all of the fun that will take place during the Team Challense Series and today all of the matches are Team Challenge Series contests. He throws it to Eric Bischoff, who has Wayne Bloom of The Destruction Crew with him. Bloom is one-half of the AWA Tag Team Champions and will be taking on Baron Von Raschke in a Greco-Roman rules match coming up. Bloom says that he's done his homework and studied for a couple of week and when he's done suplexing Baron all over the ring, he's going to wish he get picked for this match. Bischoff brings up the Baron's extensive amateur wrestling background, but Bloom is unfazed, saying he's more than ready for it and any other opponent. He feels like his strength will carry him through anything and he says that The Destruction Crew is the tag team of the '90's and that no one is going to interfere in their business. Not a bad piece of promo work from Bloom actually, though that could just be a situation where everyone has been so bad that Bloom seemed good. Match One: Team Challenge Series: Greco-Roman Rules Match Wayne Bloom w/Mike Enos and Larry Zbyszko vs. Baron Von Raschke Lee Marshall is in the ring and he's explaining the rules of the match. He says that Greco-Roman wrestling is from the waist up and nothing can be done below the waist. There will be three two-minute rounds with thirty second rest periods between the rounds. Lee runs down the points scoring for the match, kind of, and explains that at a one-count, the match will end. Baron seems really fired up to getting this one going and I guess round one is underway. Round One They lockup and Baron gets a big hip toss over, forcing Bloom to go over to the ropes to avoid being pinned. 2-0, Baron. Go-behind from the Baron and Bloom hooks Baron's leg, which is against the rules, so he gets a caution. Armdrag takedown from Baron and he works the arm a little bit again, trying to get the pin, but Bloom makes the ropes again for the break, with a little help from Mike Enos on the outside. Side headlock now from the Baron and the bell sounds to end the first round. No idea what the score is. Round Two Leg trip from Bloom and he gets chastised for breaking the rules as he even lays a boot in on the Baron. Another caution to Wayne Bloom is issued and Bloom gets into a side headlock, sneaking a punch to the throat in while the referee is shielded and he gets a huge gut-wrench suplex for two points. Apparently, Strangis and the graphic on the screen say that it's 3-2 for Baron, but he gets a big double-arm takeover into a near pinfall and I'm guessing that was another couple of points for the Baron. Baron almost has the pin, but Bloom holds on until the bell sounds to end the round. Baron is up 9-2 now, which means that must have been a six-point takedown. Round Three They hit the lockup and Bloom rakes at the eyes and gets a takedown for two points but Baron is in the ropes so he can't go for the pin. Bloom gets a cheapshot knee to the back as Baron tries to get to his feet and Baron Von Raschke threatens him with the CLAWHOLD!! Another lockup and Baron gets double-underhooks and hip tosses Bloom again for two more points, extending his lead. Baron tries hard for the pin and he's just about got it and HERE COMES MIKE ENOS!! STOMPS ON THE BARON!! ELBOWDROPS FROM BLOOM!! ENOS HITS A HEADBUTT FROM THE SECOND ROPE!! THERE GOES THE REFEREE THROUGH THE ROPES TO THE FLOOR!! They hit their sweet double-team finisher, which is essentially a Hart Attack, but with Bloom coming off the top rope, but Baron barely gets off the ground and sells it like shit afterwards. Tommy Jammer comes rushing in after a couple of minutes of a beatdown and finally makes the save for poor Baron. Lee Marshall is just disgusted by this whole situation, freaking out and he's convinced that Baron should have won this match outright instead of by disqualification. Winner: Baron Von Raschke (disqualification, Enos-ference) Match Analysis: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING. I think we all knew that Baron was going to be in control and then Enos or Zbyszko or both would interfere at the end. Eric Bischoff gets a word with Baron Von Raschke and he says that Greco-Roman was his specialty and that he had the match in control. He says that Mike Enos couldn't stand that he was going to get the pin and that he beat The Destruction Crew fair from square. He swears that Enos and Bloom will pay on an installment plan. Merry Christmas, the Visa bill is in the mail. No really, that's what he said. We're back from the break and Eric Bischoff has The Trooper with us now, and he's in Vikings football gear for the football match with Mike Enos. Trooper talks about his background in football and that he might be a little rusty, but it's like riding a bike and it'll come back to him. Bisch brings in Bob Lurtsema, who will be the special referee of this match. Lurtsema says that he's going to call this one "jungle" rules and that Enos cheats a lot, but he's going to call it even for both men. Well, that was a waste of time. Trooper isn't sure about playing football in a wrestling match and the referee is going to call it down the middle. Isn't that pretty much what we knew already? Anyhow, Bischoff makes good on his threats and the football match is next. **WARNING** The following segment of the AWA on ESPN Classic Report is Rated R. Not the good Edge kind, but the kind where pervasive foul language and EXTREME booking stupidity reign supreme. Persons under the age of 17 should immediately scroll to the main event below and yes, I will be checking ID's. Match Two: Team Challenge Series: Football Match Mike Enos w/Larry Zbyszko vs. The Trooper I give Larry some respect, he's getting behind this concept and he's ringside for almost every single one of his team's matches. That's being a coach and motivator people. Or a camera whore. Either way, Larry's easily the best part of the promotion so I'm happy to see him. Lee Marshall again is in the ring to explain the rules. Here's an idea guys, having to have the rules explained before EVERY FUCKING MATCH, might just be a tad confusing to people. There's little road hockey goals set up in opposite corners of the ring and there's lines taped across the ring and there's a HIDEOUSLY convoluted set of rules for fouls and the lines and I've officially stopped paying attention or caring about them. When you score, the opponent gets the ball back, there's 45 seconds to each series and the first guy to score five points wins. What a goddamned trainwreck. Lurtsema says that it's "jungle" rules and mumbles his way through saying that he doesn't trust Mike Enos. Zbyszko is pissed as usual, saying that Lurtsema made a career from not playing football and that he's going to be keeping an eye on him. Just to show how they can't keep the rules of anything straight, Lurtsema starts the game with a fucking jump ball, like in basketball. This is already more retarded than that Corky kid from that horrible TV show in the late '80's. You know the one I'm talking about. Enos shoves The Trooper out of the way and gets the jump ball, but Lurtsema shoves Enos onto his ass and gives the ball back to The Trooper. Yeah, fuck that whole "impartial" thing. That shit's overrated most times anyhow. Trooper gets the ball and bulls right past Enos, running face-first into the goal and scoring the first point. 1-0, Trooper. Enos gets the ball now and stares down Trooper before the play starts. Trooper gets a BIG hit on Enos and Enos puts the ball down and just kicks the crap out of Trooper instead. Trooper catches one of the kicks and hits a sloppy-ass atomic drop as Lurtsema picks up the ball with 20 seconds left in the play. Enos is holding his ass like it's his first trip to San Francisco and he makes another attempt at trying to score but gets held up by The Trooper. No points for Enos, still 1-0, Trooper. Trooper has the ball now and back bodydrops Enos over and struts into the goal for a 2-0 lead. Enos rolls out to the floor, takes his helmet off and takes a time-out. Zbyszko tries to give Enos some pointers as the smattering of fans in attendance sit in what can only be described as confused silence. Enos is back on offense again and he tries a "spin", but Trooper just waffles him twice and knocks him down. Trooper hits Enos hard and causes a fumble and he picks up the ball and gets into the end zone for a 3-0 lead. Enos pulls the helmet off again and kneels in the corner to talk to Zbyszko and gets kicked in the ass by Trooper for his troubles. Enos gets a penalty called, presumably for delay of game and Enos gives him a little shove for being biased. Lurtsema, drunk on the power of one Super Bowl sack from fifteen years before, forearms Enos in the helmet while Enos has his head turned to Zbyszko. He leans over with The Trooper, putting an arm around him and calling Enos a "stupid jerk". I knew that my years of training in lip-reading would come to good use someday. This whole thing being viewed as an even remotely legitimate competition is a fucking joke. Trooper moves to score again, but Enos hits him with a drop toehold and stomps on The Trooper, taking the ball away before coming off the ropes with a HEADBUTT TO TROOPER'S BACK WITH THE HELMET!! Hamstring pull from Enos and he picks up the ball and struts to score, adding a kick in afterwards just for fun. 3-1, Trooper. Trooper gets the ball again for some stupid reason though it should be Enos with possession, and Enos kicks him in the gut and goes to work on the leg again, grabbing a leglock before ramming Trooper's knee into the mat a couple of times. Trooper gives up the ball, Enos casually scores again and it's 3-2 now. I still can't believe I'm having to recap this monstrosity. Enos drops another boot in on Trooper as he tries to get to his feet, leading to an argument between Zbyszko and Lurtsema. Yeah, can't have the sanctity of fair play questioned, can we, BOB? Troopers gets the ball AGAIN amd Enos just grabs a single-leg into a toehold and he cranks on it, dropping a knee to the thigh before going back to the toehold. Enos drops down on the knee and stips the ball from The Trooper. He walks over to the goal and spins the ball on the canvas as he crosses the goal line to make it 3-3. Strangis takes the time now to go over all of the fast-paced action and give us a recap, just in case we've missed the first ten minutes of this fucking disgrace. For the FOURTH TIME IN A ROW, THE TROOPER GETS THE BALL!! What the fuck are they even doing here? Trooper gets thrown out of the ring and Enos lays a boot to him to put him to the floor. Enos picks up the ball and throws it behind the back into the goal for a 4-3 lead. Enos, showing that at least HE knows the rules of football, shows the fans the proper technique for a punt by kicking Trooper as he tries to get back into the ring. Enos heads out for a big hug from Coach Larry and they talk a little strategy as Enos is one point away from showing more mercy than Kevorkian and ending it. Trooper gets the ball for the FIFTH FUCKING TIME in a row and he's mad now, Trooper-ing up and headbutting Enos' helmet. Trooper drives forward as Enos grabs a front facelock and Trooper manages to get through and score to tie the game at 4. Enos FINALLY GETS THE BALL BACK and whoever scores the next point wins. Enos throws Trooper out of the ring and Zbyszko tries to hold him on the floor, but off-camera Bob Lurtsema hits a clothesline on Enos and on-camera Trooper shoves off Zbyszko and climbs into the ring, picking up the fumble and scoring for the win. There's a smattering of applause from the crowd as we get the replay. Lee Marshall puts this idiocy to bed by saying that Lurtsema said he was with The Trooper from the beginning, so at least he didn't lie. Nope, no lying. Assload of cheating, but no lying. Winner: The Trooper Match Analysis: This was possibly the worst "match" in the history of professional wrestling. For an idea that was supposed to be the evolution of wrestling, this probably set the sport back twenty years. The crowd was dead, the match was hideous and pointless, the wrestlers looked like they could barely do even the simplest of moves with the football pads on, and the referee barely knew the rules and was biased on top of it. An absolute, 1000%, utter, complete fucking abortion. **END WARNING** We now return to our regularly scheduled, PG-13 rated AWA Report. Larry Zbyszko's with Eric Bischoff now and Zbyszko tells him to shut up before going on a rant about Benchwarmer Bob. He says that Trooper cheated and Baron cheated and then talks about how Mr. Saito is running around thinking that it's 1940. PEARL HARBOR!! Zbyszko then immediately says Pearl Harbor, ruining my witty repartee. Zbyszko is convinced that Sgt. Slaughter, Nikita Koloff and Saito are all in cahoots and that he's not going to be outsmarted by anyone. He says that he's proud of The Texas Hangmen and promises that they're going to do some real damage and that The Destruction Crew and the rest of his team are going to get rid of all these outsiders in the AWA and that his entire team will be GOING TO LARRYLAND, BITCHES!! If there's one thing Zbyszko had down pitch-perfect was the crazy, angry, coked-out promos where he was convinced the world was against him. This was another brilliant example and is the lone bright spot of this show so far, and we're nearly 45 minutes in. Match Three: Team Challenge Series: Six-Man Tag Team Battle Royal Main Event Challenge Special Attraction Match Paul Diamond and Tommy Jammer vs. The Texas Hangmen vs. Johnnie Stewart and The Unknown Soldier Lee Marshall's in the ring again, explaining the rules for this one and who is representing which team, saying that there will only be one man remaining and that the winner will earn the points for his team. Stewart heads out to the floor to jaw with some woman at ringside as Lee Marshall clears out and the bell rings to get this one underway. The action starts and it's wild brawling with the Hangmen double-teaming Jammer, and Stewart chicken-shitting his way through the ropes to the apron to think things through. I'm sure the biggest one is why he's stuck in the AWA to begin with. Jammer gets a double-noggin knocker on the Hangmen as Diamond hits a reverse atomic drop on Diamond. Stewart is staggering around and swinging at air before he lays a stiff one in on Diamond. More brawling as Jammer comes close to eliminating one of the Hangmen, getting him to the apron but not to the floor. Stewart begs off from Jammer and gets rammed into the top turnbuckle a few times before Stewart goes to the eyes and hits the top rope. Stewart's rich balls get shoved all the way up to the roof of his rich mouth as Jammer shakes the ropes and crotches him on the turnbuckle. The Hagnmen start double-teaming on Stewart and The Unknown Soldier takes a shot at Jammer, charging him but missing and sending himself over the top rope. This verison of The Unknown Soldier is most certainly NOT Mr. Saito, because this one sucks. Jammer comes close to eliminating another Hangman, but Stewart sneaks up from behind and shoves Jammer out over the top to the floor. Stewart tries to convince Diamond that they need to team up against the Hangmen. I'm not sure why he needs convincing, that's just practical really. Stewart offers the olive branch of a handshake and begs for a chance and Diamond agrees. All four men do more punchy-kicky stuff and Stewart hits one of the Hangmen with a knee off the ropes and he TURNS ON DIAMOND!! I'M SHOCKED!! DIAMOND GETS THROWN OVER THE TOP BUT SKINS THE CAT AND GETS BACK INTO THE RING!! DROPKICK TO THE BACK OF STEWART!!! THERE GOES STEWART OVER THE TOP AND OUT!! We're down to the Texas Hangmen vs. Paul Diamond. They try to double-team Diamond, but he keeps them at bay for a bit with some kicks and punches, ducking under a double-clothesline attempt to hit a double-cross bodyblock. The Hangmen take over though with big shots and nail rakes sending Diamond into the corner but he EXPLODES out with a double-clothesline. The Hangmen try to double-team Diamond again, but there's a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION and one of them is clotheslined out over the top by the other. Diamond and a Hangman, one-on-one!! Kicks and punches in the ring and Diamond whips the Hangman into the ropes, following with a charge but he misses and crotches himself on the middle turnbuckle. Stewart, still at ringside, distracts the referee as the Hangmen double-team Diamond and choke him across the ropes. Irish whip by the Hangman but Diamond gets a BIG kneelift off of the ropes, hitting some kicks before he Irish whips the Hangman into the corner for a baaaaack bodydrop. Diamond goes for another Irish whip into the ropes and moves to shoot himself off the ropes but the Hangman on the outside low-bridges him and Diamond goes over the ropes to the floor!! Johnnie Stewart immediately attacks, ramming Diamond into the ringside barricade, but Diamond fights back.. INTO THE RINGPOST GOES STEWART!! INTO THE TABLE GOES STEWART!! RIGHT HANDS FROM DIAMOND AND A SUPERKICK SENDS STEWART INTO THE CROWD!! Winners: The Texas Hangmen Match Analysis: It was the usual kind of battle royal with some brawling, a double-cross or two, a guy eliminating himself and a screwy ending. There seems to be a formula for these kinds of things and this one pretty much followed it the entire way. Bleh. Eric Bischoff has the Hangmen at ringside and they say that they've proved to the AWA that they're the greatest tag team in all of professional wrestling. He says that not only that, they got two points for Larry's Legends. Talk turns to The Destruction Crew and they say that if you step into the war zone with the Texas Hangmen, be ready for pain, agony and LOTS of defeat!! We get a commercial break and then Bischoff comes back for the rundown, lying and saying that writers around the country have named the Team Challenge Series the number one wrestling attraction anywhere in the world. He talks about the next show coming up three weeks away, which either means they got bumped for other stuff, or they were running out of material and had to stretch it to make shows. Final Thoughts If anyone ever talks to you and doubts that the Team Challenge Series is what killed the AWA, sit them down in front of the television, make them watch this particular hour of "action" and force them to not move until they begin weeping uncontrollably and screaming for their Mommy. This was easily the worst AWA show that I have seen in this entire run, and probably the worst AWA show in the history of the promotion. My thumb is so far down, I think I feel the flames from Hell burning the tip of it. Let's hit the comments. Fun With Comments From piperfan01: "The Texas Hangmen were Mike Moran & or good pal jobber Rick Ganter. They would move on to become Disorderly Conduct in WCW. I kept thinking that they were like the Machines in WWF, so maybe it were possible that theye were the same people just under a different guise, but no, nothing that fun. I spent this whole episode waiting for Kokina. I never saw him in the AWA, he would of course go on to become Yokuzuna. Sadly I had to sit through a shiek Adnan match, but Larry made it better. Its funny you briing up the announcer, my wife, who isnt a fan of even good wrestling walked through and said why was she hired for that job? I stopped watching AWA before all of this, so it was cool to see Saito and Larry feud, made the title seem important bringing it that international flare. I think I will enjoy these shows quite a bit, go team Larry! " Funny to hear about your wife wondering why the announcer was hired. He was terrible. Actually, nearly everything about the AWA at this point was pretty awful. The Saito/Zbyszko deal was their last gasp at respectability and I think that it could have been a situation where they tried to get themselves over in Japan since the business was dying here in the US. From LatinoMeat: "It's still weird to me to watch the AWA shows, as you see future WWF "stars" already in their full gimmick. It really shows that Verne had it all right in front of him, and just let it get away. This episode had the Berzerker, and I used to be a fan of his. When Bischoff announced that Yukon John would be facing... someone? after the commercial break, I thought it was pure awesome. Then again, I'm a huge supporter of the Mike Adamle angle, loved the Ultimate Warrior's return match, and could do without Chris Jericho on my TV." That's the most succinct way to put it. Verne had all of it at his fingertips and let it all slip through them and off to make tons of money elsewhere. As for your last statement about Jericho, I'll just pretend I didn't hear it. From Bryan: "You know what this episode was missing? Larry Nelson and Soldat Ustinov. I know they were both gone by this time, but it does not feel like the same without them. Sure Soldat was a horrible wrestler, but you could always count on him for a good laugh whether it was his awful interviews, Seth Rogan like perm from 1987 or his tandem with Teijo Kahn. As for this episode, when was the last time you saw someone win a match with the abdominal stretch? Boy that Verne sure knew how to book talent with exciting finishers. Makes me miss the Greg Gagne triple dropkick finisher." Yeah, oddly enough, for how much I bagged on him, I kind of miss Larry Nelson already too. As for Soldat, I've said repeatedly that I was a big fan of his promo work and there was something there. If his ring work hadn't been so godawful, we might have seen him catch on somewhere else after the AWA run was done. In terms of an abdominal stretch winning a match, I'm pretty sure that it was back in the 50's that I saw that last. I could be wrong, but I'd bet that it was probably back then at least. From t-money: "The production value of this 1990 show was so terrible. You mentioned Bisch and the terrible green screen, but did you also notice that they also piped random crowd noise during the match segments... It sounds awful and it's only like on a 10 second or so loop. Why did they do the green screen? It looks so much more bush league than the studio segments with Nelson. I might be in the minority here but I liked Bischoff last night better than Nelson. Actually I think I even liked Eric when he was in WCW (until the NWO happened), I just couldn't stand Tony Schiavone... Look at the production values of the 1990 AWA vs WWF (or even WCW)... it's laughable that they constantly called themselves the "big leagues". AWA had some of the worst production of the bigger promotions, worse than WCCW/USWA and even dare I say Herb Abrams' UWF. " I wouldn't say that the AWA production values were UWF bad because they still had the in-ring action looking really good. The rest of it though was TOTAL minor league fare and showed just how far behind the times the AWA was. The crowd noise loop, interestingly enough, was even looped over the opening and closing music for the show on Wednesday. Not sure about this episode and I'm not going to go back and look. This one is dead and buried forever in my eyes. From MarryMeDonna: "You gotta love the technical enhancements that the AWA got for the new decade -- especially the artificial crowd noise that was overdubbed in the credits and in the Tommy Jammer match. It must have been so quiet in the arena that you could here a pin drop, so they had to add something for the TV audience. Also, and more importantly, after watching the show I think I am in love with Donna Gagne. I never saw a full body shot of her before, and seeing her in those skin tight pants I almost couldn't contain myself! Hopefully, they will zoom in closer in future shows and maybe we can catch some moose knuckle. Wouldn't that be a fitting end to the AWA.." As good as she may have looked, that voice would have killed it for me every time. I touched on the tech specs for the show in the last comment and I stand by it. In-ring action = good. Everything else = utter failure to compete. From Scrotum Pole: ""I wonder if they're just sponsoring him like he's a Little League team or something." He should have had Chico's Bail Bonds as a sponsor. No HUSS=No grunt for Seles...BAD Magnum looked a little like a "special" kind of wrestler. Special like Eugene/George the Animal, or more My name is Bill(Mickey Rooney)/Riding the Bus with my Sister(Rosie). I do have a question: Why didn't Larry Zbyszko ever go to the WWF after the AWA went bust? I know he was in NWA/WCW, but did Vince just not give a rats ass about him or did Zbyszko get a better offer? " I'm not sure why Zbyszko never went back to the WWF after the AWA folded. It was probably something as simple as Zbyszko just getting a better offer from the NWA/WCW and them giving him a bit more room to move up the card. From PMullin1987: "No, God no. We get the return of the Midight Rockers for ONE FREAKIN SHOW?! Then of all things they switch to, they go to the TEAM FREAKIN' CHALLENGE SERIES?! This is a conspiracy to ruin my AWA viewing, orchestrated by Stanley Blackburn, and that never was Scott LeDoux! I'm calling my attorneys, and I wouldn't be surprised if you were in on it Harrison! And the rest of you can shut up, because Randy can't go, Randy never could go! Randy Harrison is nothing, he never was anything, Randy Harrison...is a baarrrrtenderrrr! " Well played, sir. I would cut a promo on you, but I'm fairly certain that the internet connection would be coursing with such awesomeness that it would end up exploding your computer. It did make me laugh though, so thank you for that. From Guest#5300: "I'm actually a huge Larry Z fan, one of my favorites. It's just a shame he got the most tv time when the company made it look bush league. Larry/Arn Anderson is a really underrated tag team and Larry won the 1990 War Games but he was never given a fair chance. Even in Dangerous Alliance he was the one to take the falls. " The Enforcers were one of my favorite all-time tag teams. Arn, the great technical wrestler and Larry, the heat machine. In honor of how awesome Larry Z was in his run as a heel, which was essentially his entire career after 1980, From Guest. : "Few things before the show comments: Guest Booker: Greg Gagne Trailer Explains Vince's vendetta against the Gagne's, they wouldn't let him buy them out in 83. I'm going to get this cause I'm kinda interested in how Gagne books the AWA during Pro Wrestling USA circa 1984. www.armpitwrestling.com/Backstage-Fights/Backstage-Fights-7.htmScroll down to Vader/Ledoux. After this, I now agree with Curt Hennig: Greatest Ribber Ever. Onto the show: It's better than most of the 87 stuff. Baron Von Raschke in Nord's raccoon hat was hilarious. Although, unfortunately, probably due to being conditioned by Russo's booking, I was expecting the full time for Kokina to come out and screw Nord, and allow the Shiek to win on a fluke or something. The only thing I'm afraid of though, is that we've missed the Great American Turkey Hunt, since apparently that took place in 89. Still a perversely fun show. Small note: One of the Texas Hangmen currently works with IWA-MS I believe as Bull Pain today, so even more of a pedigree from people who came through the AWA. " For those that don't want to go to the link for the second story, here it is in full. "At the time, Vader was wrestling as Bull Power. Former heavyweight boxer, Scott LeDoux, was also part of the AWA locker room, challenging future AWA World Champion, Larry Zybsko around the country in some painfully average boxer vs. wrestler bouts. An argument pursued after a card, where Vader refused to sign autographs. Scott demanded he sign for the kids, and Vader made some comment about Scott getting beaten up in boxing all the time. Scott responded by knocking Vader's NFL career. Marty Jannetty tried to diffuse the situation as Vader and Scott were getting ready to go at it. Finally Shawn Michaels was able to calm them down. The next day, the AWA stars had a flight to catch; Vader and LeDoux were jawing at each other again. That night in the dressing room, Scott was screaming, as his and Vader's Gucci bags had been locked together perfectly, and the two had to walk through the airport resembling a couple. Real Winner: Curt Hennig" That is tremendous, and I think that greatest ribber ever would be a tie between Hennig and Owen Hart. As for the show, I too was fully expecting to see Kokina attack from behind, but he might have actually been wedged into that metal detector. Good to know about the Hangman still working in IWA-MS. The less I say about that promotion the better or I'll go off into pages of how much I can't stand garbage wrestling and how I'm glad it didn't kill the sport. When it comes to the Greg Gagne Guest Booker DVD, feel free to pick me up a copy of that one too if you feel like it, cause I too would love to get to see that. From Tiger Mask 69: "It usually bugs me when guys mark out over pop culture references like it's something arcane that only they know about, but Chico's Bail Bonds is too choice to ignore. Original Bad News Bears, FTW! " Agreed. That was awesome, and the movie was awesome too. I might have to check that one out again soon. From Rob: "Randy, I'm watching the Thursday night episode as I'm typing this, and let me tell you, you HAVE to comment at length on Lee Marshall explaining the rules of Greco-Roman wrestling in your next article. If ANYTHING sums up just how absolutely retarded the Team Challenge Series was, that's it. " Watching Lee explain anything is funny because I'm pretty sure that most times he probably wouldn't even know how to explain tying his own shoes. I would have gone into it in more detail, but I wanted to save all of my wrath for the football match. Finally, from Kayfaber: "When I first saw the Texas Hangmen, I thought they were "The Machines" under another name. (Well, Eadie worked the AWA regularly, though he was in Demolition by this point.) Funny how the announcers tried to put Nord over in almost Born Again language. Hey, I missed a bunch of shows recently -- thanks for keeping me updated, my man. If anyone actually reads this, give this guy every wrestling review spot you have! " Glad to keep you updated and I'm flattered that you think so highly of the reports. It was kind of fitting that they tried to put Nord over with the Born Again talk because I believe at that point in time, he went through a stage in his life where he was doing that. I thought that the Hangmen looked a lot like The Machines too, just with less cool-looking masks.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:55:46 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling No Bischoff or intro to the show, just right to the action this week. I will note that Dale Gagner is the ring announcer and if the name sounds familiar, it's because he's the guy that has attempted to resurrect the AWA, using the same name, logos, and title histories, not to mention billing himself as Dale Gagne. He's had issues with the WWE, who have been in court attempting to get him to cease and desist using all of the trademarks and logos that the WWE paid good money for. Even Verne and Greg don't have anything to do with the promotion, though a few of the AWA's stars from the past still do, with names like Larry Zbyszko, Nick Bockwinkel and Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie involved. Here's a look at what they're up to now. AWAStars Upcoming Events I guess Dale wants to get sued by CBS too. I have to admit it would be somewhat interesting to see one of those shows, but it just seems like he's no different than any other indy promotion out there and he's just trying to use the AWA's lineage as a hook. Ah well, let's get to the ring. Match One: Kent Carlson vs. The Trooper Of course, The Trooper is best known as The Patriot from his run in the WWF and he's out here "deputizing" the kids in the crowd with plastic trooper badges. Big lockup and Trooper shoves Carlson across the ring before shoving him onto his ass the second time. Side headlock takeover by Trooper and Carlson breaks the hold with a hairpull, firing Trooper up. Carlson grabs a side headlock but Trooper shoots him into the ropes and shoulderblocks him down, following it up with a deep armdrag takedown into a straight armbar. Carlson tries to shoot Trooper into the ropes but Trooper holds onto the arm as we get the fake crowd noise pumped in. Carlson goes to the eyes and starts hammering away at Trooper in the corner and Trooper FIRES BACK WITH LEFTS!! HUGE CHOPS FROM THE TROOPER!! Hip toss and a HUGE standing dropkick by Trooper now and he whips Carlson into the ropes, catching him coming off with a back bodydrop. Trooper catches him with what Ralph Strangis calls "The Big Pinch", which is Trooper grabbing the trapezius hold. Trooper writes Carlson a "citation" after the match, which is essentially a note scribbled on a pad of paper, saying Liberty and Justice For All, and he sticks it to Carlson's forehead. Winner: The Trooper (submission, trapesius hold) Match Analysis: Quick and painless. Wilkes could work a little but he was pretty heatless until he adopted the Patriot gimmick, so this was just kind of a match between a jobber and a guy that was just a bit beyond being a jobber.First the abdominal stretch in the last show, and now the trapesius hold, both of them slowly being phased out of every other major promotion, and the AWA trying to get over mediocre submission moves as finishers. Gotta love that. Eric Bischoff has The Trooper and Paul "Hard Rock" Diamond outside the ring now and he asks them about the AWA Tag Team Championships. Trooper says that one of the best things to happen to him in the AWA has been teaming with Diamond. He says that they were champions, they won the belts, and irregardless of which man they pinned, they had those belts, even for a few moments. Diamond says essentially the same thing, saying that they want The Destruction Crew in the ring and if they get them in the ring, they'll take care of business again! Match Two: AWA Tag Team Championship George Anderson and Tony Leone vs. The Destruction Crew (c) In an odd choice, The Crew comes to the ring with Queen's "We Will Rock You", which seems like it would be suited better for a face team. Lee Marshall talks on commentary about The Destruction Crew's finisher, which sounds like it's now an illegal move. Good idea there, take away the most over team's best and coolest looking move. I swear, they must have been fucking things up out of spite at this point. It even had a cool name, "The Wrecking Ball". That just SOUNDS awesome. Lee talks about some other asinine top rope rule where you can't drop off the top rope onto your opponent if he's on his back. Were they trying to suck ALL of the fun out of wrestling? Enos and Leone hit a lockup and Enos pushes Leone into the ropes, trying a cheapshot right hand, but Leone ducks it and hits a couple of armdrags. Enos picks him up and rams him back-first into the top turnbuckle, tagging in Bloom at the same time, with Bloom hitting a big knee to the back. Bodyslam by Bloom now and he comes off the second rope and hits a BIG right hand to the side of Leone's head as he staggers to his feet. Bloom throws Leone into his corner and he makes the tag to Anderson, who charges right into a knee from Bloom. Big bodyslam from Bloom and he follows it up with a snap mare and a short kneedrop. He picks Anderson up, puts the bad mouth on him and then rams him headfirst into Enos' knee. Tag to Enos and they Irish whip him into the ropes for Bloom to shoot Anderson into the air and Enos to ram him headfirst into the mat. Enos picks Anderson up in the Electric Chair drop position (thank you, Raw vs Smackdown 2008) and Bloom comes off the top with THE WRECKING BALL!!! Essentially, it's the Doomsday Device, but they call it a WRECKING BALL!! Cause they're the DESTRUCTION Crew. Pure awesome. Of course, the referfee calls for the bell and the Destructos think they've won. Referee Gary DeRusha busts out pulls an "I don't think so, motherfuckers" and THROWS their arms down, raising the arms of Leone and his jobber partner that Enos and Bloom just crippled. Um, Gary, you're not usually supposed to move people with spinal injuries. Oh, wait he just rolled out of the ring and staggered out. Winners: George Anderson and Tony Leone (disqualification, illegal top rope move) Match Analysis: Purely to advance the angle they had about how dangerous the Crew was and how they chose to not care about the rules. I remember them losing a LOT by disqualification because they used their finisher in that period of time, so I guess this was the start of that whole deal. Other than that, not a lot worth mentioning here. Bischoff has the Crew with him and they look fairly pissed. Bischoff quotes the 1990 version of the AWA rulebook at them, like a douche, and Bloom says that they're trying to do everything they can to change the rules and take away their championship belts. Bloom says that they've already beaten the Trooper and Diamond and that their services are in demand all over the world. According to Bloom, they have better things to do. Like driving a territory out of business apparently. Bischoff welcomes us back and hypes the main event which is going to be Candi Divine and Baron Von Raschke vs. Col. DeBeers and Magnificent Mimi in a Beauty and the Beast match, then throws it to an interview with Col. DeBeers and Magnificent Mimi. DeBeers is upset because he's in a Beauty and the Beast match. DeBeers says that women don't have to wrestle in South Africa and he says that Mimi won't need to carry her weight because he'll take care of Baron Von Raschke himself. Mimi puts over how big beating Candi Divine would be for her and then we get comments from Baron and Candi. Candi looks like a hooker that's been ridden hard and put away stoned, and Baron talks about how he's excited about the Beauty and the Beast match, saying that he knew that he would have the AWA Womens Champ for his team. Divine says something about Mimi being out of her league and that maybe she should go back to South Africa with DeBeers. Match Three: WT Jones vs. Sgt. Slaughter I guess WT decided to follow the same high-flying, successful career path that his brother SD Jones took to get to the top of the wrestling business. I wonder if their sister PQ Jones ever made it into the ring. Marshall says something about how Slaughter has added seven extra pounds, saying something about an exercise called "the tables". Judging from Sarge's tum-tum, he's been hitting the tables hard. Side headlock from Sarge as I notice WT Jones has a HUGE rat-tail growing off of the back of his head. I mean, down to the middle of his back huge. I'll bet it comes into play at some point. Every good jobber has to have a gimmick. Look at Iron Mike Sharpe and his forearm brace and excessive screaming. WT gets the ropes and Slaughter grabs an armbar as Jones SCREAMS at the referee that Slaughter used the hair. See, I told you. Jones yells at the crowd some too, always a favorite of mine. Raplh Strangis confirms his place on the dais at the Stupidest People On Earth convention by saying that Jones' hair could be a weave. I don't even think Strangis knows what a weave is, let alone that it would be impossible for Jones to have one. Sarge gets a top wristlock, Jones complains again and Slaughter shows the referee exactly what he's doing to avoid any possible confusion. The referee tells Jones to quit his bitching and get to wrestling. Slaughter get a quick go-behind into another wristlock and Jones screams at everyone again but the bit is wearing thin because no one cares. Headbutt to the gut by Jones and he hits some rights to the stomach as well as a BIG headbutt, following it up with some knees in the corner. Irish whip from Jones and Slaughter takes his usual stomach bump to the buckles. Another headbutt and a big slam from Jones leads to him setting up for a second-rope headbutt, but Slaughter rolls out of the way!! Three right hands by Slaughter into an Irish whip into the corner followed by a reverse elbow. Another Irish whip and a back bodydrop as Slaughter is on a roll now, hitting a standing dropkick as well. Irish whip into the ropes again and Slaughter misses a reverse elbow, drops down and catches Jones with a HUGE clothesline, getting up and sneaking behind Jones to lock in the COBRA CLUTCH!!! Jones holds out for a few seconds but gives it up!! Slaughter gets another win!! Winner: Sgt. Slaughter (submission, Cobra Clutch) Match Analysis: Bleh. Slaughter was transitioning from his "able to work and move" period into the "not so much able to do a lot" period, so he was already slowing down a little and Jones had nothing going for him. It was a match and I guess it furthered Slaughter's involvement in both the DeBeers angle and the TCS, but if I'm right Slaughter wasn't around for much longer in the AWA anyhow. Slaughter's at ringside with Eric Bischoff now and WOW, that comb-over on Slaughter is reaching Trump levels of insanity. Bischoff asks Slaughter about his team dragging ass in the Team Challenge Series and Slaughter says that he's been down before and the USA has been down before. He calls the TCS a war and that sometimes you win battles and sometimes you lose them, the most important thing is who's standing at the end of the war. I think he means that he plans to be standing with his team at the end of the Team Challenge Series. Either that or he's going to invade Baron's Blitzers and occupy their dressing room for four years to make use of their facilities. Slaughter says that he's been busy all over the world promoting G.I. Joe and visiting little dying children in the hospital and that NOW it's time to get down to wrestling!! He says he's been absent and his team has been going down, but with him back, they're on their way back up. Bischoff talks about The Russian Brute and a taped-fist match that he has coming up with Slaughter. Slaughter says that he thinks the way to start the comeback for his team is to beat Brute and take the two points for his team. Bischoff promises we're going to get to see The Russian Brute in action next!! Match Four: Tom Bennett w/hideous neon winter coat ring jacket vs. The Russian Brute w/Ox Baker This company is trying to compete on a national level, in 1990, with Ox Fucking Baker on the payroll? Christ, it's even worse than I remember. Baker shuffles his way to the ring with Russian flags in his hand and he looks like he's about three hundred years old. The Brute looks like every other generic "Russian" out there, which means he probably can't wrestle worth a shit. Lee Marshall calls Ox Baker "illustrious", proving he doesn't know the meaning of that word. Ox and his sculpted eyebrows call for Brute to attack and attack he does, hammering away on Bennett as he shoves him into the corner, working hard forearms and right hands before whipping Bennett into the ropes for a HUGE clothesline. Irish whip into the corner by Brute but Bennett reverses, getting a few shots in before running face-first into a big boot. Brute picks Bennett up for a BIG one-armed powerslam, dropping a knee before choking Bennett across the bottom rope. Brute distracts the referee and Ox comes over to lay the badmouth on him before Brute gets a kick to the gut into a spinning neckbreaker. Irish whip in and Brute hits a reverse elbow before he picks Bennett up and PUTS HIM DOWN WITH THE HEART PUNCH!! 1-2-3 and it's over!!! Winner: The Russian Brute (pinfall, heart punch) Match Analysis: The Brute was completey non-descript and I don't think I would have been able to pick him out of a line-up if you spotted me the Russian Flag and the fur hat. They were desperate for anything resembling a rub, so that necessitated them calling in Grandpa Ox so that at least the green schmuck in the ring could have a rub from the heart punch. Of course, he couldn't throw it worth a shit, but I guess it at least counts for something that they tried. The replay shows that the reverse elbow hit Bennett right in the middle of the chest, but the "heart" punch hit him more in the throat. Nice aim there, hot shot. Marshall still tries to sell it that it hit him in the chest and throws it to Eric Bischoff at ringside. Bisch asks Ox about the taped-fist match and that Slaughter is looking to use The Brute to gain momentum. Baker says that last week in Kansas City, The Brute knocked out Harley Race. He says that they're going to have an ambulance brought to the arena and that they're going to put Slaughter in the hospital. He promises the fans next week that the Russian Brute loves to hurt people and he'll hurt Slaughter next week!! Baker should never be allowed near a microphone again. After the break, Eric Bischoff's green-screening it to get us to our Team Challenge Series report. Lee Marshall runs us through the standings and Baron's Blitzers are on top with 20 points, Larry's Legends are next with 15 and Sarge's Snipers are sucking hind tit with 13 points. There's apparently discension in the Snipers' ranks and then we hear about the taped fist match again. That was an utter waste of time. I don't know why they even bothered with that segment. Bischoff could have just as easily talked us through a standings graphic. Sigh. Match Five: Team Challenge Series: Beauty and the Beast Match Col. DeBeers and Magnificent Mimi vs. Baron Von Raschke and Candi Divine Men against the men, women against the women in this one. Mimi and Divine get things underway and Divine gets a quick armdrag takedown into a standing arm-wringer. Mimi reverses and Divine reverses it right back, moving to a hammerlock. Mimi gets a single-leg pickup and kicks Divine right in the cooter before turning it into a stepover toehold. Divine shrugs off the damage to her cooch and reverses it into a stepover toehold of her own, but Mimi knocks her down and gets a catapault into the corner with DeBeers. Divine takes over with some shots and a snap mare, Irish whipping Mimi into the ropes for a double-forearm smash. BODYSLAM from Divine and she gets a two-count, snap maring Mimi over again and Mimi immediately gets the tag to DeBeers. DeBeers chases Divine but the Baron protects her and goosesteps DeBeers all the way out to the floor. Back in the ring and DeBeers gets a standing arm-wringer, but Baron reverses it, putting DeBeers down and getting a good, old-fashioned, stump-puller armbar. DeBeers gets a cheap shot to take over and rams Baron into the top turnbuckle, whipping him across into the corner and following up with right hands. DeBeers tries to ram Baron into the top buckle again, but Baron blocks it and threatens DeBeers with the clawhold, sending him back out to the floor. Marshall brings up the Great American Turkey Hunt match on commentary, which has me praying we get to see it, and DeBeers threatens Baron with his version of a clawhold, but Baron shows him the REAL claw and DeBeers gets the tag to Mimi. Divine gets back in for her team and gets a double-leg takedown, turning it right into a Boston crab. Mimi gets a reversal and they trade near-falls with both ladies getting some two-counts before Mimi hits a short dropkick. Irish whip into the corner from Mimi and Divine catches her with a right hand to the gut, hammering her to the mat. Irish whip from Divine and she gets a big shoulderblock into another charging tackle. Snap mare into a front facelock by Divine and Mimi bulls her back into her corner, working over the gut with punches and elbows while DeBeers holds Divine by the hair. Baron comes in to try to point it out and DeBeers starts choking Divine across the top rope!! Mimi with a snap mare into a big scoop bodyslam and she covers Divine for a one-count. Standing monkey flip from Mimi and she follows that up with an Irish whip into a reverse elbow. Both women have a handful of hair, but Mimi gets the better of it, hip tossing Divine over and grabbing a straight armbar, using DeBeers on the outside for extra leverage. Divine makes it to her feet and as referee Gary DeRusha tries to keep Mimi in line, DeBeers starts choking Divine again. Baron comes in to dispute and the heels start double-teaming on Divine with choking and punches. Irish whip into the ropes by Mimi and Divine gets a shoulderblock to knock her down, but as she tries to shoot off the ropes for the follow-up, DeBeers YANKS HER DOWN BY THE HAIR!! Baron charges in again and DeRusha shoves him out of the ring as Divine gets a small package on Mimi. Before the referee can turn around though, DeBeers sneaks in and rolls Mimi on top!! The referee turns around and he gets the three-count!! Mimi and DeBeers win!! Winners: Magnificent Mimi and Col. DeBeers (pinfall, Mimi small package) Match Analysis: Baron REALLY had no business being in the ring at this point, but thankfully his segment of the match was short and most of the work was done by the ladies. They did some decent wrestling, but it was all just kind of there. Nothing exciting, nothing unexpected, just kind of a placeholder match to further the Divine/Mimi issue and to give some team two points in the TCS standings. Some absolutely HORRIBLE crowd noise and boos are piped in over the replay as we get Eric Bischoff at ringside, stopping Baron and Divine for a few words. Lee Marshall introduces him as "the choir boy, Eric Bischoff", which takes my brain into places I don't want it to go when considering Lee and Eric's relationship. Baron Von Raschke says that they were robbed and that Sarge might have gotten the points, but they did it the wrong way. Divine starts yelling but it's so high-pitched I can barely make anything out, outside of her wanting Mimi one-on-one in the ring. Yeah, she must have gone to the Donna Gagne School of Public Speaking. We get a voiceover of Bischoff thanking us for watching the show and telling us that the AWA will be back for more action next week. Mercifully, the show is over!! Final Thoughts Bland, bland, bland. There was nothing redeeming about this show at all. At least the show before this one was so hideous it was entertaining in a strange way. This one was just bad, all the way around. Lots of guys that were in no way ready for the big stage of national television or were way too old to be on national television. The only people that deserved to be on the show and that were actually over were The Destruction Crew and sure enough, they'd be on Vince's television soon enough after the demise of the AWA. The thumb is down on this one, though it's also pretty apathetic based on how pointless the whole show seemed. Fun With Comments From BigMike497: "While watching this, I actually wondered on how the hell you were going to do a Report on this show. " Booze. Lots and lots of high-quality, high-proof booze. From Guest. : "Ok, I'm obviously disagreeing with you, but this was the greatest episode in AWA history not featuring Bockwinkle/Hennig or DeBeers calling a fan a transvestite. Leave it to Verne Gagne to have a football match where psychology is employed, especially with the headbutt to the knee. I was cackling through that match with a sadistic glee not seen since WSX and the land of explosions. I'm used to Russo so having to block out logic is no problem, that was just a fantastic match which kept me entertained more than Jimmy Valiant pelvic-thrusting his way through a match. On a somewhat serious note (I did get a sadistic pleasure from the show though), they should've just hijacked some of the World Class stipulations, as stuff like this would've been ate up over there. Also, since I'm leaving for China near the end of August (hopefully I can get the DVD before I leave), I doubt I could send it to you, but I'm sure it'll be out on the internet somewhere shortly thereafter. " I was entertained by it all and laughing almost the entire time I watched it. But by the same token, I was insulted as a fan that they would have tried to pass that shit off as some sort of legitimate attempt to put on a wrestling show. No worries about that DVD, I was joking (mostly), but I hope that you're able to get it before you head off to China. It would no doubt make the plane trip a little more bearable. From Hustle Theory: "I could not stop laughing. Why do i dvr this shit? You know what's funny, i DON'T dvr WWE programming, yet i have the gaul to dvr this shit on a nightly basis. I'm off to hang myself. " Hey, you only have to watch it. I have to churn out reports on this garbage, so hang in there. Oops, I mean..stick with it!! From Scrotum Pole: "I knew when you used a Life Goes On Corky reference I had to watch this abomination. And afterwards I owed $18.25 to the Swear Jar. If this gets any worse Randy you might need to start a tab. There's little road hockey goals set up in opposite corners of the ring... "Car!" "Game On!" " My favorite part of that entire movie is Ed O' Neill's crazy donut-shop employee character. Trust me, I would have been up to about fifty bucks in my personal swear jar by the time it was all over. Remember the scene in Moving when Richard Pryor's wife starts counting out the paper money before telling the kids to leave the room? Yeah, that would have been me before I hit play to start the DVR of the show. From Guest. : "Adding onto my previous comment, I've had an epiphany on the rules of the football match. You see, Mike Enos was penalized a second time for his actions, and thus was stripped of his possession of the football by the biased ref which is why when Trooper went up 3-0, he got the ball and Enos didn't. After Enos began dismantling his leg, everytime he scored, the ball went back to Trooper who didn't do anything wrong. Thus, due to ref bias, the rules make a tiny bit of sense to me. But hey, it adds more fuel to the fire of the Zbyszko conspiracy theory." You know, for actually sitting and making sense of the whole debacle, I REALLY hope your Gagne guest booker DVD comes for you. You deserve it after trying to explain that nonsense. From Trashy: "Notice how on the last couple episodes they greeted with "Good Afternoon?" This was about the time ESPN started burying the AWA in weekday afternoon slots, which was an even bigger mess for west coast viewers. But at the time ESPN started getting all kinds of national live games and could no longer give them guaranteed regular evening slots. I think what was left in Memphis & Dallas pretty much laughed at the AWA at this point. Adding to the confusion, I believe ESPN was showing old Texas footage from a few years earlier in a regular 3pm eastern/noon pacific spot around this time. " I noticed that about the timeslots and I remember them because I believe that they used to air in Canada at the same time and I would be in the basement of my friend's house watching it right after school. Shows how far the show had sank when they couldn't even find any time for it to air except in the dead zone of afternoon programming when no real sports fans over the age of 6 or under the age of 90 would be home. From Brimstone: "I am in awe that you didn't type more swear words. I watched this again like a rubbernecker on the interstate. All of the horrible memories from when this originally aired came back to me. I think I even threw up in my mouth a little. You need serious compensation if you have to review the rest of this shit til the AWA goes under." I would have had a LOT more and a lot more were in the original draft, but if I had left it as it was, I'm sure that Csonka the boss man would have gotten a ton of grief from angry readers, as well as the big boss man Ashish, so I cleaned it up a little. As for the compensation, there are places where you can e-mail to petition for that on my behalf if you feel so inclined, but I'm just happy putting them out there for the love of getting to rip on shitty wrestling. From Barack Says: "Thanks for the Larry Z - Bruno match. It was ten kinds of awesome! Bruno would have been a star, even today. Larry Z too. " You're welcome. I think that Larry Z of the mid to late 80's being around in wrestling today would be a license to print money. He was awesome then and if he had been in one of the Big(ger) Two, he would have been huge. Bruno probably would have been a star during the Attitude days as he was more of a kicker/puncher and that was the main event-style of the time. From t-money: ""This is the AWA... the BIG LEAGUES of professional wrestling, don't get caught up in the hype of all those other organizations." - Larry Nelson wow just wow... this show was so awesomely bad it defies description " Yeah, that's about the best way to put it. Probably the worst hour of wrestling I've seen, and I've seen some REALLLY bad local indy stuff from various parts of the country in my time as a fan. From PMullin1987: "Its amazing how much mulleted Paul Diamond looks like mulleted Dave Meltzer. That said, Diamond as a babyface was as bland as could be, even if he could work. The only things I'm really looking forward to are the Larry/Saito matches and the end of Greg Gagne's career. " I think that everyone is going to be excited with Greg Gagne's in-ring career coming to a close. As for Larry/Saito, that seemed like a fun little feud back then, so I'm kind of excited to see it. Finally, from Brian: "Wow... Although the Greco-Roman match had potential, (IF it was Chris Benoit vs Kurt Angle) The Baron was WAY too far past his prime to have any chance of making it interesting. As for the (heh) football match, you said: Match Analysis: This was possibly the worst "match" in the history of professional wrestling. For an idea that was supposed to be the evolution of wrestling, this probably set the sport back twenty years. The crowd was dead, the match was hideous and pointless, the wrestlers looked like they could barely do even the simplest of moves with the football pads on, and the referee barely knew the rules and was biased on top of it. An absolute, 1000%, utter, complete fucking abortion. You are a grrrreat writer Randy. Nobody could possibly add to that and be more descriptive. Oh, there was another match as well, right??? (That's all I've got to say about the battle royal.) Although the AWA was once great, the mercy rule should have applied at this point in their history. Y'know, the same rule that softball and little league's have...once you are behind by so much that you have no hope of catching up, GAME OVER. But NOOOOOOOOOO, the AWA kept on playing even though they were down by about 8,417 - 3 at this juncture. Even Charlie Brown would have given up by then. Hang in there Randy...it's what any true JOBBER would do. (Pin me, PAY me.) " I will indeed hang in on the show. There's nothing that's going to drive me away, no matter how horrible it is, no matter how asinine the idea is, no matter how botch-tastic the wrestling is. I SHALL OVERCOME!! As for the rest of your comment, Baron was too far past his prime for anything to be interesting. Thanks for the compliments on the writing, I appreciate all of people's thoughts on what I write, both positive and negative because they all make me a little better. The AWA was limping and I think Bischoff says it best on the AWA DVD when he says that no matter what was going on, Verne just would not give it up.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:57:36 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Lee Marshall and Ralph Strangis are ringside and they do the rundown of the show with Ralph Strangis looking about as uncomfortable in front of a camera as I have ever seen a human being. Apparently we're getting Col. DeBeers, Yukon John, AWA World Champ Larry Zbyszko, and the main event with The Russian Brute and Sgt. Slaughter in a taped-fist match. Ralph stares at the camera like a goof with his mouth hanging half open all the way to the commercial.
Match One: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Tony Leone vs. Larry Zybszko (c)
This one should be fairly quick. Zbyszko's choice of ring music, Tina Turner's "Simply The Best", is 100 extra bonus points for awesome. Strangis and Marshall try to push their failing hotline number as the bell rings and Zbyszko does a little stalling. Fireman's carry takedown from Zbyszko and he badmouth's Leone a little, telling him to get to the back before he gets embarassed. Lockup now and Zbyszko pushes Leone into the ropes, shocking me by giving up a clean break when the referee asks for it. Another lockup and they end up in the ropes again with Leone pushing Zbyszko onto his ass when Zbsyzko tries for a clean break. Yeah, he's super-pissed now. The two schmucks on commentary start talking something about football while Leone is on the floor, celebrating his trip takedown and I kind of tune them out until Zbyszko offers a handshake and kicks Leone in the gut. Zbyszko goes to the eyes and gets a couple of big bodyslams in on Leone before he picks him up for the PILEDRIVER!!! Zbyszko gets the three-count and then bows to the crowd in the middle of the ring.
Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: Short and to the point. They had a decent point on commentary, saying that Zbyszko was playing by the rules early and still getting booed, so he snapped a little and showed his vicious streak, ending it quickly. Didn't mean much, but it's always fun to see Zbyszko in action and looking crisp.
Zbyszko is at ringside with Eric Bischoff and he calls the fans at ringside fools. He asks about why they put people in front of firing squads and then goes into something about the old adage about the pen and the sword being a lie. He asks Bisch if they took Noriega with a pen and tells the front row to shut up. He says that 1990 is his world and that there's no pen, only the sword. He says he's the roughest, the toughest, most controversial, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. He tells the fans that they suck and then storms off, coming back to yell at Bischoff for the way the fans treated him. It didn't make a ton of sense, but at least he had a little bit of fire, which most of the AWA promos were seriously lacking at this time.
Match Two: Spike Jones vs. Yukon John Nord
John does a LOT of howling on his way to the ring and as he spends a few minutes taking off his flannel shirt and wolf-skin hat, Lee Marshall talks about Nord's past and how he's a reformed man and trying to change his ways. Nord pushes Jones into the corner off of a lockup and starts laying in the chops before he goes to the eyes and tries an Irish whip. Jones reverses the whip into the corner and charges but EATS BEAVER and hits the floor to think things over. Jones wants Nord to calm the fuck down before he gets back into the ring and he finally does, going to the eyes and hammering Nord with some forearm shots. Nord no-sells all of them and hammers on Jones, tying him up in the ropes before he charges off of the other ropes and FEEDS HIM MORE BEAVER!!! HUGE bodyslam from Nord and he goes up to the second rope for the GUILLOTINE LEGDROP!!! 1-2-HOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWL-3!!! Nord's kicking air all the way around the ring, howling in celebration.
Winner: Yukon John Nord (pinfall, second-rope guillotine legdrop)
Match Analysis: Eh. I liked him a lot better as a Bruiser Brody rip-off personally. I think he needs to stop using that legdrop off of the second rope though. He had a lot more trouble hitting it from the second rope than he did from the top and it looked a little more dangerous in terms of hurting someone legit. Just my opinion.
Nord's turn to talk to Eric Bischoff now, and Lee Marshall calls him "Choir Boy" again. I bet that's why Lee got stuck on Thunder in WCW. Don't try to tell me that Bischoff wasn't holding a grudge that entire time. "Choir boy huh? Tell me how you enjoy working Thunder and the horrible Internet show, Lee." Apparently, DeBeers and Nord are meeting in the main event next week in a "one-armed bandit" match where each guy has one arm tied behind their back. Nord talks about how he went up into the Yukon and he found himself and that in the lumber camp they'd have the same type of matches, after reading their Bibles. Huh? Nord throws up a kick....and a stretch....HE'S FIFTY!! FIFTY YEARS OLD!!! Nord calls himself the king of the camp and says that whatever doesn't kill him makes him stronger. He threatens DeBeers with a meeting with Big Bertha (the axe) and starts howling away. By the way, Nord is now wearing a belt made out of enough rope to make Cletus The Slack-Jawed Yokel jealous. I guess they never heard of leather up at the lumber camp.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back to the program and says we're hearing from the main event participants. First up it's The Russian Brute, with his manager Ox Baker, and Ox does all the talking. I can't really decide if that's good or bad. Ox says that it took 20,000 Marines to take one guy down in Panama and that it's only going to take one Brute to take down this Marine. Baker fires off a bunch of half-thoughts and sentence fragments like he's trying to write a blog and then says that Slaughter is going to feel the heart punch and that Sgt. Slaughter's going to the hospital. I don't know if they're filming these promos with poor lighting, or with poor equipment, but there's red shadows following the wrestlers when they move, which looks really amateur hour. Slaughter cuts his usual promo, calling Brute scum, slime, and a maggot before saying that the taped-fist match is coming up and that all of the great boxers showed him how to tape his fist. He says that Brute is going to go down and that he's doing it for his team, his country, his state, his county, his city, his street and that cute little old lady on the corner that bakes him cookies every month. He threatens to dismiss the Brute permanently. Bischoff reminds us of what Ox Baker said last week about Slaughter leaving the arena in an ambulance before sending us to the ring for the next match.
Match Three: Jake Milliman and Kent Carlson vs. The Texas Hangmen
The Hangmen come out with their noose and Strangis and Marshall do their debate on which Hangman is which. Killer starts out with Milliman and they AGAIN reference the Turkey Hunt match, which just makes me want to see it even more. Milliman clumsily rolls through the legs of Killer before we get a lockup and Killer takes Milliman down with some hard shots. Milliman reverses and gets Killer with a hard right hand to the gut and comes off the ropes with a flying double forearm smash. Standing arm-wringer by Milliman and Killer goes right to the eyes to break the hold, tagging in Psycho. Psycho runs right across into a hip toss and Milliman goes back to the arm work, using a standing armbar to isolate Psycho while he tags in his partner, Carlson. Carlson hammers on the arm, but Psycho takes over immediately with more hard shots to the back, putting Carlson down on the mat. He rams Carlson into the turnbuckle and then distracts the referee to let Killer choke him with the tag rope. Strangis tries to BS and say that Psycho is wearing the armpad today and not Killer to try to further confuse everyone, but I don't buy it because their body-types still look the same. Unconfirmed report, my ass, Ralph. Killer gets a big bodyslam and a kneedrop to the throat before he picks Carlson up for a HUGE powerslam. Tag to Psycho and he Irish whips Carlson in for a big boot to the gut. Tag to Psycho and Killer Irish whips him into the ropes, hitting Carlson in the stomach with a punch before Psycho takes him down with a HUGE DDT. Tag back to Killer and he heads over to hit Milliman with a right hand and while the referee is distracted, they hit their swank finisher with Killer coming off the top with the Hangman's Elbow as Psycho holds Carlson in the air. We get the pinfall for the finish and we get the bizarre argument on the rules between Strangis and Marshall about how far someone can be elevated off the mat before it's illegal to come off the top rope and whether they had him too high or not high enough and blah, blah, blah, blah. Such convoluted crap.
Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's Elbow)
Match Analysis: The usual squasheriffic match from The Hangmen, and I'm interested to see if they could actually work a back-and-forth match or not. So far, all I've seen them do is hammer away on jobbers, but they haven't really shown anything in terms of selling or being able to put on an entertaining match. Sweet finisher though, and to me it even makes it a little cooler that they have to cheat to hit it.
Bischoff throws it to Lee Marshall after the commercial and it's Team Challenge Series report time. He talks about last week's main event and says that despite it being the first win for Sarge's Snipers in six weeks, there is still dissension in the ranks between DeBeers and Slaughter. That was utterly useless as a segment as they still haven't changed the standings from last week's report. I don't even think they were trying anymore.
Match Four: George Anderson vs. Col. DeBeers
DeBeers is making his way to the ring with "Welcome To The Jungle" blaring over the PA system. That doesn't even make any sense. Wouldn't he not want to be in the jungle? You know, because he hates black people? Does anyone even WORK at the AWA offices anymore that might consider stupid shit like this? DeBeers is at a give on the Hasselhoff scale this week and he grabs a side headlock right out of the gate. Anderson shoots him into the ropes but DeBeers gets a couple of shoulderblocks in before Anderson gets an armdrag takedown. DeBeers reverses it into an armbar and the crowd starts to cheer as we see Jake Milliman at ringside with a big sign that reads "The Colonel is a Turkey". DeBeers whips Anderson into the ropes and puts him down with a knee to the gut before he turns his attention to Milliman on the outside. Milliman gets a HUGE "Turkey" chant started and Anderson almost takes advantage of it and gets a roll-up for a near fall. DeBeers takes over again, hammering Anderson to the mat and picking him up for a kick to the gut. DeBeers stomps on Anderson and whips him into the ropes for a back bodydrop. Stomp to the face from DeBeers and he whips Anderson into the ropes again for another back bodydrop. Anderson leapfrogs over him this time, but gets kicked in the stomach and bulldogged down to the mat HARD. DeBeers picks him up for the PANCAKE PILEDRIVER!!! He's smiling as he gets the pinfall and it's all over for Anderson!!
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: Only here to advance the DeBeers/Milliman nonsense. I honestly thought that Anderson was going to get the pin off of that roll-up, so I guess it worked in that sense. Seeing this match and the fall-out from all of it makes me REALLLLLLLY want to see that damn Turkey Hunt match, and I'm hoping they go back to round out the AWA shows by showing the 1989 shows after this.
Match Five: Team Challenge Series Match: Taped Fist Match The Russian Brute w/Ox Baker vs. Sgt. Slaughter
The Brute is on Baron's Blitzer team and Slaughter is, of course, on his own Sniper's team. Marshall does more lying, saying that the fans called into the AWA fan line and "demanded" this match. I would highly doubt that. They go over the rules of the taped fist match and we see that Slaughter has one fist taped while The Brute has both fists taped. We get a lockup and Brute pushes Slaughter into the ropes, leading to Slaughter threatening a right hand, but giving up the clean break. Another lockup and another push into the ropes, with Brute throwing a right hand and Slaughter ducking out of the way of the "lethal" punch. The crowd starts a big "USA" chant and Brute does the usual Russian tactic of covering his ears. Slaughter takes over with a couple of big boots to the gut before whipping Brute into the ropes for an elbow to the stomach. Snap mare from Slaughter into a double-stomp on Brute's gut and he stomps on Brute's fingers for good measure. Slaughter pushes Brute into the ropes and hits him with a hard forearm across the chest and Brute fires back with some forearms, a double-axehandle and a BIG headbutt.
Brute rams Slaughter into the turnbuckles but Slaughter feels no pain and rams Brute HARD into the buckle!! Brute goes to the eyes to stop the momentum and begins choking Slaughter across the top rope and as the referee warns him, Ox Baker chokes Slaughter across the second rope, using his mini-bat he apparently got from a Twins game that afternoon for added leverage. Brute works over Slaughter with some boots before choking him across the bottom rope. Brute gets warned again and Baker chokes Slaughter with the mini-bat again. Brute picks Slaughter up for a slam but just drops him across the top rope with a clothesline for a long two-count. Right hand to the body from Brute and he Irish whips Slaughter into the corner, following him in with a charge. They knock heads off of the charge and both men go down. Marshall and Strangis actually keep my attention for a moment, but that's only because they're talking about the Canada/Russia hockey Summit Series in 1972. I think they're trying to use it to point out the skill of the Russian athletes or something.
Brute is up first and lays some boots in on Slaughter before choking him in the corner. Slaughter takes a moment to make sure his comb-over stays in place, despite being in bad shape, and Brute whips Slaughter into the opposite corner. Brute charges across with a knee but SLAUGHTER MOVES!! Brute is holding onto the knee that slammed into the top turnbuckle and Slaughter pounces, starting to kick and stomp on that damaged knee. More kicks and stomps to the knee by Slaughter and Brute comes back with a rake of the eyes into an Irish whip into the corner. HUGE back bodydrop from Brute as Slaughter comes bouncing out of the corner and there's another Irish whip into the corner for Slaughter to take his usual stomach bump. Another Irish whip into the corner by the Brute and he just picks up Slaughter and throws him back into the corner again. Brute does a little flexing and it's time for the HEART PUNCH according to Ox. Brute winds up and Slaughter KICKS HIM IN THE GUT!! ANOTHER KICK FROM SLAUGHTER!!
Brute goes to the eyes to break that up and they're just choking each other in the middle of the ring. Baker gets up onto the apron and the referee is distracted as Slaughter locks on the COBRA CLUTCH!!! Slaughter lets it go and goes after Baker, grabbing him by the mustache, blocking a mini-bat shot, and THE BRUTE ATTACKS FROM BEHIND!! He holds Slaughter in place for a bat shot from Baker, but SLAUGHTER DUCKS!!! BAKER WAFFLES THE BRUTE!!! Slaughter's down for the pin attempt!!! 1-2-3!!!! Slaughter wins!! Slaughter wins!!! The crowd is actually going wild!!
Ox Baker tries to sneak up on Sarge after the bell, but Slaughter catches him and threatens him with the taped fist!! Brute sneaks up on Slaughter now and WAFFLES HIM WITH THE BAT!! Baker holds Slaughter in place and BRUTE HITS HIM WITH THE HEART PUNCH!!! Baker's choking Slaughter with his whip and HERE COME CAPTAIN BARON!!! Baron sends Brute scurrying just by threatening him with the Claw and Baker rolls out of the ring too. Slaughter gets back to his feet and Baron tries to apologize for the actions of The Brute and Baker.
Winner: Sgt. Slaughter (pinfall, heel miscommunication)
Match Analysis: Wow. An actual hot crowd for an AWA match in 1990. Color me shocked. The match was the absolute shits, but the heat was up for it, which was fun to see. I question why they even had the match be a taped fist match when Slaughter didn't throw a single taped fist punch and Brute didn't throw one until after the match was over. I guess it was a gimmick, but it seemed pointless to me to have the gimmick and then never use it. It'd be like having a TLC match today and not using any of the weapons at ringside at all during the course of the match.
Bischoff has Baron Von Raschke and Sgt. Slaughter with him at ringside for some comments and we start off with Slaughter, clutching his chest, wheezing for air, saying he's never been hit so hard in his life. Bischoff brings up that Slaughter is okay and that Slaughter was able to get the win and get the points for his team. He asks Baron about the situation after the match and Baron says that The Brute and Baker lost control and that they're out there as a team effort and that it's important. Slaughter gets all snotty and puts his mug on Baron, saying that there was no reason for Baron to stick his guys on him after the match was over. Bischoff tries to explain that that's not the case and Baron tries to explain that it's not the case and then starts ragging on Slaughter's team and DeBeers's actions in the Beauty and the Beast match. Slaughter says that when the TCS is over, they'll be friends again but for now, he wants nothing to do with Baron. Slaughter shoves Baron and Baron loses his shit, getting all indignant and wagging his finger at Slaughter, saying that if friendship has to go, it has to go. They get in a dick-wagging contest about which team is better and Baron RAMBLES all the way through Bischoff throwing it to a break, which ends up being the end of the show.
Final Thoughts
Like most of the AWA shows at this time, it's not an especially bad show, just a terribly bland one. The only real response from the crowd was at the end of the main event and during the post-match melee. Everyone else just kind of went through the motions with their usual stuff, whether it was The Hangmen, Zbyszko or DeBeers. A middling show gets a middling thumbs in the middle for me. Nothing offensive, but nothing really good either. Let's hit the HUGE batch of comments!!
Fun With Comments
From greggagnesucks: "After looking at that AWA poster it looks like Zbyszko hasn't taken a shit in 3 days!Doctor X & The Honky Tonk Man! Did anyone see this trainwreck? "
If anyone saw it, PLEASE send me a report on the show and don't spare a single stomach-turning detail. The indy guys look alright, but using the actual AWA talent a good twenty years after their expiration dates looks painful to watch.
From lmao: "a young eric bitchoff lmao i have never laughed so hard at the newbie and his bitchiness omg epic laughs "
Yeah, he was a little tough to watch in these early shows as he was still pretty stiff and wooden in front of the camera. It's almost hard to equate the Bischoff on these shows to the WCW/WWE version of the man. It's like watching two different people.
From Guest. : "Best part of the show: When DeBeers was on his rant on how men were men, women were women, and blacks were apes (ok, he didn't say it, but it would've ruled in a I can't believe he said that kind of way), he said how Mimi wouldn't have to wrestle because he'd do everything. And who starts out the match? Mimi. DeBeers was such a douche and something as small as that ought to make it into the hidden highlights, especially since they're doing apparently older shows now as well.
And, since you didn't mention it, they made a comment about Mimi being in Playboy. I looked it up, and while I couldn't find any pictorial evidence, I did find that in 89 she posed for Playboy with the AWA World Title. Again, Verne Gagne: Most Progressive Booker ever, having his girls pose for Playboy (Medusa as well until her deal fell through) 15 years before Vince did. She's also an actor and producer, as well as a stunt woman, under her real name of Mimi Lessos. "
My guess would be that Mimi didn't pose in the buff for that one and instead probably had the AWA Women's title covering her lady bits. As for Verne being a progressive booker, again, he had the ideas and he had the horses to go with them, he just didn't know how to put it all together for the audience of the late 80's and early 90's.
From RandomGuy: "Wait just one minute here. Someone actually submitted to a Shoulder Claw? That's the most ineffective Clawhold around. (And for those wondering:
1. Iron/Brain Claw. 2. Stomach Claw. 3. Trapizeus/Shoulder Claw/Nerve Hold. "
To me, all clawholds are pretty useless. I would agree that the version The Trooper used was the weakest looking of them all, but again, someone submitted to the abdominal stretch on the previous show, so the shitty submission hold precedent was there.
From Gary: "In the Trooper report you said the trap/nervehold was being fazed out.Well we have to thank Umaga for bringing the exciting hold back again in a huge way. "
Yeah, Umaga brought it back today, but with him it actually makes sense because it's mainly a move that has been used by Samoan and Japanese wrestlers. I was referrring to it being phased out, even in 1990, and that The Trooper looked a little silly using it. I mean, they could have easily said it was a "crowd-control technique he had learned during Trooper school" or something, but they didn't, they just let him flop with his shitty finish.
From Scrotum Pole: "Slaughter's at ringside with Eric Bischoff now and WOW, that comb-over on Slaughter is reaching Trump levels of insanity.
I always felt it was closer to Rudy Guiliani's.
This company is trying to compete on a national level, in 1990, with Ox Fucking Baker on the payroll? Christ, it's even worse than I remember.
"Meet me halfway, across the sky." I love arm wrestling, Terry Funk and 18 wheelers. "
Ox should have been nowhere near a national company at this point, or actually at any point. He only had heat from the heart punch and that only worked in the territories for the most part. Once the business went national and all of the best workers were in the two main territories, you had to be able to go to get your spot up top. Baker was WELL past being able to do anything, and even as a manager was fairly worthless because he couldn't cut a promo to save his life. I will agree with you that Slaughter's comb-over looked a lot closer to Guiliani's, but it was Donald-like in the sense that it started about at his ear and swooped ALL the way over to make it look like he still had bangs. That's a deep commitment to make to know that you're going to wake up every morning looking like a retard until you plaster your hair back over the top of your head. I'll just shave mine, thank you very much.
From Non Epic Fail: "I threwup in my mouth watching this. I don't know why I torture myself...but I cannot help myself watching the dying AWA...... "
Trainwreck wrestling at its finest.
From David Burcham: "I always wondered why WWF or WCW didn't try to cash in on Ox Baker's appearance in "Escape From New York".
Then I actually saw him work a couple of stints in Memphis and Georgia in the mid-80's.
Totally shattered the build-up I had in my imagination of the scary-looking guy I'd only read about in those old Apter mags. "
That was the problem with the Apter mags sometimes. They'd make someone seem like a million bucks and in your eight-year-old, pixie-stick addled brain, they looked like they were the greatest wrestler in the world. Then you saw them in action and that bubble was burst and you felt incredibly cheated. I can't tell you how many times that happened to me reading those magazines in my younger days and I say that I feel your pain.
Also from David Burcham: "Candi Devine's looks can be attributed to reconstructive surgery. Not the kind used to enhance features... the kind used to save a person's face, period.
Candi was very pretty early in her career, but her face was messed up in Memphis when another wrestler named Amy Monroe (I think?) botched a monkey flip and landed head-first on Candi's jaw. Devine almost died on the operating table!
I always looked forward to Candi when she came to Memphis. She didn't have the typical "thick" look that almost every woman wrestler had at the time. "
That's a shame to hear about. If that is in response to my assertion that Divine looked like a hooker, it had more to do with whatever kind of rat pelt she was wearing as a coat, her make-up, and her teased up hooker hair. Her actual facial features had little to do with it as it was more of a "total package" kind of deal. I'm glad that she made it through that though, with relatively little complications.
From piperfan01: "Ox Baker. I dunno, I will always look at him from the same "little kid" perspective. He scared the crap out of me as a kid, him, Abdullah the Butcher, Great Kabuki. The Baron as well, but older and wiser has made me see through the great Baron a bit, what was he like as a younger guy? The Patriot/Del Wilkes never did anything for me, when he beat Bret Hart I nearly choked on my ham sandwich. Mimi was hot back in these days, and together with Madusa, and yeah to a lesser extent Richter, Divine, add Martel, they had one hell of a ladies division back then. "
The AWA actually did have a little bit of depth in their ladies division, but damned if they knew how to use it. Wilkes never did a single thing for me either, and even as The Patriot, I never bought him being on Bret Hart's level. Imagine how much better that angle would have been had they had Kurt Angle under contract at that time. As for your childhood fears and wrestling, mine were always Abdullah and Bruiser Brody as the big two. Baron in the early heel days was quite the dastardly guy and was actually pretty feared by the fans, though as you said, it mellowed in his later years to where they loved the guy.
From Steve: "Ox still scared me but for different reasons than he did when I was a kid.
What other names did Brute wrestle under? Wikipedia had nothing on him. "
Honestly, I'm not too sure. Even OWW doesn't have him listed anywhere, so I would assume that this AWA tenure was his only stop in the world of wrestling that made him any waves or got him any sort of notoriety.
From D.P. : "are we going to be seeing Nikita on tv soon?how much of a leap in time has there been since the previous shows until the TCS episodes on now? "
I believe that we'll actually be seeing Nikita coming up on some future broadcasts as he was with the company almost right up until the end. I can't be quoted on that, but I'm expecting to see him at some point soon.
From Dave: "Well I've got a few comments First off Paul Diamond. Oh who are they trying to kid, that mullet makes him look like unfrozen caveman wrestler.
Two, all that garbage about slaughter extra pounds being muscle due to all that working out. I was thinking I was so surprised they didn't also say the work out was growing back his hair.(Which would have been about as believable.)
The Destruction crew. Ok that must have been the thing I was thinking about their "illegal" move. (The Doomsday device.) Honestly though, they did the move kick ass. Why would you want stop them? (And then they mentioned no top rope moves onto an opponent laying flat? Who was booking, Watts? Was Verne in the back saying "Too exciting, we need more boredom")
Oh finally Candy Devine I've got to agree with you on that one she looked horrible.(Not even the Baron made her look good.) Really, she should have been less mad at Mimi and more livid at the plastic surgeon who didn't put her face back on straight after the facelift.
Anyway on the plus side all you have to do Randy is survive the 90's matches, then there's just 89. (Unless they start showing GWF. Come to think of it if they do then it'll be time to see cowardly heel Eddie Gilbert which was great.) "
The only thing I'll touch on out of this is the GWF comment. Hopefully, once the AWA run is over, we'll actually get to see the GWF shows, as I've heard a ton about them, but have never been able to see an episode. Gilbert was great in that cowardly heel role and it should be a lot of fun to get to see him do that if the opportunity comes up.
Also from Dave: "Wow, that'll learn me to comment before reading the other comments. Candy's face must have been really smashed up given what we saw afterwards. (Still, why the hell was she still wrestling. It was insane when Bruti did it and it doesn't make anymore sense for her to continue wrestling.)"
I don't know why Candi and Brutus were wrestling, other than saying that it was all that either of them knew and that was how they made their living. It takes a rare breed to become a wrestler and I would say that it was probably a situation where they were just doing what came naturally to them, even with their massive injuries. I'm sure that those who worked with them knew specifically what they could and couldn't do and that there was no real danger of making anything worse.
Another comment from D.P. : "I look forward to the GWF but first id like to see all of the AWA that they have. "
Agreed. I want my Turkey Hunt match, dammit.
Finally, from Doug: "I am finally recovering from the 'football' match. These shows are horrible and it is clear to see why the AWA was already done. Like everyone else, I am stunned by the obviousness of the piped in crowd noise, and I actually kind of miss the crappy graphics, Soldat's promos, Larry's indignance, and the fan of the week already.
So the question is this, since I never saw these in the 90s...does The Team Challenge Series get even worse? "
Oh no, it gets much worse than this as the talent starts to flee the sinking promotion. It ends up being essentially Larry Zbyszko and a bunch of green nobodies as everyone else that was talented enough was already working up North for Vince or down South for Crockett. It's going to get a LOT worse before all is said and done, I assure you.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 14:59:24 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
We're right to the ring for the first match, with Donna Gagne in the ring to make the introductions
Match One: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Todd Becker vs. Larry Zbyszko (c)
Crowd gets on Larry with a "Larry Sucks" chant right out of the gate. Marshall sounds like an ass calling Becker "Milwaukee's Finest", since I think there are about ten different kinds of beer, four different kinds of sausages and a football team that would disagree with him. Zbyszko jaws with the crowd again as Lee and Ralph go over the list of guys that want a shot at Zbyszko, including Junkyard Dog, Nikita Koloff, Paul Orndorff, Sgt. Slaughter, The Trooper and Mr. Saito, etc. etc. with Zbyszko/Saito being the one that Marshall wants to see. This is all going on while Zbyszko is putting on a HUGE stall-job, heading out to the apron and pissing around with the front row. Becker and his hideous mullet are pissed that Zbyszko is avoiding any kind of contact at all. Finally a locku..ZBYSZKO POKES HIM IN THE EYE!! TREMENDOUS!!! Snap mare from Zbyszko into another eyerake and he hooks Becker up for a big vertical suplex. Backbreaker from Zbyszko gets a two-count but he picks Becker up before the three-count. Zbyszko gets him set and spikes his ass with the PILEDRIVER!!! Becker might be dead and the referee counts to three. I have to say that the "slo-mo" audio that accompanies every replay is REALLY phony sounding and REALLY annoying.
Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: Another short Zbyszko squash, which followed his usual template. It's entertaining as always, but it leaves me wanting a little more, to where the champ is actually defending his title once in a while.
Eric Bischoff and his newly-dyed black hair are back and it looks like they've at least gotten a little better at figuring out this green screen business and how to light everything. Bisch talks about the dissension on the Sarge's Snipers team and how Slaughter wants to trade Col. DeBeers for anyone or anything. He speculates that DeBeers will make any trade difficult and then throws it to a Col. DeBeers promo. DeBeers says that South Africa remained strong while other countries fell in the 80's and that South Africa will remain strong all the way through the 90's as well. He says that he's going to take the team away from Sgt. Slaughter and start his own army where he won't have to wrestle in matches with one arm tied behind his back. He brings up Nord's training and how he wrestles the whole logging camp with just one arm, saying that all it takes is the Col. coming after him, not a whole army. DeBeers promises to get the Sheik's money, money that was put up to put Yukon John out of professional wrestling for good. Yukon John gets some promo time now and says that they're going to tie one arm behind their backs and have at it. He calls himself "King of the Lumberjacks" and that he got his start training with some guy that smelled like whiskey and needed a shave. I guess that's where Larry Nelson went after he was fired from the interviews. Nord talks about how there are people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who wonder "What happened?". He promises to make DeBeers and Sheik wonder what happened. He says that DeBeers is in for a long hard match and howls to the end of the promo. Bischoff is back in front of the green screen, holding a piece of paper which is allegedly from the desk of Joe Blanchard and it looks like he's barring a trade and that DeBeers is going to have to stay on Sarge's Snipers.
In the commercial break, they run an ad for an ESPN Classic show that will list the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Sports Illustrated For Having A Swimsuit Issue. Well, I would think that all five reasons would be "hot chicks", which will probably make that episode about two minutes long.
Match Two: Team Challenge Series Match: One-Armed Bandit Match Col. DeBeers w/Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie vs. Yukon John Nord
Donna is still doing the ring announcing and you might not be able to tell from far away, but from up close, she's REALLY starting to look like a Gagne as she gets older. It's like Verne in a fright wig. Lee Marshall explains the rules of the match, which seem to be pretty self-explanatory. It seems silly for the referees to have rope for Nord since he could just use his rope belt to tie it down and save everyoen some time and aggravation. This is going to be awful. Both guys tie their left hands behind their backs and Nord howls as the referee finishes the job on his knots. Lee finally makes it back to commentary and says that fans kept stopping him, saying that they can't believe what they're seeing. I agree with them because that jacket Marshall's wearing is repulsive. The bell rings and this monstrosity is underway with both men trying shoulderblocks that go nowhere until Nord hits a big one and puts DeBeers onto his ass. Standing arm-wringer from DeBeers and Nord reverses it into a big chop and they're TRADING CHOPS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RING!!
Nord drops DeBeers with a HUGE chop and DeBeers gets up to his feet, trying for a bodyslam on Nord, but Nord is too big. Nord gets a ONE-ARMED SLAM of his own and follows it up with boots and forearms to the back of DeBeers. Nord Irish whips DeBeers into the ropes by the hair and takes DeBeers down with a dropkick that just barely lands. Nord covers for two but DeBeers gets free of it with a knee to the head, getting to his feet and trying to ram Nord into the top turnbuckle. Nord blocks it and rams DeBeers into the buckle, kicking him in the gut a few times before ramming him into the buckles again, sending DeBeers crashing face-first into the mat. Nord with the cover and he gets a LONG two-count before DeBeers gets his foot on the ropes. Right hands and kicks from DeBeers and he's taking over until Nord kicks him in the gut a couple of times and Irish whips him into the ropes again for a HUGE flying shoulderblock. Another cover from Nord and another LONG two-count, but DeBeers comes on and rams Nord into the mat face-first.
Nord blocks the third and rams DeBeers into the mat, gettign to his feet and hammerign DeBeers with BEAVER SHOTS!! Off the ropes and DeBeers takes a kick to the gut that puts him out to the floor near Sheik Adnan. Sheik pulls and unties DeBeers arm before he gets back into the ring and DeBeers is smart enough to try to hide it. Referee Gary DeRusha is down in the corner for some reason and Nord catches DeBeers with a shot and DeBeers falls backwards, tying himself up in the ropes!! Nord hammers away and the referee sees that DeBeers has both arms free. Nord tries for a big boot as DeBeers is tied in the ropes, but DeBeers ducks and NORD GOES OVER THE TOP TO THE FLOOR!! Sheik starts hammering away and here comes DeBeers for some cheapshots and the referee is calling for the bell!! DeBeers works over Nord with both arms free and all three men are back in the ring. DeBeers and Sheik are pounding away at him as DeRusha tries to free Nord's arm. The arm is unties and Nord is WOLFING UP!! HE'S WOLFING UP!!!! HOWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLL!!!! Forearms to both men!!! DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER!!! Sheik and DeBeers scramble to the floor!!
Winner: Yukon John Nord (disqualification, Sheik-ference)
Match Analysis: Within the constraints of having one arm tied behind your back, there's not a lot that can be done to have a good match, and this was a perfect example. Two limited workers with an even more limited style and they had a bad match? I'm absolutely shocked
Bischoff has DeBeers and Sheik at ringside now and they're arguing about whether DeBeers gets the money or not. DeBeers says he finished him and he deserves the money, but Sheik tells him that he's not done yet. Sgt. Slaughter comes in and says that DeBeers has been letting him and the team down. He brings up the Turkey Hunt again and says that on top of losing, he's taking money from Sheik Slime. If there's something Slaughter can do to get rid of DeBeers, he's going to do it!! Slaughter storms off and DeBeers WAFFLES HIM WITH THE BRIEFCASE!!! THEY'RE BEATING SLAUGHTER ON THE FLOOR!!! Slaughter comes back with a couple of shots and sends the heels scurrying to the back. Slaughter reiterates his demand and says that if there's anything he can do, Col. DeBeers will never be on his team AGAIN!! Bischoff makes a promise he could NEVER be able to keep and swears that everything will get figured out when we come back from the break. You could spend hours and never come close to unraveling all of this nonsense.
Match Three: Todd Becker and Jake Milliman vs. The Texas Hangmen
This should be quick and painful. At least I hope so. Marshall and Strangis continue their convoluted argument about what top rope moves are legal and which are illegal, in regards to the Hangman's Elbow finisher (which we should be seeing shortly). Psycho hammers away on Becker in the early going and picks him up for a HUGE bodyslam, throwing him into the corner and Becker tags in Milliman. Milliman crawls through Psycho's legs and mocks his cattle call, which is probably not a very good idea I'd imagine. Milliman shows his death wish and ducks under another lockup, mocking the call again. He ducks under it a third time and gets a POWERSLAM!! What in the hell happened to Jake Milliman?? Here comes Killer to make the save and MILLIMAN ROLLS OUT OF THE WAY!! Roll-up on Psycho by Milliman gets a one-count but Killer kicks him in the back of the head. Armdrag takeover by Milliman and he puts Psycho down with an armbar, AGAIN mocking their yell before he tags in Becker. Becker comes off the second rop with a double-axehandle to the arm of Psycho. He moves to an armbar and Pscyho shoots him into the ropes for the reversal, dropping down and letting Killer hit a knee to the back. Psycho scrubs Becker's face into the mat and tags in Killer for some hard shots to the ribs. POWERSLAM BY KILLER!! Tag to Psycho and they hit a double-team neckbreaker with Psycho coming off the second rope with a double-axehandle. Psycho distracts Milliman and the referee and Killer chokes Becker in the corner with their noose. They make a phantom tag and switch off, with Killer in charge now, hitting a HUGE DDT. Tag to Psycho and they hit another double-team move with Psycho getting a belly-to-belly suplex before he picks Becker up for Killer to hit the HANGMAN'S ELBOW OFF THE SECOND ROPE!! 1-2-3!!! That was beautiful.
Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's Elbow)
Match Analysis: Milliman had a death wish and the Hangmen tried their best to fulfill it. I really wish it would have been him that had taken the finish, just to pay off all of his mouthing from earlier in the match, but it is what it is. Again, I hope to see the Hangmen in with an actual team soon because they've been wrestling the same squash for like five shows in a row.
The Hangmen are ringside with The Bisch, and he tries to figure out who is who. He congratulates them on the success in the TCS and he asks if there's a chance that they could be trading teams in the near future. The Hangmen say that there's no chance because they're undefeated and then wonders why The Destruction Crew won't get in the ring with them. They threaten the champs and swear that they'll take the titles from them and that no one can stop them.
It's Team Challenge Series Report time and Lee Marshall joins us to talk about Baron's Blitzers being in the lead, on the strength of The Trooper's undefeated record. Apparently, Trooper has 11 points and is at the top of the heap when it comes to the talk for the Most Valuable Wrestler award. Larry's Legends and Sarge's Snipers are lagging behind, despite their talent. Marshall talks about the dissension on Sarge's team and the Legends team being unable to keep from being disqualified. He says that it takes a team to win the Team Challenge Series. I don't know if it's the hair dye or something, but Bischoff looks WAY more confident on the microphone now and is starting to show very small signs of what he would become down the road.
Back from the break with pre-match comments from Paul Diamond and The Trooper. Diamond thanks the fans that called the AWA hotline and pushed for them to get a rematch and says that the titles are theirs. Trooper agrees, saying that they've beaten The Destruction Crew once, they'll beat them again. He adds that Bob Lurtsema is going to be the referee and that there will be law and order in the main event. The Destruction Crew is next to speak and Bloom is already yelling about having to do an interview so close to a title match. Great little touch from him there. He says that the AWA Championship Committee is doing everything they can to make The Crew lose the belts. He says that they've already beaten Diamond and Trooper and that there was no need for a rematch. He talks about how Lurtsema robbed Mike Enos in the football match and then threatens him, saying that if Lurtsema doesn't watch his back, he'll be going down.
Match Four: AWA Tag Team Championship Paul Diamond and The Trooper vs. The Destruction Crew w/Larry Zbyszko (c)
Former NFL player Bob Lurtsema is the referee for this one, as mentioned earlier, and if it's the same match from the Team Challenge Series report, we've already seen the finish of this one. As I've said before, it's nice to see Captain Larry out there with pretty much everyone on his team. Lurtsema goes through a VERY contrived explanation of the rules, using Enos as an example when he shows what the illegal moves are.
The Crew jump on Diamond and Trooper from behind, hammering away and hitting a BIG pair of slams on the face team. Double-irish whip from The Crew as they try to ram the faces together and there's a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION!! The Crew get reversed into each other and there's a double-atomic drop that sends them crashing into each other again!! Trooper and Diamond put on the Destruction Crew vests and pick up the sledgehammers!! Zbyszko gets up on the apron and complains about the hammers that Diamond and Trooper have a hold of now. Diamond, for his part, looks more like a construction worker than either Bloom or Enos do with his huge mullet and the faces stomp and smear their boots on the vests for good measure. They fire the crowd up as the Crew finally make their way back into the ring and Diamond and Enos start things out for real.
Enos attacks Diamond with a kick in the gut into a headbutt and he whips him into the ropes, but Diamond ducks under a forearm and answers with a right hand and a HUGE forearm uppercut. Another forearm uppercut sends Enos flipping ass over teakettle and there's a tag to the Trooper for a huge double-backdrop. Trooper goes to work with left hands, whipping Enos into the ropes and missing an elbow before catching Enos with a big powerslam that gets a two-count. Trooper tags in Diamond and he hits some punches on Enos before he snap mares him over for even more punching. More punches from Diamond and Enos ends up caught between Trooper and Diamond for some punches before Diamond gets a two-count. Irish whip on Enos and Enos reverses into a trainwreck where both men go down. Enos makes the tag to Bloom and he comes in with some stomps into a BIG bodyslam.
Bloom on the second rope and he jumps off with a double-axehandle but Diamond reverses and catches Bloom in the gut. Diamond with an Irish whip and another punch to the gut, followed up by a kneelift. Tag to Trooper and he catches Bloom with a HUGE powerslam that only gets a two-count because referee Lurtsema was out of position. Trooper moves to a reverse chinlock and cranks away on it as Bloom backs Trooper into the corner with Enos. The Crew take turns distracting the referee while the other works over Trooper in the corner with punches and choking. Bloom tries a back bodydrop off an Irish whip and Trooper kicks him in the face to reverse. Bloom tags in Enos and he takes over on Trooper with some punches before trying a vertical suplex. Trooper goes dead-weight to block it and then takes Enos over for a suplex of his own before he tags in Diamond. Diamond with right hands into an Irish whip and he hits Enos with a FLYING CLOTHESLINE!! He covers Enos and gets a two-count, but Bloom comes in to break up the pinfall.
Tag to Trooper and he hits a beautiful dropkick off of a Diamond Irish whip and tries for another pin that only gets two. Enos tries for the suplex again but Trooper ends up getting a small package for another two-count. Tag to Diamond and he hits a SUPERKICK ON ENOS!! Zbyszko gets up on the apron and distracts the referee and in the commotion, Bloom comes in and wallops Diamond in the back of the head. Enos picks Diamond up for the Wrecking Ball and Bloom's on the top rope and just as they're ready to hit the move, Lurtsema turns around and shoves Enos to save Diamond from getting clipped. Zbyszko is in the ring and he's PUTTING THE BOOTS to Lurtsema!!! The Crew join in and it's an absolute brawl with the tag teams squaring off and Lurtsema trying to hold his own with Zbyszko. LURTSEMA CLOTHESLINES ENOS OVER THE TOP ROPE!! DIAMOND SENDS BLOOM FLYING! DOUBLE-IRISH WHIP ON ZBYZKO BUT HE BAILS OUT!!! Lurtsema raises the hands of Trooper and Diamond and declares them the winners. We get a replay of the nonsense that caused the finish and it was indeed the finish we saw at the end of the Team Challenge Series Report.
Winners: Paul Diamond and The Trooper (disqualification)
Match Analysis: Four somewhat limited workers that basically kicked and punched their way through the match to the finish. You could tell that Lurtsema being there was going to be an impetus for him to screw The Destruction Crew again and that's what ended up happening. A whole lot of nothing to get to a finish that we had already seen earlier in the show, and saw coming a mile away anyhow. Not the best way to end a show.
Bischoff has Lurtsema with him, along with Diamond and Trooper and he asks Trooper and Diamond what it's going to take to get things done against The Destruction Crew. Lurtsema says that they keep getting themselves disqualified to save their titles and that he needs for there to be a match where it The Crew get disqualified they lose the belts. He feels like Diamond and Trooper deserve the titles and that he wants to make that match. Diamond says he's sick of people interfering with the matches between them and The Crew and he wants to get them in a cage match where no one can meddle. Trooper goes a little overboard talking about a cage match with brass knucks and explosives, but his message is essentially the same. Diamond and Trooper soak up some cheers and that's it for show!!
Final Thoughts
Not a very good show overall. It's starting to seem really repetitive and really bland and where in the past shows, they would at least have two name guys in the main event or two guys that could work pretty well together, these shows don't even have that. It's just bad wrestling, heaped on top of bad wrestling, with shitty gimmick matches thrown in for good measure. In honor of one of the comments below, I have instituted a new rating system for these shows. Instead of the time-honored hot pokers in the ass, I'm starting a system where I will show you how much booze it should have (or in fact did) take me to sit through the show. One jug will be the best a show can do, where I would have been able to remain lucid and enjoy the action. Four jugs will be me nearly passing out in a puddle of my own Hendrix as I suffer through the last few agonizing moments of the hour. To debut, with this show, I give it two jugs. Nothing terribly offensive, just boring, so I would probably drink to pass the time.
From JLAJRC: "Just how were the teams chosen for this thing, since both teams seem to be a mixture of both faces and heels?
Is Bischoff wearing a toupee or something? I know later on during WCW we would learn that he turned grey early when he got shaved, but right now it looks like a giant, grey, mutant mouse is sitting on his head."
The answer to part of that question comes from Guest. : "IIRC: It was a random draft of all the available AWA talent roster to one of the three teams.
Bad show this week, but you at least had an active crowd. They were into the Colonel being teased for losing to Milliman, and Ox Baker at least had a cool mustache. At least the squash matches all featured decent guys."
Yes indeed, it was a random draft, with guys from all three rosters being chosen from a bingo ball hopper. There's a few seconds of footage from that draft on the AWA DVD that was put out by the WWE a couple of years back. Nick Bockwinkel and Eric Bischoff were in charge of the thing. Touching on the crowd, for whatever reason they had perked up during this particular portion of the taping, but it didn't last as they sat on their hands during all of this show.
From James: "Refresh my memory...wasn't there a point when they were teasing a future face turn for the Brute? Basically because Ox kept treating him like a retard. And if you think Yukon John Nord is bad, wait till you see who joins him later on (another familiar face and a former NWO member to boot!)
Some trivia: did you know Ox Baker was also a contestant on The Price Is Right? Never saw his episode though. I did, however, see Nick Bockwinkel on a '70s episode of Hollywood Squares as a contestant, where he kicked all kinds of ass.
Yes, you'd think GWF would be a natural for this channel, it being best known for its ESPN run. Wonder how you'd survive once they hit mid-1992 (the BUNGEE CORD MATCH~!) though. It's funny, as I was just thinking about 1991 in wrestling for some reason, and how much I enjoyed it back in the day (in the WWF, you had things like Flair's debut, the rise of Bret Hart; WCW wasn't so hot, yes, but I didn't know better back then; and then there was the debut of the GWF on ESPN, which was great...I mean, more wrestling and it tried to be more "serious")
Regarding your Corky reference a while back...just go on YouTube or wherever and look Chris Burke up to see what he's been up to today. (Hint: it involves two dorky brothers and music...if you can download songs, look for "Eating Is Fun, Eating Is Serious") "
I won't look up that Corky deal because I would seriously end up going to Hell. As for the wrestling-related portions of your comment, I think it would be fun to see the GWF stuff, including that awful bungee cord match. I did know about the Bockwinkel Hollywood Squares show, but not the Ox Baker TPIR appearance, so thank you for that. I don't know if there was an angle with Ox and The Brute, because as I say, I was starting to phase out of the AWA at this point, but I'll keep my eyes open for it, just in case.
From Scrotum Pole: "Nord throws up a kick....and a stretch....HE'S FIFTY!! FIFTY YEARS OLD!!!
JESUS CHRIST, a Sally O'Malley line. That's why you rule 411. "I call this outfit my desert rose cause it features the camel toe."
My 10 year old neice went as her last Halloween. And I even let her read your column with me, but sometimes I make her wear eyemuffs, especially lately with this shit. "
Well, I'm glad for any fans of the column, and thank you for using the eyemuffs so I'm not corrupting her and sending her off into the world all foul-mouthed. Thanks again for your praise of my work, I'm glad that I can make people laugh a little, despite being saddled with covering the worst wrestling show out of any of them on TV at the moment.
From TonySmark: "I apologize if this was mentioned before, but I think Bull Pain was one of the Texas Hangmen. I read that somewhere. Also, weren't the Hangmen jobbers on WCW in the late 90's? They were on WCW Saturday Night a few times.
Also, is it wrong I am looking forward to Tommy Jammer's next appearance? I think he's the greenest non-jobber I've seen on these shows so far. "
From Frozen: "I believe the Hangmen were Rick "Bull Pain" Gantner and Mike Richards. "
The Hangmen have been a hot topic of discussion the past few days, and I think it's time to set the record straight. They were indeed former AWA jobber Rick Gantner, and "Mean" Mike Moran. They donned the hoods and had a strong run in Puerto Rico before coming to the AWA and then once their AWA run was done, ended up working in Memphis before splitting up. Gantner went to the GWF as Bull Pain and did some work in WCW and ECW as well before ending up in IWA-MS, where he currently resides and works, while also doing some spot work for Chikara.
From I miss the ol' dayz: "Was it just me, but didn't Lee Marshall say over and over that Sarge was bleeding from the head? I saw NO blood at all. Maybe a botched blade job that didn't happen perhaps? He said it over and over. Look when Eric interviews Sarge...see any blood? "
Nope, no blood. I'm thinking it was probably supposed to be a blade job, but all of Sarge's lustrous locks got in the way and kept the blade from touching his forehead skin.
From Boomerang: "Last week's segue from New Year's Eve '88 at the bar to "Welcome to 1990" was a bit surreal, especially when we last see Brother Nelson in a pool of water, flanked by Bischoff, and then ol' Eric's on the show. Hmmm!! (Maybe ths is what WWE should have done with Vince, and they could dig out the blown-up-limo schtick.)
And what about the outfit Marshall was sporting as he explained those screwball matches -- it isn't only his "coif" that's significantly shorter from the last time Classic graced us with his mug. Between that and Donna Gagne's cock-a-mamie announcer's garb, Verne's wardrobe deal must have been with Goodwill.
And finally, the most frightening guys from my youthful fandom were Crazy Luke Graham and Bulldog Brower. They both seemed like they'd come right over the barriers and after the crowd."
Those are two good choices for scary wrestlers. As for the outfits, they were REALLY really on a budget at this point, so it wouldn't surprise me for them to be using clothes that they had in their closets at home, instead of going with an actual wardrobe department. Imagine Donna Gagne heading out to Jukebox Saturday Night in that get-up and tell me you wouldn't laugh.
From Joe K. : "Anyone else notice the little kids being blurred out for flipping off the heels? Being a regular fan of local indy events, I'm kind of disheartened when I see stuff like that.
And yes, Bischoff's hair at this point is like a big, gray baseball helmet with fur on it. "
I have been noticing lots of blurs. I guess the AWA in the 1990's is probably where the kids started to take the turn for the worse that sees them banging each other and doing the meth before they hit high school.
From RandomGuy: "On the issue of the Clawhold: Did the Iron Claw almost assuardly mean a win for The Baron or Fritz Von Erich? "
99 times out of 100, it meant they were going to pick up the win.
From Dave: "I guess it's the OCD in me but wouldn't you know it, I had to check the numbers on the team challenge series. There were a total of 21 wins for all 3 teams and 14 losses. Wait, if they're competing against each other how do they have 7 more wins than losses?
You know it might be time to rating everything with Rick Scaia's hot poker rating system. (Those of you from rec.sport.pro-wrestling will get that. For the rest of you just do a search on groups.google.com for "Rick Scaia poker" without the quotes.) "
As you can see above, I'm not going to have the hot poker system, I'm just going to have the booze jugs. As for the counting, I did it in this episode's rankings and sure enough, they added up properly this time. I guess they either didn't care or got lucky.
From Jasper: "Col. Debeers is god "
He was good..but not that good. I'll always think of him more as a gimmick than a worker, since it could have been anyone in his get-up that was getting that heat. But I will give you that he was good at doing what he did.
From t-money: "What's worse Sarge's combover or Bichoff's salt and pepper hair helmet?
Also next time they show the Team Challenge Series update graphic look closely and you'll see a little TM symbol for trademark... yeah they needed to trademark it b/c other promotions were chomping at the bit to steal it. "
This was at the point where wrestling got really commercial and was all about trademarks and royalties and what-not. I'm sure Verne thought it was going to be the wave of the future and wanted to make sure the only place that you could see TCS action was in the AWA. Unfortunately for him, it didn't and no one else wanted to see it in the AWA, let alone elsewhere. In terms of the hairstyles, I would say that Sarge's combover was WAY worse, but that's just me.
Finally, from BILL_TX: ""Nord throws up a kick....and a stretch....HE'S FIFTY!! FIFTY YEARS OLD!!!"
I was reading this at the office, and this made me bust out laughing like an idiot. Thanks!"
Again, glad to be of service and thanks for being a fan of the column.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:00:47 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
By the way, I'm sure they changed it way back, but I just noticed that Lee Marshall is doing a new voiceover for the intro video and well, at least they're not lying to the people anymore. It sounds lame as hell, but at least they're not claiming to be "major league" anymore. Lee and Ralph are at ringside and they're in full-on tuxedos, looking like a couple of losers at their high school prom. Ralph moreso than Lee because at least Lee looks like he could have passed for being on the football team or something. Ralph looks like he would have been Science Club or Chess Team all the way. Pop quiz, hotshot. What happened on February 11, 1990 in Tokyo, Japan? Ralph answers that it was the night that Buster Douglas took the Heavyweight Championship away from Mike Tyson. Marshall tells him he's right and gives him a cookie, then asks what happened the night before, on February 10th, also in Tokyo in front of 64,000 people. Ralph stumbles through his answer like he's tops in the remedial class, saying that with twice as many people watching as watched Tyson/Douglas, Larry Zbyszko lost the belt. The look on Ralph's face when he says it is priceless. It's a cross between "my puppy died" and "daddy just hit mommy with a whiskey bottle". Marshall gives him another cookie for being right again and tells us that Zbyszko lost the belt to Mr. Saito. He throws it to the other side of the arena and Eric Bischoff, who is going to get comments from the former champion.
Eric talks again about how both Zbyszko and Tyson went to Tokyo and lost and gets cut off by Zbyszko, saying that at least Tyson lost fairly squarely. He says that he got jobbed and then brings up the Black Sox from 1919, saying that they were the biggest rip-off in the history of professional sports. He says that NOW the biggest rip-off in sports history is him getting the title stolen from him in Tokyo by a referee with blatant American bias. Apparently the referee wouldn't count when Saito was pinned and that Zbyszko got quick-counted. He says his lawyers are on their way with the videotaped evidence and that we'll ALL see the truth and reality of everything. In the eyes of GOD HIMSELF, LARRY ZBYSZKO IS THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!! THAT BELT IS COMING BACK TO LARRYLAND!!! Great work from Zbyszko, as always.
We go back to Lee and Ralph and they talk about how there's a double-main event tonight. Six-man action featuring The Texas Hangmen and The Russian Brute squaring off against Curtis Hughes, Brad Rheingans and Paul Diamond. On top of that "epic" encounter, we've got a situation that Nikita Koloff was next in line to face Larry Zbyszko and that now it's going to be Nikita and Zbyszko, two out of three falls and the winner of that match becomes the number one contender to Mr. Saito's AWA World Heavyweight Championship.
Match One: Todd Becker vs. Col. DeBeers w/Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie
The cavalcade of ring announcers continues as Lee Marshall is your ring announcer for this week's show. It's the same taping as it was for the past weeks, which explains why they didn't have Zbyszko interviewed in front of the crowd talking about being screwed in Tokyo. DeBeers starts out quick, hammering away with some forearms on Becker and ramming him into the top turnbuckle. Irish whip into the corner and DeBeers misses a charge, right into the ringpost. Becker goes for a standing arm-wringer and twists, but DeBeers just pops him with a knee to the gut. DeBeers rakes Becker's eyes across the top rope and snap mares him down, stomping right across Becker's face. PANCAKE PILEDRIVER AND HE STEPS ON BECKER'S CHEST FOR THE PINFALL!!!
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: Weird to see DeBeers just get right to the finish and not pull some heelish dickery to extend the punishment on the jobber. I'm fine with it because it mixes it up a little bit and keep DeBeers' squash matches from getting stale (which they will soon enough), and it puts over that he's all about the Sheik's money and he wants to finish people quick to get the job done. Meaningless match for the most part, but the cocky pin was pretty cool.
Match Two: The Texas Hangmen and The Russian Brute w/Ox Baker vs. Brad Rehingans, Paul Diamond and Curtis Hughes
Hughes would go on to somewhat bigger and a lot better things in his runs with WCW and the WWF. The rest of them are all known already, so let's get this match underway! Hughes and the Brute start things out, but not before some man-hugging by the heel team. Brute pushes Hughes and Hughes pushes him back to put him on his ass. Armdrags by Hughes and Brute rolls out to the floor!! Hip tosses for both Texas Hangmen and THEY'RE out to the floor!!! Hughes starts to boogie down and gets some high-fives from his teammates. Baker gives Brute some advice on the outside and he charges back into the ring before doing some posturing and posing. They hit a lockup and Brute pushes Hughes into the ropes, missing a big right hand and Hughes clotheslines him over the top rope!! Big forearm across the chest by Hughes brings Brute back into the ring over the top rope and he goes up to the second rope for a big splash. A little wiggle-jiggle from Hughes before he jumps and that gives Brute enough time to recover and get the knees up. Brute tags in Killer and Hughes manages to get over to tag in Brad Rheingans, so these two are going to hook it up now.
Rheingans ducks under a couple of lockup attempts and they move to a test of strength in the middle of the ring. Rheingans pushes Killer into the ropes and monkey flips him over into a pinning combination that gets him a two-count, following that up with a pair of armdrags. The tag goes to Diamond and they hit a double-clothesline on Killer before Diamond tries for a pin and gets a two-count. The Brute comes in and breaks up the pin attempt with a boot, leading to a rake of the eyes by Killer. Tag to Psycho and he gets hip tossed over by Diamond before being put into a standing arm-wringer. Diamond takes him over with the hold and hits a legdrop on the arm before tagging in Hughes, who continues to work the arm. Quick tag to Rheingans and he comes off the second rope with a double-axehandle to the arm before he hits a HUGE belly to back suplex that gets a two-count before the heels break up the count. The referee gets them out of the ring allowing Diamond and Rheingans to get a phantom tag in, with Diamond working the front facelock. Brute throws a shit fit on the apron as the ringside fans start a "USA" chant while Diamond, the Canadian, is in the ring.
Psycho hits a forearm shot and whips Diamond into the ropes, but Diamond stays on top of things with a leapfrog into a SWEET dropkick that puts Psycho onto his ass. Armdrag takeover by Diamond and he tags in Rheingans for an arm-wringer. Irish whip into the corner by Rheingans and he misses the charge, ramming his shoulder into the turnbuckle. Killer gets the tag and comes in to hammer away at Rheingans while the Brute chokes him from the apron. Rheingans gets snap mared over into a reverse chinlock, followed up by a big elbowdrop. Front facelock from Killer and Rheingans pushes him back to make the tag to Diamond...but the referee was getting Brute and Psycho under control so he didn't see it. The ref forces Diamond back out of the ring and the heels switch off illegally with Psycho whipping Rheingans in for a back bodydrop. Rheingans sees it coming and kicks Psycho in the face and both men are down! Rheingans gets the hot tag to Diamond!! Right hands from Diamond and he takes Psycho down with a back bodydrop out of the corner!! Right hand knocks Brute off of the apron and he hits a DOUBLE NOGGIN-KNOCKER on the Hangmen!!
Brute sneaks in with a shoulderblock to the gut of Diamond and makes a tag in, following it up with a clothesline. He drags Diamond into their corner and tags to Killer. Killer with an Irish whip, but he misses the clothesline and they end up with a double-shoulderblock. Diamond's up first and he gets the tag to Hughes!! Irish whip into the corner by Hughes followed by a back bodydrop!! Irish whip into the ropes and Hughes catches him with a BIG DROPKICK!! Bodyslam by Hughes and he goes for a pin but Psycho comes in to break it up. All six men in the ring now and it's breaking down, with Diamond dropkicking Psycho and Hughes getting Killer up into the torture rack!! Burte sneaks in and hits Hughes with the HEART PUNCH!!! KILLER FALLS ON TOP FOR THE THREE-COUNT!!! Post-match, Rheingans and Diamond continue to hammer away at the Hangmen, whipping them into the middle of the ring for a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION, BABY!! Hughes follows that up with a double-clothesline and the Hangmen scramble.
Winners: The Texas Hangmen and The Russian Brute (pinfall, Brute heart punch)
Match Analysis: This was actually a lot better than I thought it would be, despite Brad Rheingans being involved. All six guys had their work boots on and actually kept the match going at a decent pace. There were no real spots where it dragged, as it should be in a six-man match, and the ending was actually well-booked. The heels cheat and take advantage of the newcomer's inexperience to get the sneaky win when it seemed like their uppance had come. Very solid first half of the double-main event and gives me some hope for Koloff/Zbyszko later in the show.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back from the break and we get to see the finish from the last match between Nikita Koloff and Larry Zbyszko, back when Zbyszko was still champion. Koloff hits an atomic drop and goes for the pin, but Zbyszko gets his foot on the rope JUST before the three-count. Zbyszko rolls to the apron and to the floor, grabbing the belt off of the ringside table and WAFFLING Koloff with it for the disqualification. Bischoff points out that Zbyszko used that same tactic many times to keep the title by getting disqualified. He says that this time Zbyszko has no advantage because he's coming into tonight's main event as the former champion and then throws it to break, threatening a DJ Peterson match after the commercial.
Match Three: Frankie DeFalco vs. DJ Peterson
Peterson menaces DeFalco and runs the ropes upon his introduction, looking like every other generic babyface during that time period. Lee Marshall tells another blatant lie and says that if you want to get to the title in the AWA, you have to get past Frank DeFalco first. They hit a lockup with DeFalco getting a big hip toss right out of the gate. Another lockup and another hip toss from DeFalco and he makes sure that Peterson knows about it too. DeFalco whips him into the ropes and tries for another hip toss, but Peterson reverses it into the backflip deal that Shawn Michaels does so well and then hip tosses DeFalco over. Armdrag by Peterson into an armbar and DeFalco kicks his legs, screaming like a woman. Short-arm scissors from Peterson now and he drops a knee into the bicep before picking DeFalco up for a standing armbar. Irish whip from DeFalco and when Peterson hits the ropes, it sounds like something broke and the ropes are REALLLY loose. Peterson just steps away from DeFalco, who was trying for a back bodydrop and tests the ropes again. DeFalco puts the badmouth on Peterson and Peterson gets a kick to the gut, moving back to the standing arm-wringer and following it with a takedown into an armbar. DeFalco stacks up Peterson and tries for the pin while grabbing the middle rope, but referee Gary DeRusha sees him grabbing the ropes and kicks his arm, sending him back down into the armbar by Peterson. Peterson works the short-arm scissors again and stomps on DeFalco before he pushes him back up to his feet. Irish whip into the corner by DeFalco but Peterson reverses, charging in and MISSING, crotching himself on the middle turnbuckle. That's a DJ Peterson original right there. DeFalco hits a big powerslam and gets a long two-count on Peterson before pushing him into the corner for an Irish whip. Peterson reverses the whip into the corner and catches DeFalco coming out with a back bodydrop. BIG bodyslam from Peterson and he covers for a two-count, leading to an incredibly awkward looking spot where Peterson was supposed to leapfrog, but DeFalco didn't get down on it. It ends up with Peterson hitting a Thesz Press of sorts and actually getting a two-count off of it. DeFalco whips Peterson into the corner and charges in slowly, missing a knee and ramming it into the top turnbuckle. Peterson pounces and immediately locks in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK!! DeFalco calls it quits and taps out!!
Winner: DJ Peterson (submission, scorpion deathlock)
Match Analysis: Essentially the same type of match we'd seen DJ have for months when he was starting out on the shows in '88 from Las Vegas. DeFalco is a good bumping jobber so it ended up being passable, but it wasn't anything different from the norm really.
Bischoff is at ringside with DJ Peterson and he says that he's been out since he broke his back at the Showboat in Las Vegas and that he's been all over the world, trying to make a comeback. He says that his record stands for itself and that he's back in the AWA to face Saito. He says that in the Japanese wrestling magazines, it's known that the one man Saito fears the most is DJ Peterson and that's why he's here. I actually laughed out loud when he said that Saito was afraid of him. This was the exact opposite of how good the Zbyszko promo was earlier in the show.
Bisch welcomes us back and throws it to a promo from Nikita Koloff, with Koloff saying that he's headed to the ring to meet him and that the winner of this match will have a chance against Mr. Saito. He says it's important for him to beat Zbyszko now because he wants a shot at the championship and then flexes to intimidate Zbyszko through the camera. We get another promo from Zbyszko on the main event and he says that February 10th was the biggest sports rip-off since 1919. He says he's going to prove to the whole world that he's the REAL world's champion, saying that it's going to be satisfaction for him to beat the transplanted Russian. He goes on a great deal about finding a kid scratching his Mercedes with a key and beating the shit out of him because he's a vandal caught in the act. He says that it's satisfying to catch the punk in the act and it's going to be just as satisfying for him when he's punching Koloff's face in.
Match Four: Two out of Three Falls Nikita Koloff vs. Larry Zbyszko
Donna introduces Zbyszko as the former AWA Heavyweight Champion and he goes ballistic, yelling at her to call him the current champion. Koloff hits the ring and CHARGES ZBYSZKO!! Zbyszko bails to the floor and Donna tries to get the hell out of there too. Zbyszko tries to sneak up on Koloff, but Koloff catches him and hammers him with some right hands in the corner, sending Zbyszko to the mat with a HUGE hip toss. Right hand puts Zbyszko into the ropes, all tangled up and Koloff whips him into the ropes for a big reverse elbow before he throws Zbyszko to the floor. Koloff follows him out and pounds on Zbyszko with a right hand before RAMMING HIM INTO THE RINGSIDE TABLE! ZBYSZKO HIT THE BELL!! He rams Zbyszko into the barricade at ringside before sending him head-first into the apron. Forearm to the back and he sends Zbyszko into the ring, but Larry recovers and catches Koloff with a knee as he tries to get back into the ring. Koloff's back down to the floor and Zbyszko is out after him!! ZBYSZKO SENDS KOLOFF INTO THE BELL ON THE TABLE!! Zbyszko starts choking Koloff with the cord from the house microphone and tries to drag Koloff into the ring by a front facelock. We find out that Bob Lurtsema is the referee after the brawl on the outside and he inserts himself, almost on cue, and pulls Zbyszko off of Koloff as he chokes the big Russian against the bottom rope. Zbyszko slaps Lurtsema's hand away and starts to work Koloff over with knees in the corner before choking him across the middle rope. Koloff fires back with a kick tot he gut and they trade right hands before Zbyszko tries to ram Koloff into the top turnbuckle. Koloff stops short and sends Zbyszko into the buckle hard before mounting him in the corner for RIGHT HANDS!!! Koloff with an Irish whip into the corner and he follows that with a big reverse elbow that gets two before Zbyszko gets a foot onto the ropes. Snap mare from Koloff and a big elbowdrop to follow that gets Koloff a one-count. Irish whip into the ropes and Koloff ducks down for a back bodrydrop but Zbyszko ducks under and gets him with a roll-up and Zbyszko has a handful of tights and GETS THE THREE-COUNT!! Zbyszko is up 1-0!!!
Zbyszko is out on the floor and STILL complaining, even though he took the fall. He finally makes his way up to the apron and Koloff is telling him to get into the ring. He finally gets back into the ring and Koloff takes over with some turnbuckle smashes before whipping Zbyszko into the ropes for a FLYING SHOULDER TACKLE!! Zbyszko goes down and catches Koloff with a double-leg pickup in the corner, getting a pinfall attempt with his feet on the ropes!! Lurtsema counts two a couple of times and then sees Zbyszko's foot on the ropes and breaks up the pin. Koloff back to his feet with right hands, but Zbyszko catches him in the gut with a spinning back kick. Zbyszko follows it with a snap mare and gets another two-count before laying some stomps in and yelling at the front row. BIG BACKBREAKER by Zbyszko and he gets another long two-count off of that before moving to the reverse chinlock. Zbyszko cranks away at Koloff's head and yells at the front row again before yelling to Lurtsema that it's not a chokehold. Lurtsema checks the arm and it goes down twice with Zbyszko SCREAMING at the timekeeper to ring the bell, but Koloff gets back to his feet and hits some elbows to the gut to break the hold. Zbyszko tries for a spinning neckbreaker but Koloff reverses to a backslide!! Lurtsema is down for a quick 1-2-3 and we're tied at one fall apiece!!! ZBYSZKO SHOVES LURTSEMA ON THE FAST COUNT!!! Koloff is bent over, foaming at the mouth from the reverse chinlock as they take the break between falls.
Zbyszko attacks during the break, hammering on Koloff in the corner and choking away at him. Lurtsema tries to pull Zbyszko off the choke by the HAIR!! Hard chop from Zbyszko and he goes back to the choke, with Lurtsema trying to pull him off again. Lurtsema throws Zbyszko to the mat with a handful of hair and KOLOFF CHARGES OUT WITH A RUSSIAN SICKLE!! QUICK COUNT!! KOLOFF WINS THE FALL AND THE MATCH!! Zbyszko is sitting in the ring and he is in disbelief. Lurtsema goes to the outside and raises Koloff's hand as Zbyszko slowly makes his way from the ring. He looks crushed with this second big loss in a row.
Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle)
Match Analysis: This was actually a pretty good little match and while I don't necessarily advocate making a match two out of three falls and then giving it a little over ten minutes, it worked in this case. They advanced the storylines that Zbyszko feels screwed, that he's despondent over the losses, that Lurtsema and he have issues, and about three or four others. That's not even counting crowining a number one contender for the new champ Saito. Zbyszko screaming for them to ring the bell before Koloff recovered in the chinlock was classic Zbyszko and probably the best part of the match.
Eric Bischoff has Bob Lurtsema and Nikita Koloff at ringside and he says that Nikita is now the number one contender. Koloff says that last time they fought, Zbyszko hit him with the belt and that this time it was different because Zbyszko went down to defeat, two out of three falls. He says that now it's his chance to become AWA World Heavyweight Champion and he thinks it's fantastic. Bischoff turns to Lurtsema and asks him about how the match went. He says that the match happened so fast, he was missing things and that it's a different picture when you get into the ring. He says he's happy that Zbyszko, the jerk, lost and that it was a clear-cut win for Nikita Koloff. He calls himself a fan's referee and says that he's just a fan, which leads us to the end of the show.
Final Thoughts
See what happens when you have entertaining guys that put on a good main event? It makes all the crap that leads into it so much easier to tolerate. The entire show went pretty well, both sides of the double-main event delivered on some fun and the Zbyszko/Koloff match was actually pretty darn good. Throw in some strong promo work from Zbyszko throughout the show and this one actually gets the highest grade I can give, which is a pretty big accomplishment by the AWA at this point.
From t-money: "In watching these shows it seems that Larry Z was way over as a heel (and rightfully so) and Sgt Combover was way over as a face (makes sense as this is when he was at the height of his GI Joe exposure)... seems to me like a well booked feud between these two would have printed money. But instead we have to watch these inane one-hand-tied-behind-your-back-football-on-a-pole TCS abominations."
Zbyszko/Slaughter would have been the last big feud that the AWA would have had, but Slaughter left before they could pull the trigger on it. Instead, as you said, they decided to go with the TCS crap and booked the promotion to the grave. I guess they really saw money in that Saito/Zbyszko feud.
From Robert Tivari: "First time poster here. I just recently discovered your AWA reviews, and being that I had a lot of time on my hands, I went back and re-read almost all of them. I have a few questions.
One thing that always baffled me was when Kevin Kelly/Nailz was in the AWA, he sounded so wooden in front of the mic, yet when he got to the WWF, his voice sounded totally different. Did he use something in the WWF to change his voice?
Also, I'm loving the 1990 episodes in a so bad they're good kind of way. The Russian Brute is quite possibly the WORST worker I have ever seen, if not the worst name for a wrestler ever. I share your sentiments of just what in the hell was Ox Baker doing in a major wrestling organization in 1990? The guy was a dinosaur and a fossil even back then, and I doubt the few fans that were left at that time even knew who he was. "
Thanks for taking the time to check out the reports! As for Nailz, they did use some audio trickery to make his voice sound a lot more intimidating. To me, he was just bland on every level when it came to promos, no matter who he was. Touching on The Brute, the name is terrible, his work is terrible, that singlet is terrible. It's all just a Big Fat Russian Disaster.
From James: ""One thing that always baffled me was when Kevin Kelly/Nailz was in the AWA, he sounded so wooden in front of the mic, yet when he got to the WWF, his voice sounded totally different. Did he use something in the WWF to change his voice?"
Ya think?
Seriously, listening to Kelly's AWA interviews, you can slightly hear Nailz, you just have to slow down his voice or something."
I think they did something like that where they just got him to record his promos and then slowed the voice down on them. On the topic, here's a fun Kevin Kelly fact for you. Allegedly, when he left the WWF, he and Vince had some type of dispute over money that led to Kelly laying hands on McMahon and nearly choking him unconscious. Maybe there was more to this whole "reformed prisoner" thing than met the eye.
With more information on Ox Baker's Price is Right appaearnce it's another comment from James: "From an old Usenet post from Jeremy Soria, more on Ox on TPIR:
And another thing - he appeared on The Price is Right circa 1980. He won his way on stage, played Poker and won, but didn't advance to the Showcase.
And a bit more:
On a 1981 episode, professional wrestler Ox Baker, with his name announced as either Doug Baker or Francis Baker, was a contestant and actually won his way on stage. He later lost in the Showcase Showdown with an overall score of 15 cents. "
15 cents? 15 lousy cents? Did his mustache get caught in the wheel as he was spinning it or something? I would love to know what he won. Maybe some tacky couch or a dinette set or something.
From Dave: "Ok, so the guy I was thinking of was Lurtsema. You know, when you can't afford Scott LeDoux (who at least didn't detract from the matches and actually had a great moment with the finish to the Zybzko Vs. Bockwinkle match) you get this guy.
That reminds me of something. Why isn't a guy who's a power lifting champion, can lift alot of weight not named "The Crane"? (I know, because that'd make sense Dave.)
So wait, a one armed bandit match doesn't involve 2 guys, some porn, and the first guy to (6 lurkers run in sucker punch Dave to stop him with this remark.) "
I don't even know what to say to that, so I'm just moving on. Thanks for stopping in and commenting though!
Going three-for three on comments, here's another from James: "One more thing...when you see the TCS, does anyone else think of...the LAFF-A-LYMPICS?"
That's probably the most apt way to describe these TCS deals. Just less entertaining. Honestly, I would have rather had Yogi and Boo-Boo wrestling in those TCS matches at this point.
Finally, from piperfan01: "This show was all about the Milkman for me. He was always high on my favorite jobber list, right up there with Jose Louis Rivera and Rusty Brooks and of course Buck Zumhoff. In a dark twisted way i wish modern day wrestling would bring more of that back. Part of wrestling for me back in the day was the Iron Mike Sharpes, AJ Petruzzi, and Terry Gibbs getting their asses handed to them. Larry Zbyszko continues to be a highlight on these shows for me, in fact, I kind of feel sorry for him still being in the AWA at this point."
I agree. I loved seeing the same jobbers month in and month out, doing the same moves, taking the same beatings. Those guys were always so entertaining and to me, Mike Sharpe was the greatest jobber in the history of jobbing. Milliman and Zumhoffe came close, as did Bary Horowitz, but Sharpe was the man in my eyes when it came to taking ass-kickings.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:02:03 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Eric Bischoff is in front of a MUCH better looking green screen graphic, and he wastes no time in sending us right to the ring for our opening bout!
Match One: Tom Burton vs. Nikita Koloff
Ralph Strangis is the ring announcer, continuing the carousel, and well, he's making me wish that Donna hadn't gone anywhere with her shrill-ass voice. Burton attacks before the bell and hammers away at Koloff in the corner before raking his eyes across the top rope. Burton hits Koloff with a couple of turnbuckle smashes and chokes him across the top rope, but loses control and ends up whipped into the corner by the big Russian. A follow-up elbowdrop from Koloff and he rams Burton's head into the top turnbuckle five or six times before whipping him into the ropes for a BIG reverse elbow. Koloff pounds his chest and whips Burton into the ropes again for a flying shoulderblock and signals for the Russian sickle. Irish whip and THERE'S THE SICKLE!!! Koloff presses and pins for the 1-2-3!!!
Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle)
Match Analysis: How do you say squash in Russian? This one wasn't exactly very good, but it was short and got the point across that Koloff is a destroyer. It did the job it was supposed to do and that's alright by me.
Koloff is ringside with Bischoff and Eric says that it wasn't long ago that Koloff beat Larry Zbyszko in a non-title TCS match and that at Twin Wars '90, Koloff gets his shot at Zbyszko and the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. Koloff says that a few weeks ago he beat Zbyszko two out of three falls and not after that Koloff's business manager negotiated a contract with Mr. Saito and....and...HERE COMES ZBYSZKO TO SHOOT HIS MOUTH!! Zbyszko says that he's going to do the same thing to Koloff that he did to Saito. Erm, didn't you lose to Saito, Larry? Koloff tells him that he can run his mouth all he wants, but that on May 5th, they'll step into the ring and he'll take the belt from Zbyszko. Koloff poses and turns to walk away and ZBYSZKO WAFFLES HIM WITH THE BELT!! TAKE THAT BACK TO MOTHER RUSSIA, BITCH!! Zbyszko gets into the ring and gloats about his handiwork as Koloff lays on the floor, knocked out cold from the belt shot. Here come some of the jobbers to check on Koloff and Larry shows the belt to the crowd as Lee and Ralph make this seem like it was some sort of war crime. They speculate that Koloff is going to be PISSED heading into Twin Wars '90 and that he's going to tear Zbyszko to shreds. That was really entertaining, no matter how poorly it drew.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back to the show and talks about the attack from before the break and we get a replay of what just happened. Wait, am I watching Raw all of a sudden? Bischoff says that when you see something like that, you have to ask why it happened. He questions Zbyszko's short fuse, or perhaps that Zbyszko realizes that Koloff could be the one to strip him of that championship belt. That was an utterly WORTHLESS segment.
Bisch says that there's still no word on the condition of Nikita Koloff, but that if there is any word, they'll pass it along immediately. He throws it to the ring for the next contest!
Match Two: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Kent Carlson vs. Larry Zbyszko
Marshall talks about how Zbyszko regained the Heavyweight Championship and Ralph cuts him off to talk about Zbyszko's attack on Koloff earlier in the show. Carlson tries to get a "Larry Sucks" chant going and Larry yells at the crowd, trying to put them in their place. Lockup and Zbyszko pushes Carlson into the ropes, giving him a clean break. Another lockup into the ropes, but this time Zbyszko hits a spinning back kick to the gut and follows it with a BIG bodyslam. Irish whip from Zbyszko and he hits a back bodydrop, picking Carlson up for a suplex. Carlson goes over like a sack of shit and Larry has to pick him up again, finally dropping him with the suplex for a two-count. Zbyszko picks him up before the three and SPIKES HIM WITH THE PILEDRIVER!! WELCOME TO LARRYLAND, MOTHERFUCKERS!! Zbyszko gets the pin and the three-count and HERE COMES NIKITA KOLOFF!! SHIT BE ON NOW!! RIGHT HANDS BY KOLOFF!! IRISH WHIP INTO A REVERSE ELBOW!! MORE RIGHT HANDS AND THERE'S THE RUSSIAN SICKLE!!! MOUNTED PUNCHES FROM NIKITA AND THE JOBBER BRIGADE IS CHARGING TO TRY TO PULL KOLOFF AWAY!! The jobber brigade hold Koloff down in the ring and KOLOFF BREAKS FREE!! HE'S GOT A CHAIR!!! The jobbers talk some reason into Koloff and cool him down.
Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver)
Match Analysis: Zbyszko was wrestling quicker and quicker squashes as the champion, working from the position of power, and it suited him well. The post-match melee with Koloff was icing on the cake from earlier and again, was a really hot and entertaining little piece of business. The horse was out of the barn at this point, but it's still fun to see the AWA get it right, even for a moment.
Koloff is back at ringside for another interview with Eric Bischoff and Bischoff is in all of his hyperbolic glory, calling the World Championship belt "a 45 pound championship belt". BWAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!! He tells Koloff that they need to settle this in the ring and it sounds like Zbyszko knocked some grey matter loose as Koloff is talking in Russian and English, nearly at the same time. His wires finally uncross and he says that the contract has been signed for May 5th in St. Paul and that he's going to look at Zbyszko and try to find something to hit him in the head with. He goes on a weird thing about Zbyszko having a different last name with the fans and says that with all the fans standing behind him, he's going to walk out of Twin Wars as the World Heavyweight Champion. God, that accent is terrible.
It's Team Challenge Series Report time!!! Lee Marshall talks about how Sarge's Snipers are in first place and that after last week's TCS main event, the lead is in jeopardy. We see footage from a Kokina Maximus/Sgt. Slaughter match with Sheik Adnan interfering and causing a DQ. We get the TCS standings now and sure enough, the numbers don't add up again. Tremendous. Bischoff builds the main event that will feature the AWA World Tag Team Champions. The Destruction Crew get promo time and Wayne Bloom says that the AWA main event is right where they should be. He talks about how the AWA is trying to find anyone to put together to take the belts off of The Crew. He says that Brad Rheingans and DJ Peterson are on the yellow brick road, trying to find their way to the AWA titles, but the only road they're on is a road to destruction!! We get some words from Peterson and Rheingans and Rheingans says that The Crew should know who they are because they were putting it on them in the ring until The Crew used the referee to their advantage and saved their belts. He says that DJ Peterson has mountains of experience and ability and that they're going to destruct The Crew. Peterson gets his turn and says that they're going to have to show Peterson something. He says that The Crew have three things coming and that's the three-count.
Match Three: WT Jones vs. The Trooper
Lee Marshall talks about how The Trooper is in the top-five in all of the magazine rankings and that he's going to get a shot at the AWA Heavyweight Championship sooner rather than later. We get a lockup and Trooper pushes Jones into the ropes, allowing Jones to get in his highspot for the match, which is his complaining about the hairpulling of his rat tail. The referee shakes his head and thinks he's full of shit and Jones shows everyone by grabbing a side headlock on Trooper. Trooper shoots him into the ropes and drops down, hitting a big hip toss and following that up with a hideous dropkick. Trooper grabs a standing arm-wringer but Jones goes to the eyes to break the hold and HERE COMES OX BAKER AND THE NIGHTSTALKER TO RINGSIDE!! Trooper and Jones trade some punches in the corner until Trooper takes over with some HARD chops. Irish whip into the corner and Trooper follows him in with a clothesline following that with an Irish whip into the ropes and a BIG back bodydrop. Trooper makes the motion and THERE'S THE NECK MASSAGER!!! JONES IS DOWN AND OUT!! Trooper gets the big win!!
Winner: The Trooper (submission, neck massager)
Match Analysis: Eh. These Trooper matches all look about the same and none of them are terribly good, so it was just kind of there. Jones continues to try to take the mantle of "World's Loudest Jobber" from Iron Mike Sharpe, but nothing is going to wrest that crown from the Iron One. I swear, he was so loud I bet he'd still be yelling in the locker room after the match to sell moves from three hours earlier.
Ox Baker gets on the house microphone and says that everyone in the AWA are cowards for not facing The Nightstalker. He says that the last thing a lot of the wrestlers are going to see is Nightstalker's big ax. He mumbles something about The Russian Brute and then threatens Trooper, Larry Zbyszko, Verne Gagne and anyone to face his Nightstalker. Nightstalker flexes and threatens Trooper with his ax. Bischoff asks Ox Baker where The Russian Brute is and what he's doing out here with The Nightstalker during Trooper's match. Baker basically cuts the same promo he did over the house mic, calling Trooper a "yellow-belly". He says that he's dropped the Russian Brute and calls him a "pencil-headed goof". He calls Zbyszko a coward, threatens Verne Gagne to come out of retirement and says Trooper couldn't join the Boy Scouts. From there, we go to Trooper's pre-recorded comments and he talks about Larry Zbyszko and that he had better not be so preoccupied with Nikita Koloff that he forgets about The Trooper. Trooper says that in two weeks on ESPN, he has his shot at Zbyszko and that Larry can't dodge, dive, dip, duck and dodge anymore. He threatens that the long arm of the law has dragged Zbyszko into his jurisdiction and that he's going to bring law and order to Larryland!! HE WILL BURN THAT BITCH TO THE GROUND, LARRY!! TO THE GROUND!!
Match Four: AWA World Tag Team Championship DJ Peterson and Brad Rheingans vs. The Destruction Crew (c)
Bloom and Enos attack Rheingans and Peterson before the bell and try to hit them with the double-Irish whip spot, but Rheingans reverses Enos and Peterson drops him with a clothesline. Big clothesline from Rheingans!! STEREO BODYSLAMS!! The Crew heads out to the floor to complain and regroup before they head back into the ring and Bloom and Rheingans get the match started properly. Bloom tries to offer up a handshake to Rheingans and Brad thinks it over before giving Bloom a thumbs down. AWESOME crowd reaction as we get a close-up of two women who look like they're dressed for church golf-clap Rheingans for doing the right thing. Rheingans PAINTBRUSHES BLOOM IN THE FACE!! Turnbuckle smash by Rheingans and he rams Bloom into Peterson's boot before making the tag. Peterson sends Bloom into the ropes and hits a HUGE hip toss into a side headlock takeover that gets a one-count. Tag to Rheingans and he gets a shot to Bloom's shortribs before whipping Bloom in for a punch to the gut. Spinning neckbreaker from Rheingans and he gets a two-count, following that up with a gut-wrench suplex. Tag to Peterson and they hit a double-Irish whip into a double-clothesline and Peterson gets a long two-count before moving to a reverse chinlock. Snap suplex from Peterson and another long two-count before he goes back to the chinlock.
Bloom gets to his feet and pushes Peterson back into his corner, tagging in Enos and Enos takes over with an armdrag takedown, but Peterson reverses it into a headscissors. Tag to Rheingans and he gets a snap mare into a bootscrape across the face. Side headlock by Rheingans and Enos shoots him into the ropes, dropping down before he takes Rheingans out with a big knee to the gut. Tag to Bloom and he hits a knee to the back before throwing Rheingans to the floor. Bloom distracts the referee and Enos tries to ram Rheingans into the ringpost but settles for a couple of shots against the apron. Bloom drags Rheingans back in and Irish whips him in for a reverse elbow that gets a long two-count. Tag to Enos and they ram Rheingans back-first into the corner before Enos hits a HUGE slam for another two-count. Irish whip from Rheingans and he gets a roll-up on Enos for a two-count but Bloom comes in to break it up. Enos drapes Rheingans across the middle rope and distracts the referee, allowing Bloom to get the choke in as they double-team Rheingans. Guillotine slingshot across the bottom rope by Enos and Bloom stands on Rheingans' throat on the apron. Enos tries for a suplex but Rheingans blocks it and gets one of his own and both men are down.
Tag to Bloom and he cuts Rheingans off before he can make the tag to Peterson. Snap mare from Bloom as Marshall gets a great rant in about how guys can shake ropes, paint their faces and take drugs, but they can't wrestle a lick. He says that Rheingans is a real wrestler as he takes an elbowdrop from Bloom for a long two-count. Bloom gets an Irish whip and ducks down for a back bodydrop but Rheingans kicks him in the chest and both men are down again. Bloom makes the tag to Enos and Rheingans makes the HOT TAG TO PETERSON!! RIGHT HANDS AND A BACKDROP ON ENOS!! IRISH WHIP INTO A HUGE REVERSE ELBOW!! 1-2....NOOOO!! Bloom comes in and breaks up the count!! Irish whip from Peterson into a HORRIBLE dropkick and he gets another two-count with Rheingans cutting Bloom off with a punch as he breaks up the pin. The referee pushes Rheingans out of the ring as Peterson rolls Enos up for a pin attempt!! NO REFEREE!!! HERE COMES BLOOM WITH BRASS KNUCKS AND HE WAFFLES PETERSON!!! 1-2-3!!! THE DESTRUCTION CREW RETAIN THE BELTS!!
Winners: The Destruction Crew (pinfall, brass knucks shot)
Match Analysis: A good tag main event and all four guys had their work boots. I still find Rheingans to be dull as dishwater, but he was taking punishment for a lot of this one, so it wasn't so bad. There were no real teams left in the AWA except for The Crew and The Hangmen, so it was a lot of piecemeal teams that were around to challenge for the belts. Good to see The Crew in a little bit longer match though, as they were one of the few things I liked when I was originally watching these AWA shows.
Bischoff has Peterson and Rheingans with him and Rheingans is PISSED. Bischoff congratulates them on the great effort and Rheingans says that it's the same story as always. The Crew used the rules to their advantage and hit Peterson with a foreign object, DAMMIT!! Peterson says that he's not going to come out and cry, but that The Crew is going to get theirs sooner or later. He says that they had The Crew beat and that if they think they're so damn good, put the belts on the line, anywhere, anytime.
Bischoff runs down the show and tells us about next week's main event featuring Johnnie Stewart facing Sgt. Slaughter. He throws it to Johnnie Stewart and he says that he's back from his vacation and 100% healed from his knee injury. He says he was laying on the beach in Rio de Janeiro and that with Easter just past, he was bored by it as a kid because he used to bribe his butler to tell him where all of his Easter eggs were. He says that now he's talking about Sgt. Slaughter and he says that when you're born with a silver spoon, it can never be removed because it's not tangible, it's a feeling inside. Stewart says that everyone calls Slaughter the lifeguard of professional wrestling, but that when he steps into the ring with him in the ESPN main event next week, he's going to have to save his own life. Kind of a rambling and pointless promo to end the show on really.
Final Thoughts
A pretty good show, but there were some serious pacing issues. With only four matches, it would be expected that there would be some heavy promo stuff, but it seemed like there was SO much talking through the first half of the show that it was a little insufferable. I'm not entirely sure why Bischoff has to be in front of the green screen reading monologues on the action we're about to see, but it's sure getting to be annoying. This one was right in the middle for me because it was a fun show with the hot Nikita angle throughout, but the overflow of promos in the middle just dragged it down for me. Two jugs to get through this one.
Fun With Comments
From t-money: "Anybody know the story on why Nikita bolted from NWA/WCW and had this cup of coffee w/ the AWA? He was always one of my favorites.
Seems a little odd... a shockingly competent move by the AWA. "
And an answer from Bryan: "This was the best show since the switch to 1990. I disagree on the booking in the six man tag match though. With the way they were hyping up Hughes, it would seem kind of dumb to have him take the pinfall in the match. Would it really have hurt for Rheingans to do the job? Oh wait, he's Vernes favorite so we can't do that.
To answer the above question about Koloff, his wife was suffering from cancer when he left the NWA. I am not sure when she passed away, but Nikita was from the Twin Cities. I don't think he did much wrestling between leaving the NWA in late 1988 and returning to WCW in 1991 except for this short stint in the AWA. Its also worth noting that he only appeared at either one or two tv tapings, but the appearances are so spread out that it makes it seem like he was around for months.
Am I the only one looking forward to The Nightstalker showing up? Not for his ring work, but because his gimmick was that he was on steroids. "
Koloff left in 1989 to take care of Mandy, who was indeed diagnosed with cancer. She passed away and he took some time before coming back to the ring, easing hiimself in with this short AWA stint before returning to WCW in '91. As for the booking in the six-man, I agree that Rheingans could have taken the fall and it would have been no problem, but with Hughes they had someone that they wanted to push higher up the card and so having the Brute screw him gave him a ready-made feud. I don't think they wanted to waste that on the aging, bland Rheingans.
From Robert Tivari: "Being that I record all the AWA shows on my DVR, I went back and re-watched some of the episodes they were airing a few months ago. What was the point of the Big K segments? They didn't advance any storylines or angles, and the announcers never even acknowledged him or anything he said during his little 2 minute bits of "insight" he would give us. I don't think any of the wrestlers ever acknowledged him either, so what was the point of these?
Last nights show wasn't so much bad as it was bland IMO. The Russian Brute still continues to stink up my TV and that sorry excuse for a "heart punch" on Curtis Hughes was nothing short of exposing the business. 135 year old Ox Baker is about the only redeeming quality going for the Brute. Even though grandpa Ox had no business being in a national promotion at that point, his interviews at least have comedic value in a "so bad they're good" kind of way. "
Well, my best guess is that either Big K owed Verne money and this was payback, or Verne owed Big K some pay-offs and Verne just put him on there to shut him up and to avoid having to cut him a check. In terms of the show being a little bland, it was alright to me, but again that's probably stacked up against the crap that I've been suffering through lately.
From Guest. : "Real good show, although the talent level is getting more and more exposed. Verne does still continue to train and use guys who would go onto bigger things (ala, Curtis Hughes), but really, you had four guys at the top who could be world title contendors: Saito, Zbyszko, Koloff, and Slaughter, with one of them being a part-time Japanese talent, two being gone somewhat shortly, and one who would only stay cause he was married to Verne's daughter. "
Yeah, the talent level was REALLY thin at this point, with essentially two or three top guys and a WHOLE lot of green. The Destruction Crew anchored the tag division and Zbyszko held down the singles, but there was no one to challenge either and there were no strong main event faces that were available to the company for long stretches.
From Bill_Tx: "I agree last night's show was surprisingly good (by 1990 AWA standards). I find Donna Gagne to be fascinatingly weird looking. Where did she get her announcing outfits, The Salvation Army thrift shop? "
Doubtful. I'm pretty sure homeless people would be offended to wear that get-up.
Finally, from Ringside Ralph: "The idea that the AWA could have drawn crowds or money for Zbyszko vs. Slaughter or Koloff or whoever at this point is ridiculous. They hadn't drawn anything since the Road Warriors left and barely even ran house shows after 1987.
Realistically, the AWA was terminally ill by the end of 1986, and a promoter with sense would have folded up by 1988, certainly after the SuperClash III debacle. But Verne would have been happy to promote Tommy Jammer against the Russian Brute for the AWA title in front of 9 people at the county fair, so we had to wait for him to run out of money.
The TCS certainly killed the AWA's chance of dying with dignity, but its fate had been sealed for a long time by this point. "
It's not even so much that any of these feuds could have "saved the territory" or even drawn a ton of money because the fans had already given up on the product. It's just that if they had properly booked some feuds, they could have at least left with some entertaining shows. Instead, they ended up having some of the worst shows this side of WrestleCrap and ended up just kind of disappearing with a whimper.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:03:20 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling Eric Bischoff talks about how there's a colorful story behind the tag team in the opening match, The Lumberjacks. Yukon John Nord and Scott Norton are one of the top rising teams in the AWA, according to Bischoff, and it's time to see them in action!! Match One: Tom Burton and Tom Bennett vs. The Lumberjacks Nord and Norton have a little over 200 pounds on the jobber team and this could be ugly. Lee Marshall seems excited to see Scott Norton back in the AWA after some time off and as he's talking, Nord and Norton run the ropes and shoulderblock each other before chopping each other in the chest to psych themselves up. Norton looks beyond massive here and he starts out with Bennett, pushing him into the ropes and barely exerting himself on a shoulderblock that sends Bennett flying. Another attempt and Bennett goes flying off of him to the mat. Norton decides it's his turn and he BARRELS off the ropes into Bennett, sending him all the way to the floor. Bennett makes his way back in and Norton sends him down with a double-chokeslam before Bennett decides he's had enough and tags in Burton. Burton throwing punches with no effect as Norton yells at him to throw them harder. Nope, not intimidating at all. Norton levels Burton with a right hand and runs him across into the boot of Yukon John. Tag to Nord and they hit a double-chop off the ropes before Nord whips Burton in for a BEAVER SHOT!! One-armed boydslam from Nord and he follows that up with an Irish whip into a big shoulderblock. Tag to Norton and he whips Burton in for a HUGE clothesline, following that with an Irish whip into a bone-rattling powerslam. Tag to Nord and he tards himself off the ropes a few times before dropping a MASSIVE legdrop for the three-count, with Norton dropping Bennett with a clothesline as he tries to break up the count. Norton and Nord lay more chops in on each other, dishing out more punishment than Burton and Bennett did during the entire match. Winners: The Lumberjacks (pinfall, Nord legdrop) Match Analysis: Holy hell, that looked stiff as it could possibly be. Norton was HUGE and it was complete destruction. I'm not sure what happened to The Lumberjacks from here, but they certainly looked impressive here. Standard jobber walloping and there wasn't much to see here. Yukon John and Scott Norton make their way to the AWA interview area and apparently Scott Norton's new nickname is "Flapjack". Nord tells a story about how up at the lumber camp, Norton ate 298 pancakes at one sitting. Bischoff's exasperated expression is great, and reminds me of just how much I miss Larry Nelson. "JEEZ AND CRIMENY!! TWO HUNDRED AND NINETY-EIGHT PANCKES?? JIMINY CHRISTMAS!!" Norton flexes and Bischoff asks him how he likes the nickname. Norton says that he loves them flapjacks and that they're there for the AWA World Tag Team Championships. Anytime, anywhere, they want The Destruction Crew. Nord howls as they wallop on each other and we're off to the commercial break. Bischoff welcomes us back to the show and talks up the Texas Hangmen before throwing us to the ring for their next match. Match Two: Kent Carlson and Jim Evans vs. The Texas Hangmen The Hangmen and their nooses make their way to the ring and Lee Marshall talks about the "depth" of the AWA's tag team division. Fashionista Ralph Strangis points out the new masks that the Hangmen are wearing, fawning all over them. Killer and Evans start out with Killer hammering away with forerarms before trying to whip Evans into the corner. Evans reverses the whip and Killer goes into the buckle chest-first, rolling out to the floor to meet with his counterpart, Psycho. Killer hops back in and hits more forearms, shoving Evans into the corner as Psycho chokes him with the bullrope in the corner. Irish whip from Killer and he misses a pair of clotheslines, allowing Evans to make the tag to Carlson. Carlson gets caught with a shot right away and Killer tags in Psycho, leading to more hammering forearms. Psycho shoots Carlson in for a reverse elbow and follows that up with a HUGE powerslam, tagging in Killer. Right hands in the corner and chops from Killer and he hits a BIG suplex for a two-count, picking Carlson up off the mat before the three. Double-team moves from the Hangmen, including a double-axehandle off the roeps from Killer as Psycho hits a neckbreaker. Killer chokes away and tags in Psycho for a big kick to the gut. He drops Carlson with a nasty DDT and then hammers Evans off the apron. The referee is distracted and there's the HANGMAN'S ELBOW!! One three-count later and it's all over but the cowbelling. Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's elbow) Match Analysis: Basically a carbon copy of the first match of the show, just with a heel team doing all the beating instead of a face team. Forget The Hangmen vs. The Destruction Crew. I want to see the potato-fest that would be The Hangmen vs. The Lumberjacks. I really hope that match happened before the AWA shut the doors for good. Bisch has the Hangmen at ringside and asks them about The Destruction Crew. The Hangmen say that they've broken every bone, kicked in all the teeth and beaten everyone and now they want their title shot against The Destruction Crew. Psycho says that the Crew has been flying high, but once the Hangmen are done with them, they'll crash and burn. Eric Bischoff welcomes us back to the program and brings up the main event, featuring Sarge's Snipers captain, Sgt. Slaughter, facing one of the members of his own team in "Illustrious" Johnnie Stewart. He speculates on what that match could to to Sarge's team dynamic before throwing it to Lee Marshall for the Team Challenge Series report. Marshall talks about how the main event from the previous show was a Team Challenge Series match. You know, no one said anything about that before the match or at all during the show. And they wonder why the concept didn't get over. Of course, that was the least of the problems, but still. Marshall talks about how the win last week by The Destruction Crew put Larry's Legends at the top of the table and that every team has held the lead at some point in the season. Bischoff talks about how as the season comes to an end, the Team Challenge Series is just getting more and more exciting. I guess this is where he learned to lie blatantly to people's faces, the skill that would serve him better than any other in his time at WCW. Match Three: Jamie Magnum vs. The Trooper Trooper looks a little less jacked up in this match, but the perm still remains. Lockup and as Trooper pushes Magnum into the ropes, we see that The Nighstalker and Jasper Beardly are on their way to the ring to check out the action. Trooper lays some right hands in on Magnum and hits a standing arm-wringer that Magnum reverses. Irish whip from Trooper and he hits an elbow and some right hands as Jasper gets on the house microphone and talks about how everyone at ringside is due for a paddling. He says that The Nightstalker needs to get in the ring with the cowardly Trooper. Bodyslam from The Trooper and he drops an elbow, picking Magnum up for an Irish whip into the corner. Magnum gets his feet up and kicks Trooper as he comes in for a charge, and Magnum follows up with some chops and an Irish whip into the ropes. Trooper ducks a clothesline and HAMMERS Magnum with one of his own, shooting him into the ropes and hittinga HUGE dropkick before locking in the NECK MASSAGER!! Magnum is looking woozy and he's taken down to the mat from the sheer relaxation of the hold. He nods off to sleep and the referee calls for the bell. That's one hell of a massage. Winner: The Trooper (submission, neck massager) Match Analysis: Standard Trooper match. Nothing terribly interesting, even when Nightstalker and Crazy Grandpa made their way to ringside to talk some shit. Trooper didn't even sell that they were there, which rendered the whole thing pretty useless. Trooper really needs a better finisher or he's just going to look even more foolish with it. Funny moment after the match as we get cutaways to crowd shots from different arenas from two or three years ago, to make up for the lack of crowd response to the Trooper now. I mean, did Verne REALLY think we were that stupid? Bischoff has The Trooper with him and he apologizes for Jasper and Nightstalker's interruption and he asks Trooper about the upcoming shot that he has for the AWA Title. Trooper says that Zbyszko can't run and hide anymore and that as soon as he finds a partner that he feels comfortable with, he's going to challenge The Destruction Crew for the AWA Tag Team Titles as well. Now that's just greedy. Why not share those title shots with someone else, you hog. Oh, that's right, there's no one else left to take them. Trooper guarantees that he's going to have gold around his waist for himself to cherish and for the fans and kids to take pride in. We come back with some words from Larry Zbyszko about his match with The Trooper. He calls himself the Heavyweight Champion of the World and that he's going to send a free ticket to Larryland to The Trooper. He says that Trooper has the wrong idea because when he gets into the ring he's going to be eye to eye with the man that retired Bruno Sammartino AND Nick Bockwinkel. He says that he's 100% knowledge in the ring and that even Nikita Koloff calls him a master at what he does. Zbyszko mocks the long arm of the law and the mere idea of justice in Larryland. He says that in Europe if you cheat and steal from the people, they drag you into the street and shoot you. In America, if you do the same thing you can write books like Donald Trump and you're a hero! Zbyszko tells him to take that long arm of the law and SHOVE IT UP HIS ASS!! IN LARRYLAND THERE'S ONLY ONE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!! I could listen to Zbyszko cut promos all day long. Would probably be a more entertaining program too. We get the same Johnnie Stewart promo from the end of last episode and blah, blah, blah, this guy needs to learn to cut a promo without shrieking. Slaughter essentially cuts the same promo on Stewart, calling him spoiled and blah, blah, saying that today is Stewart's big chance to prove he's a man. Slaughter apparently took half a bottle of hyperbole pills, calling himself the best wrestler in the world today. Match Four: Johnnie Stewart vs. Sgt. Slaughter Donna Gagne announces this one as being a TV time limit, which will probably give away the ending right there. Slaughter and Stewart stare each other down and Slaughter gives Stewart a little shove when his back is turned. Lee Marshall earns himself a five hundred dollar fine from Verne for breaking kayfabe, saying that Stewart is ribbing everyone when he says that Paula Abdul designed his ring robe. Slaughter makes sure that his combover is under control and we're underway!! Stewart fakes a handshake and motions for Slaughter to kiss his ass as the bell sounds and they hit a lockup with Slaughter grabbing a side headlock right off the bat, messing up Stewart's hair. Stewart tries to shoot him off and Slaughter slips, with Marshall attributing it to Stewart's hair goop. Another side headlock from Slaughter and he gets shot off into the ropes, taking Stewart down with a shoulderblock. Side headlock number three and Stewart pushes him into the ropes to get a clean break before he primps his hair. AGAIN with the side headlock and a shoot-off into the ropes again with a shoulderblock from Slaughter leading to him getting a standing back bodydrop. He rams Stewart face-first into the top turnbuckle and Stewart does a FLOP into the middle of the ring. Elbow from Slaughter and he pushes Stewart into the corner for a couple of HUGE chops, snap maring him out and stomping on his face. Right hand from Slaughter out of a side headlock and Slaughter whips him into the ropes for a BIG back bodydrop. Stewart rolls out to the floor for a breather and the referee gets to six before he gets back into the ring. Stewart gets a side headlock of his own, yet I notice he has no balls and doesn't mess up Slaughter's hair. Slaughter shoots him off into the ropes and loads up the Slaughter cannon, but Stewart hangs onto the ropes and drops back down to the floor to avoid. Stewart knocks over the flimsy barricade and heads out into the darkness of the first three rows of the crowd to think things over. Stewart gets back into the ring and pushes Slaughter into the corner off of a lockup and as he tries to chop Slaughter he hurts his arm. Slaughter rams that arm into the top turnbuckle a few times and then tries to break Stewart's fingers and rakes them across the top rope. Stewart gets a mule kick and rams Slaughter into the top turnbuckle, but Slaughter blocks the second one, rams Stewart in and drops him with a big right hand. Slaughter with an Irish whip and Stewart ducks under the Slaughter Cannon and levels Slaughter with a clothesline of his own. Stewart rams Sarge's head into the mat and rams his shoulder into the top turnbuckle before getting a BIG bodyslam. Stewart tries to get up to the top rope and Slaughter catches him, punching him in the face and crotching him on the top turnbuckle. Slaughter press slams him off the top and hammers away with some short right noogies, getting a two-count off of them. Lee Marshall channels Vince McMahon, exclaming "Did he get him?" over and over again when the match is clearly going on still. Slaughter whips Stewart in and they seemingly botch a leapfrog spot with Stewart getting caught up on Slaughter's shoulders and landing on his knee on the mat. Stewart clutches at his knee and takes a big bodyslam from Slaughter as he gets up to the top rope and MISSES AN ELBOWSMASH!! Stewart to his feet and there's a big right hand into an Irish whip, followed by a huge back bodydrop. Long two-count for Stewart and he Irish whips Slaughter in again for a weak dropkick that gets another two-count. Stewart tries a bodyslam again but it gets blocked and reversed by Slaughter!! Stewart answers back by getting to his knees and punching Slaughter in the balls. Bodyslam from Stewart and he hits an elbowdrop for another two-count. Right hands from Stewart and he looks for the bodyslam again, but Slaughter gets the inside cradle!! 1-2-3!!!! It's all over!!! Stewart attacks Slaughter post-match, slamming Slaughter's head into the table and into the ringpost. Stewart tries to ram Slaughter into the post again but Slaughter avoids it and sends Stewart crashing into the steel!! Stewart rolls back into the ring and begs off before high-tailing it back to the dressing room. Slaughter fixes his combover and gets his hand raised as we see the replays of the finish. Winner: Sgt. Slaughter (pinfall, inside cradle) Match Analysis: Eh. Started out slow and never really got going. Just the usual match from Slaughter, and Stewart didn't show me anything special. Like the usual problems that most have with the AWA shows at this point, there's just no depth and so guys like Stewart, who would have barely been mid-card in the middle of the 80's, gets pushed as a main eventer despite no real discernible skills. It'd be like if they had pushed Buddy Landel to be a serious main event star when he was in the AWA on the shows I looked at previously. Bischoff has Slaughter at ringside and Slaughter says that Stewart has been mouthing off about how tough he is and mentions that he's on the Sarge's Snipers team. He says that he's been ambushed before and that next time it could be Stewart getting ambushed. Bischoff asks if they'll be able to co-exist as teammates and Slaughter says that there are a million reasons that they can get along and win the Team Challenge Series. He says that Stewart is a hunted man unless they can win the million bucks and the TCS and that maybe he'd be off the hook if that happens. Right to the closing credits and right to the end of the show!! Final Thoughts Kind of boring this time out. The Lumberjacks match was fun in the oddity sense, but there was nothing that was REALLY exciting, outside of Zbyszko's promo work. That's really the only reason to watch these AWA shows anymore, is to see what Zbyszko's got to offer. As has been noted numerous times by friends, family members, co-workers, health professionals (both phsyical and mental) and more support groups that I can count, boredom is the first step towards relapse, and this show had relapse written all over it. From Guest. : "Seemingly, ESPN jumped forward a couple months on these shows. Yesterday's AWA show had Saito just winning the belt, which would've put it in early February. Today's show had Zbyszko back with the belt, and references to Easter. Zbyszko won the belt back at Superclash 4, so this would put today's show in mid to late April. Ok show, with it throwing in a twist and the highlight being the first half of the show with the hard sell of Koloff/Zbyszko, and the 5 jobbers who couldn't hold the Russian Nightmare back, in a time where pullapart brawls weren't cliche. Also, some random stuff not related to today's show: Do you remember the Koslawski brothers who Verne would periodically interview on the AWA shows? Apparently, both went on to wrestle in Japan, with Dennis being compared retrospectively to a young Kurt Angle. He wrestled in the UWFi promotion in Japan from 92-94 (won a bronze at the 88, and a silver at the 92 Olympics), and was apparently being groomed to be an American Star with Gary Albright to be the stars for when UWFI for their American PPV debut, but it never happened, and he left the company and wrestling after bad payoffs. Duane trained in Japan, his first match in 89, and had potential, but didn't wrestle much. In any case, had there been a stronger AWA, Verne could've potentially got two guys with a ton of talent who under his tutelage could've became big names in the WWF once they raided them. This was all out of the Observer, on their write-up on Olympians turned athletes. Among Olympians that Verne had in the AWA: Himself (arguably the 2nd best heavyweight wrestler in the world in 48 behind the American ahead of him, brought over but wasn't allowed to compete in Greco-Roman for whatever reason), Tsuruta (10th in Greco-Roman Superheavyweight in 72), Riki Choshu (15th Greco-Roman in 72 @ 198), Saito (7th Freestyle wrestling in 64 as Heavyweight), Mad Dog Vachon (7th in freestyle in 48), Ken Patera (didn't place in weightlifting in 72), Brad Rheingans (4th in Greco-Roman at 220 in 76, expected to medal in 80 before Olympic pull-out, coached the 84 team), Baron Von Raschke (ranked 3rd in the world in 63 as a heavyweight in Greco-Roman, got injured and couldn't compete in 64), Chris Taylor (Bronze in freestyle, 7th in Greco-Roman as Superheavyweight in 72), and even Kerry Von Erich (his High School discus record legit broke the high mark of the previous Olympics, couldn't go due to Cold War). While some of these were talent exchanges, Verne sure loved his Olympians. And I guarantee I missed quite a few. " Thanks for all that information about all the Olympians that made it in the AWA. That is a veritable shit-load to be sure. As for the Koslawski's they might have been decent workers, but they seemed like their personalities would have been FAR too vanilla for the WWF product at the time. They would have fit into Verne's wrestling-oriented AWA, but I don't think it would have done anything for them in terms of having credible stars. From Robert Tivari: "After watching that godawful promo by Ox Baker. I've really come to wonder between him and the Big K, which one of them can butcher the English language the worst. His promos are combination of sentence fragments and half-thoughts, along with the occasional flub (He referred to the Nightstalker as the Trooper) and speaking of Ox, after doing a little research, I have found out that The Russian Brute's real name is Ivan Petrovski so unlike Nikita and Ustinov, the guy might actually be a Russian judging by the name. If he's not, he's probably either Macedonian or Polish. Either way, he's Slavic. Its weird to think that within the span of a year, Sgt Slaughter would go from feuding with the Russian Brute in front of a few hundred fans to Warrior and Hogan, headlining Wrestlemania, not to mention that the company also employed another future WWF champion in Kokina Maxiumus. I'd also say to Paul Diamond, Don't worry, you'll be in the WWF soon, but get used to wearing a lot of masks " There ended up being a lot of former AWA guys that ended up getting to be big stars in the WWF. Perception is reality most times and because people perceived the AWA to be a dying promotion (which it was), they avoided it like the plague. The AWA had some of the horses, they just didn't know what to do with them and didn't know how to turn it around to get the fans to give them a chance. Like it has been said repeatedly by guys like Jim Ross, when the AWA was near its end, the guys were just looking to use it as a springboard to Vince or Turner. No one wanted to stay in the AWA to be a big star, they were just looking for exposure to get themselves into one of the Big Two. From Steve: "I saw a video online of The Russian Brute competing as a jobber in the WWF under the name "George Petrovsky" taking on Tatanka while Doink was laughing at Tatanka during his entrance. He must have thought it was funny seeing Tatanka taking on the terrible Russian Brute. Here's a question for you: I wonder who uses the Sledgehammer better, The Destruction Crew or Triple H? " Triple H uses it better because he actually uses it. The Crew kind of carry them around, but I don't recall ever seeing them waffle someone with them. I scoured and looked, but was unable to find that match with the Russian Brute in the WWF. I will keep looking though. From Joe K. : "Doesn't Johnnie Stewart remind anyone of a low rent Chris Candido? " He reminds me of a WAY less successful and WAY less charismatic Candido, though honestly the only thing that really reminds me of him is the looks. From OB1 Jabroni: "Koloff does some work with George South in the Carolina area, with both of them being Christians and that being a common theme between them. I have been to several of the shows, and I can honestly say that Koloff is one of the nicest, most approachable workers to talk with. One of the few who never sold out to Vince, and scared the crap out of me as a child while in the Mid-Atlantic area. His best of seven matches with Magnum TA are among my all-time favorites" Koloff seems like one of the really good people in the wrestling business and that's always good to see. Even with the problems that he had in his life, to stay so positive is a testament to Koloff as a man, and while in his later career he seemed to be a shell of himself, I will always enjoy his very early work in the NWA with Ivan Koloff and Krusher Kruschev. From t-money: "Random tidbits on Nikita... Wikipedia says that Niki was offered the WM2 Main event against Hogan in 85 to get him to jump to the wwf but turned it down. He also turned down a much leaner wwf offer in 86. Interesting if true. Nikita's bio on his website says that he was strongly considered for the role of Drago in Rocky 4." Nikita in Rocky IV would have been an interesting dynamic, though with that accent it would have been terrible for him. He would have REALLY needed a dialect coach beacuse he would have sounded incredibly phony if he used the voice he was using in cutting the promos we've seen from him in 1990. The WWF stuff would have been interesting and honestly, Nikita and Hulk in '86 with the Cold War still going, would have left Vince still trying to count all of that money, even today. From Brian: "As much as I followed the AWA, they are now entering an "era" in which I'm not familiar...(Probably a good thing) The Trooper sucks dingleberry infested ass. I guess they went with him because of his look. (How WWE of them...to borrow one of your phrases.) WHO the heck is/was Ox Baker??? Great look, cool name, but too bad he had to speak!!! (Nuff said) How long was Nikita Koloff's run in the AWA??? The Russian Nightmare was freekin' grrrreat and I always liked his shtick, but I remember him more for his NWA/WCW stuff than anything else. (Although I believe he had a tenure in UWF as well. AND, yes I did note the comments by Bryan and T-Money) Give us a little history Randy!!!!! Glad to see I wasn't the only one who laughed at the 45 pound belt comment. Holy crap!!! Don't get a hernia wearing it, and I hope the buckle on that bad boy is reinforced!!! Easy-E must have meant 4.5 pounds. Heh. Last...the moonshine jugs are the absolute BOMB!!!!! If you can get through the entire program on less 'shine than it takes to pick up a fat girl at closing time, then it HAD to be a decent show!!!!! I'll always be there to keep encouraging you to continue to do the J.O.B. ~Brian~ " Thanks for the support and I'm glad you liked the new addition to the reports, Brian. Koloff's run in the AWA basically consisted of maybe one or two TV tapings and it was able to be stretched into a few months of TV appearances. The only thing that I can think of in terms of Koloff being involved in the UWF would be the Bill Watts version when he and Terry Taylor got in their feud to unify the UWF and NWA World Television Titles. I loved that one when I was a kid. From Seahawker: "Gotta agree with OB1, I have met Koloff be4 and he was super nice. I have plenty of photos with him and my family, and talking with him made me realize there are a few GOOD guys left in the biz. BTW, Seahawks were a 3 point dog to the Vikings 2nite, easy money for those who chose to take it, I know I DID!!!!!!!! " Very cool story about Koloff, and again I say that he's one of the good people in the business. Finally, from Trashy: "Don't forget those early morning UWF weekend reruns. If you're lucky you get still more Col DeBeers! " How could I forget? The first of THREE reports in a row should already be up in the TV Reports section, and they even have appearances by the Col. himself!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:04:32 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Eric Bischoff welcomes us to the program and talks about last week's ESPN main event featuring Johnnie Stewart and Sgt. Slaughter before he throws it to the ring for the first bout of the night.
Match One: Jim Evans vs. Johnnie Stewart
Marshall fwaps all over Stewart's ring robe and Strangis gets in a stupid joke about borrowing the robe from Zsa Zsa Gabor. Side headlock into a drop toehold, followed by a hammerlock into a front facelock and a snap suplex by Stewart, showing off his chain-wrestling. Standing arm-wringer out of a lockup and Stewart takes Evans over again for a two-countStewart pushes Evans into the corner of of a lockup and pops him in the face before whippin ghim across into the opposite corner. Reverse elbow from Stewart and he hits a bodyslam on Evans going up to the top rope and DROPPING A HUGE ELBOW!! The referee calls for the bell and tells Stewart that he's disqualified. Evans rolls to the floor and RAMS EVANS INTO THE POST!! Stewart throws a chair into the ring, pitches a hissy fit and then makes his way to the back.
Winner: Jim Evans (disqualification, top rope rule)
Match Analysis: Squash, boring, next. Not sure what the heck happened there at the end, whether he knew he was going to be disqualified or not, but he looked at least a little shocked. Not sure how it furthers anything, other than him being a guy that thinks he's above the rules because he's rich, but I came up with that on my own. No one said anything like that on commentary, so it just kind of happened and that was it. Weird open to the show.
Bischoff is in the AWA interview area, STILL going on about last week's main event and he brings in Sgt. Slaughter for some comments. Slaughter goes topical, saying he's going to call Johnnie Stewart "Bart Wimpson" from now on. Slaughter talks about how he took everything away from him and put him in Camp Slaughter. Slaughter says he finally agreed to a match with Stewart and after he beat him, Stewart decided to Pearl Harbor him. He tells Stewart that it's not over and that he's been in hand-to-hand combat his entire life. Slaughter talks about how he was in Vietnam fighting for his life when Johnnie was a snot-nosed little shit. He declares war on "Wimpson" and promises to dismiss him, PERMANENTLY!!
Bischoff welcomes us back to the show, laughing like an idiot at Slaughter's "Bart Wimpson" quip and then throws it to the ring for our next match.
Match Two: Jamie Magnum vs. Nikita Koloff
Marshall says that he thinks that Koloff is going to see the face of Zbyszko in this entire match. Koloff ducks a charge and hammers on Magnum with forearms before taking him over with a hip toss. Magnum goes to the eyes and punches Koloff, whipping him into the corner and following that up with a botched clothesline. A big bodyslam from Magnum but he misses the follow-up elbowdrop. Koloff with the Irish whip into a shoulderblock and he gives the signal for it and THERE'S THE RUSSIAN SICKLE!! 1-2-3 and it's all finished!!
Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle)
Match Analysis: Koloff must have had a sandwich backstage that he wanted to finish. This was almost like watching him back in the day on WTBS, so that made it kind of fun, even if it was a horrific squash.
Bischoff is back in the interview area and in comes Johnnie Stewart in a Bart Simpson t-shirt. Stewart says that if that's what he wants to call him, he'll take the role any day. Stewart says that they may have taken all of the stuff away from him, he still gets $150,000 a year from the AWA and that he can buy new Rolexes, new Porsches and new women. Usually the kind of women that get bought are carrying itchy things, but I digress. Stewart goes on to say that he's come out week after week for a whole year and that everyone he's mentioned, he got them out of professional wrestling. He says that he's what the 1990's is all about, spoiled, relentless and going to spend every dime he makes. I guess he's taking financial planning seminars with Ric Flair now. Stewart says he's going to do worse to Slaughter next time and he's going to split his head wide open from Kansas to New York and that Slaughter is going to end up in the hospital.
Team Challenge Series report time and we hear about the TCS main event from last week with the Captain's Choice battle royale. It was Sgt. Slaughter and Rocky Stone vs. Larry Zbyszko and Jake Milliman vs. Baron Von Raschke and Todd Becker. We get footage of Zbyszko slapping the ugly off of Milliman and then we see Stone turning on Sgt. Slaughter during the course of the match. Slaughter fought threw it and threw Stone out of the ring. We get the finish of the match with Baron Von Raschke winning when Milliman pulled down the top rope and accidentally eliminated Zbyszko. We get the standings with Larry's Legends on top but Sarge's Snipers and Baron's Blitzers just one point back, tied for second.
Match Three: Kent Carlson vs. Col. DeBeers
Unintentionally hilarious moment as the AWA cameras cut to ringside as DeBeers makes his way to the ring and they find three VERY unimpressed black people in the front row. Tremendous. DeBeers takes Carlson over with a side headlock and stomps his face, following that up with a snap mare and another stomp. Knees from DeBeers and he runs Carlson face-first into the top turnbuckle. Another snap mare from DeBeers and he hits a splash on Carlson's neck as he's sitting on the mat. DeBeers covers for a two-count but picks Carlson up before three, moving him over to the bottom rope and slingshotting him into a guillotine, though Carlson barely grazes the rope. DeBeers hits the apron and drops an elbow on the throat of Carlson, rolling back into the ring for the PANCAKE PILEDRIVER!! You know what's coming after that.
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: Three straight matches, and three straight quick and painful hammerings. This was the usual from DeBeers, though he must have been told to pick up the pace a little bit to change things up because he's usually a lot slower in his beatings. Same old, same old. Yawn.
The Trooper gets to cut a promo now, talking about how in any field of sports, your goal is to get to the top and to be the best. He says that he has his chance to face the AWA World Heavyweight Champion in the middle of the ring and that Zbyszko is going to be in his jurisdiction. He's going to serve law as he sees fit and make sure that Zbyszko pays the price. Once and for all, the gold is going around his waist and that he's going to squeeze the life out of him with the big pinch.
Back from the break and it's Larry Zbyszko's turn now, and we're off for another trip to Larryland. Eric Bischoff brings up the history of The Trooper pinning Zbyszko in a six-man match and Zbyszko claims that it's the equivalent of someone living in the past and riding the coattails of winning the lottery. Zbyszko talks about dreaming about Trooper and dreaming that he was in Larryland and that he heard thundering of thousands of ninja mutant spudheads. Who was leading the spudhead brigade, but the Trooper, handing out plastic badges and trumpeting law and order. Zbyszko says he looked out the gate and that Trooper fell off the wall like Humpty Dumpty and every one of the spudheads suffocated on the yolk. That sounds grisly. Zbyszko says that the moral of the story is that since Sammartino and Bockwinkel have been retired by Zbyszko, the Trooper will also end up with egg on his face and that the Heavyweight Champion of the WORLD, will live happily ever after. I don't know where he comes up with this stuff, but it's infinitely entertaining.
Match Four: Tom Bennett and Todd Becker vs. The Texas Hangmen
Becker starts out with what looks to be Killer and there's a lockup with Killer hammering Becker to the mat, scrubbing his face across the canvas. Killer picks Becker up for a slam but deposits him across the top turnbuckle, headbutting Becker in the sternum. Irish whip from Killer and he goes for a back bodydrop but Becker gets a sunset flip, and with a little help from Bennett, Killer goes down and there's a two-count. Becker to the gut and he whips Killer in but he grabs onto the ropes and forces Becker to miss a dropkick. BIG bodyslam from Killer and Becker gets the tag in to Bennett. Tag to Psycho as he works Bennett over with forearms and Psycho hits a double-chop to the throat, distracting the referee so Killer can choke him from the outside. Elbowdrop and a running snap mare from Psycho and he whips Bennett in for a punch in the gut and Killer gets a bulldog off of a tag! Vertical suplex from Killer and he drops a knee to the throat of Bennett, tagging in Psycho for a double-underhook suplex!! Tag to Killer and he drops Bennett with a DDT!! Becker eats a shot on the apron and gets in the ring, turning the referee around and there's the HANGMAN'S ELBOW!! The referee turns around and they hit the HANGMAN'S ELBOW REMIX for the three-count.
Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's elbow)
Match Analysis: The Hangmen lived up to their names and killed the jobbers. Unfortunately, this did nothing for me since I've seen them wrestle the same match for three months now. There hasn't even been a SNIFF of putting them in against two guys further up the card, and unless that's their gimmick (that teams are too afraid to face them), it's just lame. They were a decent team and I'd be much more interested watching them take on Diamond and Trooper or something like that, rather than squashing the same guys week in and week out.
Eric Bischoff has The Destruction Crew with him and he as usual Bloom cuts Enos off and does all the talking. He says that the Hangmen have been challenging them for a long time and that they've done nothing to prove that they deserve a shot. Bloom brings up The Lumberjacks and says that they haven't proved anything either. He says they come out here and talk about eating flapjacks and then calls him "FatJack Norton" and a "butter-slapping, syrup-slopping slob". Oh yes, oh yes my friends. It's coming. For the first time in a long time it's coming because THAT was a........
SICK BURN!!
Bloom keeps going and says that you ought to put The Lumberjacks and The Hangmen in the ESPN main events and he says that The Destruction Crew are the kinds of athletes that kids watching ESPN will try to emulate and look up to. He says that whoever wins that one can maybe get a shot at the belts, saying that the road to Destruction is going to have a bad end for someone.
Match Five: AWA World Heavyweight Championship The Trooper vs. Larry Zbyszko (c)
Trooper motions at the belt and says that it's going to be his. Gary DeRusha is the referee for this one and he goes through all the rules with both men before the match gets underway. Lockup and they separate with nothing going and there's a HUGE "Larry Sucks" chant going from the crowd. Quick armdrag from The Trooper and Zbyszko is pissed, yelling at the referee and the crowd. BIG bodyslam from Zbyszko and he gets a one-count before Trooper counters with THREE bodyslams of his own and Zbyszko is out to the floor to think it over. Zbyszko makes his way back into the ring and gets a side headlock on Trooper and Trooper shoots him into ther ropes and they stalemate on a shoulderblock. Zbyszko tries a hip toss but it gets blocked and Trooper grabs a headlock of his own. Zbyszko shoots Trooper off and gets a drop toehold on him but Trooper pops right back up into an armdrag takedown into an armbar. Trooper works over the arm and as Zbyszko gets an armdrag, Trooper rolls with it and keeps on the armbar. Strangis sounds like an idiot, saying that Zbyszko's arm is going to feel like peanut butter in the morning. What does that even MEAN??
Trooper continues to work the arm and Zbyszko shoots him into the ropes, eating a shoulderblock before he lowbridges Trooper and sends him out through the ropes to the floor. Zbyszko's out after Trooper, ramming him into the timekeeper's table before heading back into the ring. Trooper tries to get into the ring and Zbyszko continues to knee him in the head to send him back to the floor. Zbyszko out to the floor again and he rams Trooper into the table again!! Trooper finally gets back into the ring and Zbyszko grabs a front facelock but Trooper makes it into the ropes to break the hold, though Zbyszko doesn't let it go. Irish whip from Zbyszko and Trooper kicks him in the face as he ducks his head for a back bodydrop. Left hands fromt he trooper and he rams Zbyszko into the top turnbuckle, running him over and doing it in the opposite corner. More lefts from Trooper and Zbyszko goes down. Trooper with the cover and Zbyszko gets his leg over the bottom rope. Irish whip into a back bodydrop and Zbyszko gets covered for another long two-count.
HUGE vertical suplex from Trooper and he gets another long, LONG two-count before whipping Zbyszko into the ropes. Zbyszko holds on to the ropes and Trooper misses a dropkick, cracking his head on the mat. Zbyszko clubs at Trooper and locks in the abdominal stretch, holding onto the top rope as the referee checks Trooper out. DeRusha FINALLY catches Zbyszko and kicks the arm off the rope, leading to Trooper hip tossing Zbyszko over. Irish whip from Zbyszko and Trooper gets a sunset flip for another two-count. Zbyszko tries a slam but Trooper gets another small package for another two-count. Irish whip in from the Trooper and they crack heads!! Both men are down with one minute left!! Irish whip into the corner from Zbyszko and Trooper reverses it, sending Zbyszko in chest-first. Irish whip into the ropes by Trooper and he punches Zbyszko in the gut, whipping him in again for a back bodydrop. Trooper makes the signal and ZBYSZKO IS IN FOR ONE HELL OF A MASSAGE!!! Trooper locks it in!!!! He cranks away and Zbyszko goes down and the bell rings!! Trooper thinks he's won it and GARY DERUSHA RAISES HIS HAND!!! TROOPER IS THE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WOR....and he's raising Larry Zbyszko's hand now!!! IT'S A TIME LIMIT DRAW!!!
Winner: None (time limit draw)
Match Analysis: A pretty good little main event actually. Granted, they only got like ten minutes and the match ran out of time just as they started to get cooking, but it was still a fairly good finish to the show. You could kind of see the draw coming a mile away, like you usually can in wrestling, but it wasn't too much of a detriment. I'm still unsure if this match was really as good as I'm thinking, or if it just looks like a diamond compared to the pile of horseshit I'm used to, but this one was more than fine by me. I'm still on the "Trooper Needs a New Finish" bandwagon though.
Bischoff talks to Trooper at ringside and Bisch mentions that Trooper was seconds away from being the champ. Trooper says he's disappointed and that if there were any doubts about whether he could handle top competition, he washed the doubts away. He says that instead of Larryland, Zbyszko was headed for Dreamland. I didn't even know that Dusty had a park. Trooper says that they're not through and they won't be through until the belt is around his waist. Bischoff is in front of the greenscreen and we see the finish of the match again from a couple seconds ago, as well as the end of Trooper's post-match promo. Bischoff says that no matter how you feel about Larry Zbyszko, he manages to come out on top, but if Trooper gets another shot, Zbyszko might not be so lucky. That's it, we're done, we're out of time!!
Final Thoughts
Again with the boring show. The first four matches were essentially pointless and the main event was good, but nowhere near enough to save the show. You can see Verne protecting his talent and trying to save the few money matchups he knows he has left because you're not seeing anything significant on these shows at all. At least on the old Showboat shows you'd get a decent match, a couple of squashes and a hot main event on a regular basis. This is just more and more squash and then a passable or decent main event. Bleah. Ah well, at least it's not the UWF...
From Ryan: "Am I the only one who though young Norton looked like Doug from "The King of Queens" cousin that work in the delivery place with him? "
I thought that as well actually. He certainly looked a little different than his usual look we got used to in his WCW run. Not much, but enough for it to be distracting.
From t-money: "Norton was so underutilized in the WCW.. He could have been a fantastic vader like monster heel but instead he was a NWO lackey at best. I was always a fan of him, but it's sad that he never got over in the US. I've always kind of wondered what would've happened had he been in the WWF at that time.
Interesting seeing him in the AWA even with the lame "flapjacks" gimmick."
I agree about Norton possibly being Vader-esque, but the thing of it is that Vader could work a little bit as well. Norton seemed to be all power and didn't quite have the pyschology that Vader had. I could be way off, but without the pyschology or charisma, no one's going to want to see you top a card, and as such Norton never did in America.
From Dave: "Well on the plus side no Lurtsema on that episode.(I guess I'm still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea. A ref that blatantly helps faces win matches. That's one of the worst ideas I've ever heard of, worse than naming a guy "The Final Solution". I can't remember, do eventually the heels get fed up and beat him senseless or is there no payoff?)
Oh well I might as well make a couple of comments. As for Norton I wouldn't have been surprised if Verne wanted to name him Scott "The Flasher" Norton when he first came in.(But it'd probably only take 2-3 hours to talk him out of it. Oh well, flapjack isn't that bad for a guy with a lumberjack gimmic. Then again it probably took another 8 or 9 hours to explain to Verne why having them sing "I'm a Lumberjack" would be a bad idea.) Admittedly he worked a bit stiff but on the other hand it didn't look like he'd break the guy's neck like DiSalvo.
Can't remember much about the second match and the only thing I remember about the Trooper's match is Lee saying that he'd have a hard time getting by whatever that other guy's name was.(Yes, as if there was any doubt who would win.)
As for the final match. Umm, I've been watching wrestling for over 20 years. I've seen alot of guys nobody has heard of like Johnny K9 and even still remember Canada's greatest athlete, Iron Mike Sharpe. I mention this because before this I've never heard of Jonnie Stewart and have no idea who the hell he is or why he's in the main event or why they're talking about him like he's something special.(Ok, I missed the other day) I mean hell, they probably would have been better off having Jackie Stewart wrestle since at least people have heard of him. "
Johnie Stewart was essentially in the midst of his only run ever with any of the majors. He had this bit with the AWA and then when the promotion dried up, he kind of faded in and out of the indy scene. I also want to touch on your thoughts on Lee Marshall's commentary and I agree that it's been cracking me up to hear him suggest that guys like Jamie Magnum or Todd Becker are guys that you have to get through to get a title shot. The idea is laughable at best and retarded at worst.
From Guest: "Johnnie Stewart in the main event. Who's next Stevie Colbert? "
Well played, sir. Well played.
From Guest. : "Only thing I could think of with Flapjack Norton was that this is a guy who would go on to be a future holder of the IWGP title.
Stewart, I'm not sure, but I wanted to hate him when he was in his match, and he did a passable job there, so it wasn't as bad as I'd hoped. Anyways, random tidbits of info I found on him after looking him up on OWW:
# AWA Heavyweight title defeating Larry Gilgorovich (1996);
February 29, 2000 - Shakedown: George Steele defeated "Illustrious" Johnnie Stewart for the "presidency" of AWA Superstars..
So there you go, future "AWA" champion everyone. "
And I'm sure that Stewart's "AWA" title reign and a quarter could get him a half a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Lord knows that shit is almost as expensive as gas. It is kind of funny to see Flapjack floundering in the US with that dumb nickname and then stop to consider that he would hold Japan's most prestigious pro-wrestling title. He seemed to be built more towards the Japanese fans though, who care more about in-ring than mic work, which was Norton's weakness. He wasn't the greatest worker in the world, but he could do enough to get the people into the matches and his size meant that people would be paying attention already. So yes, while he may not have gotten over in the AWA to the extent that Stewart has, I'd say that Norton's pretty happy with how things worked out.
From Robert Tivari: "Going back to the Football match that aired a week ago. I remember watching that match on ESPN when I was about 8 or 9 years old. At the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I hadn't seen it in the 18 years since it originally aired so I was curious as to if it was as cool as I remembered it being. OH MY LORD! Did that match suck! I almost kind of wish I didn't watch it last week because it has now forever tainted my memory of that match and just how bad it was. Why is it (especially when it comes to wrestling) that things can seem so awesome when you're a kid, but when you watch it as an adult, you realize how bad it sucks? "
Ah, the naivete of youth. I too have to admit that there were things that I LOVED seeing on wrestling as a kid that are absolutely repugnant in my older years. I think that's probably the best way to explain it. When you're young, you don't so much look behind the curtain, you just enjoy something for what it is. When you're older, you expect more and you expect things to be entertaining.
From Guest#8961: "Johnny K9 I remember from SMW. The Trooper actually is Del Wilkes otherwise known as the Patriot. He and D J Peterson were the last AWA tag champs. Peterson sadly died a few months later in a car crash "
Solid info and I'm curious if we'll get to see that title change, which was essentially the last in the rich history of the real AWA.
From Bryan: "The Lumberjack interview was great just for the part where Bischoff asks Norton what he thinks of his nickname. Norton looks either caught off guard or embarrassed to answer, but his response was that he just loves them flapjacks.
There was a pretty funny news story two years ago involving Johnnie Stewart. Apparently he works as a motivational speaker and a school in Utah hired him to give a speech. The only problem was that the school had though they hired Jon Stewart from The Daily Show for the speech. Luckily, the school caught this in time before "Illustrious Johnnie" showed up and they canceled the event. "
Ok, THIS is the kind of story that makes me laugh. I mean, I feel badly for Stewart because it had to be a bit of an ego blow, but it's still hilarious that they thought they had the REAL Jon Stewart and not the ham-and-egger. As for Norton's response, he honestly looked like he realized how horrible a nickname it was and that momentary pause was his career flashing before his eyes.
Finally, from Kayfaber: "Larry cut a good heel promo, but I thought the best part was the Lumberjacks -- both their aura of toughness and their promos. Scott Norton looked like he couldn't possibly care less that he was being interviewed, and Bischoff's over-the-top sell of the number of flapjacks consumed was classic. "
As I said in the review, Bischoff's sell on the flapjack record was a great throwback to the memory of good old Larry Nelson and his freak-outs. That part is always pretty damn funny and Bischoff appears to have taken up the cause in Nelson's absence.
More UWF goodness coming soonly as there were two blocks of episodes this weekend, and more AWA coming tomorrow. Come on back to check it all out, if you dare!
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:06:12 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Match One: Spike Jones vs. Yukon John Nord w/Scott Norton
Todd Becker, the jobber, is the referee for this particular match, which is a little different scenario than it would be with Steve Olsonoski, who refereed while he was inactive as a wrestler. Nord and Norton do their little chopping, shoulderblocking ritual and their little ear-rubbing thing and JONES ATTACKS NORD FROM BEHIND!! Forearms to the back and Jones hammers him with right hands to the gut, but Nord fires back with some shots of his own. Irish whip by Nord and IT'S BEAVER SHOT TIME!! Nord catches Jones by the hair and throws him out to the floor, following him out and it's ANOTHER BEAVER SHOT!! Nord howls to the crowd and SLAMS JONES ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR!! Nord rolls Jones back into the ring and stomps on his head, Irish whipping him into the ropes for a BIG shoulderblock.HOOOOOOOWWWWLLLLLING LEGDROP!!! It's all over folks, and there's the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Yukon John Nord (pinfall, howling legdrop)
Match Analysis: Nord hammers a jobber. The end.
Bischoff has Nord at ringside and Nord says tells the story about the pancakes again and tries to get over the "Flapjack" Norton nickname again. Nord says that he got the nickname for being the toughest man alive and eating the most pancakes than anyone alive. I'm not sure what the first one has to do with the nickname, but whatever. Norton says that they're the biggest and strongest tag-teams in the AWA today and he says that they're stronger, bigger and meaner than life. Norton and Nord chop the SHIT out of each other, saying "We don't care, and we're not scared" over and over on each chop.
Match Two: Jim Evans vs. Johnnie Stewart
Ralph Strangis tries to get over his Zsa Zsa joke again about Stewart's robe, which is the same robe that it has been for EVERY other match. Stewart starts out quick with an arm-wringer into a takeover, following that with a legdrop on the arm and an armbar. Irish whip by Stewart into a reverse elbow that puts Evans onto his ass. Big bodyslam from Stewart into an elbowdrop and he lays across Evans for a two-count. Elbows and a turnbuckle smash by Stewart and they trade some weak chops against the ropes before Evans gets an Irish whip into the corner. If you don't know what's coming next, you haven't watched a lot of AWA. Evans misses the charge and eats buckle. Stewart adjusts his kneepad, with Marshall and Strangis suggesting it's a loaded kneepad, and he whips Evans in for a knee to the chest. There's the cover and there's the three-count, so I guess it probably was loaded.
Winner: Johnnie Stewart (pinfall, loaded knee)
Match Analysis: The same match that we saw from Stewart when he got disqualified, just with him winning. That's about the only difference really. The loaded kneepad is kind of a fun thing from an angle perspective, but really, that whole idea of loading a mask or a boot or an elbowpad was kind of passe. Surprise, surprise, that makes it nearly a fresh idea in the AWA.
Stewart drops down and poses a little before he jumps over the top rope to exit the ring. Ralph and Lee get all indignant on the replay when Stewart turns the brace, and we've got Bischoff with Johnnie Stewart at ringside. Bischoff asks what Stewart would spend his TCS winnings on and Stewart says that he'd choose some good-looking women from TWA. He brings up the AWA Light Heavyweight Championship and that after he goes through some punks, he'll have the belt. Don't call him Johnnie, don't call him "spoiled brat", just call him CHAMP!!
Team Challenge Series report time and Lee Marshall talks about how busy Nikita Koloff has been in the TCS, as a wild card pick for Sarge's Snipers. We hear about last week's TCS match where Koloff's opponent swore he'd beat Koloff in four minutes. Koloff beat him, not surprisingly and we see that Baron's Blitzers are on top, but thanks to the two points from Nikita Koloff, Sarge's Snipers have moved into second place. Lee talks about the unease with Larry's Legends about their third place showing so far and that as the TCS winds down, the team is in a slump with no wins in five weeks.
Match Three: Rick McCord and DJ Peterson vs. The Tokyo Bullets
Those look like the whitest Japanese wrestlers this side of Jamie-san. Holy merciful Christ, McCord looks like a preacher at a gay Las Vegas wedding chapel with a white tuxedo jacket complete with tails, gold lame bow tie, bleached blond mustache and no shirt. McCord and the Blue bullet start out and Blue pushes McCord into the corner and hammers him int he gut, trying for an Irish whip but McCord reverses it and hits a back bodydrop into an armdrag takeover. Legdrop on the arm and an armbar by McCord and Blue tags in Black bullet. Hip toss by McCord on Black and a tag to Peterson. Peterson goes to the short ribs for a punch and then takes Black over with a gut-wrench suplex for a two-count. Another suplex gets missed and Peterson hits a BIG release German suplex before tagging in McCord. Irish whip into a double-back bodydrop and McCord follows it up with an elbowdrop and a dropkick as we cut to the crowd to see a masked man in the front row. McCord follows up the dropkick with an Irish whip but Blue saves Black and holds him back to make McCord miss the dropkick. Tag from Black to Blue and they whip McCord into the ropes for a double-shoulderblock! Blue picks him up and tags Black back in and there's a shot to the ribs followed by Black snap maring him over. Black misses with the elbowdrop and there's the tag to Peterson. Irish whip from Peterson and he tries a kick in the gut but Black blocks it. Enziguri by Peterson and Black takes a somersault bump off of it. Another Irish whip and Peterson hits a BIG powerslam, tagging in McCord for a FLYING BODYPRESS OFF THE TOP ROPE!! McCord gets the pinfall and the three-count!
Winners: Rick McCord and DJ Peterson (pinfall, flying bodypress)
Match Analysis: Once you get past McCord's Rock n' Roll Express rip-off outfit, he's actually a pretty decent worker. You can tell that these two have had experience tagging before because they were pretty fluid in their tags and had a sense of where the other would be. As for the Bullets...well I guess their masks matched. There's something positive for them to focus on moving forward.
McCord and Peterson stop by Eric Bischoff's section of floor for a chat and DJ says that McCord has been wrestling for about ten years and that he's got experience. He says that he should be bitter about all the things that The Destruction Crew has done to him, but that he's happy because now he has his old partner back. McCord talks about winning the Central States Tag Championship with Peterson and says that he's in the AWA for one reason, and that he's going to help "Dave". He promises that The Crew better be ready for the fight of their lives.
Eric Bischoff welcomes us back and runs through the end of last week's main event with The Trooper and Larry Zbyszko for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. We pick it up in the last three minutes and get the entire finish of the match, including Trooper's post-match interview.
Match Four: AWA World Heavyweight Championship Brad Rheingans vs. Larry Zbsyzko (c)
Zbyszko goes through his exhaustive stalling that he's made famous, while Marshall goes on about Zbyszko's amateur wrestling experience. Zbyszko hits the apron for a timeout and then looks disgusted by the chant coming from the spudheads at ringside. He finally makes his way into the ring and backs off of a lockup attempt, yelling at the crowd and then hitting the floor AGAIN! He gets on the house mic and says that he doesn't suck. Zbyszko's back in the ring and they finally hit a lockup with Rheingans pushing Zbyszko into the ropes and giving him a clean break. Zbyszko hits his usual fireman's carry opener, but Rheingans gets a headscissors to reverse, holding it until Zbyszko makes the ropes. Zbyszko gets to his feet and immediately complains about a hairpull. Another lockup and Rheingans pushes Zbyszko into the ropes and grabs a headlock. Zbyszko shoots him off and eats a shoulderblock, but follows that up with a hip toss on Rheingans. Rheingans follows THAT with a kick out that knocks Zbyszko onto his pompous ass and it's right back to the side headlock with a takeover. Zbyszko grabs a handful of tights and brings Rheingans over for a couple of two-counts but referee Gary DeRusha sees the tights being pulled and breaks up the pin attempt. Zbyszko shoots Rheingans into the ropes and tries for a back bodydrop but Rheingans gets around him and scores with an amateur wrestling roll-up that gets a two-count!!
Zbyszko hops back to his feet but Rheingans takes him right back down with a side headlock, leading to Zbyszko pulling the tights to get another pin attempt and DeRusha actually counts three, but Rheingans got his shoulder up so the match goes on. Zbyszko shoots Rheingans off into the ropes and eats a shoulderblock but drops down on the next one and sends Rheingans through the ropes to the floor. Rheingans up to the apron and he hits Zbyszko with a shoulderblock and gets a SUNSET FLIP OVER THE TOP ROPE!! 1-2...NOOOOO, Zbyszko kicks out!! Zbyszko shoots Rheingans into the ropes and it's a double-shoulderblock that puts both men down. They're back to their feet but Zbyszko hits a spinning back kick and puts Rheingans back down. Right hands from Zbyszko and he chokes Rheingans across the top rope for good measure. Belly to back suplex from Zbyszko and he gets a long, long two-count off of that one before he chokes Rheingans against the middle rope. Rheingans buries a right hand into Zbyszko's gut and another and Rheingans hits a belly to back suplex of his own!! Rheingans rolls him over and gets a long two-count but Zbyszko gets up first, hitting a HUGE vertical suplex. Zbyszko with the cover and another two-count and he goes to the reverse chinlock to soften Rheingans up a little more.
Rheingans powers to his feet and tries to break the hold, but Zbyszko pulls the hair and drags him back down to the mat. Zbyszko gets a couple of two-counts off of the hold and screams at DeRusha to ring the bell, but it's not happening and Rheingans gets back to his feet! Elbows to the gut from Rheingans and Zbyszko WAFFLES him with a pair of right hands that drop Rheingans. He picks Rheingans up and locks in the ABDOMINAL STRECH OF MILD DISCOMFORT!! Zbyszko pulls the tights behind the referee's back but it's to no avail as Rheingans has REVERSED THE STRETCH!! Zbyszko fights out of it and hip tosses Rheingans over for a long two-count before going back to the chinlock, using the bottom rope for additional leverage. Zbyszko almost puts Rheingans out and it's comical to hear him yelling at the timekeeper's table to "RING THE BELL!!!", almost pleading with them to do it. Rheingans gets back to his feet and elbows out of the hold again, raking Zbyszko's eyes to a pop from the crowd. TURNBUCKLE SMASH ON ZBYSZKO!! HIP TOSS!! CLOTHESLINE!! Zbyszko's bouncing around the ring like he's got spring-loaded underwear on and Rheingans rakes Zbyszko's eyes with his boots!! Gut-wrench suplex from Rheingans and he gets the pinfall for the 1-2...NOOO ZBYSZKO KICKS OUT!! Rheingans Irish whips Zbyszko into the corner but MISSES THE CHARGE!! ZBYSZKO WITH THE CRADLE!! FEET ON THE ROPES!! 1-2-3!!! THE BELT IS GOING BACK TO LARRYLAND, BITCHES!!
Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, rope-assisted cradle)
Match Analysis: Not a bad little match and probably better than the match with Zbyszko and Trooper, just because Rheingans could work and knew psychology pretty well. Zbyszko could have had this match with virtually anyone that was left in the AWA and gotten it over to varying degrees. How good the match would be was more based on his opponent's skill level rather than his. He's clearly the top guy and pretty much all the AWA has left at this point.
Bischoff has Brad Rheingans with him and Larry Zbyszko's still jawing at Rheingans at ringside. Rheingans says that nothing is settled and that the only place Larryland exists is in between Zbyszko's ears. Rheingans is PISSED off over the loss. Imagine how much more pissed he'll be when he sees that Zbyszko had his feet on the ropes.
Bischoff talks about the finish of the match and lays out the next show which will feature The Destruction Crew, Nikita Koloff, The Trooper and much, much more. Bisch thanks us all for watching and asks us all to come back next week and that's the show. If he knew how many of his checks were going to bounce, I bet he'd be begging.
Final Thoughts
Not the best show that the AWA could have come up with, but certainly not the worst. The main event was a little better and the jobber matches seemed to have a little bit more oomph to them. I'm not at all suggesting that it was somehow a good show, but it was bearable, which is a lot when it comes to the AWA in June of 1990. Things are getting pretty close to being through actually, since the promotion fell into inactivity beginning in the fall of 1990. The shows kept running on ESPN, but the AWA essentially fell into a slow death crawl in the fall, including Zbyszko leaving for WCW. Still not good though, so it's going to be a two-jugger. I'm pretty much expecting two-juggers to be the standard from here on in.
Fun With Comments
From piperfan01: "When I saw Magnum vs Nikita, I got excited, but then I saw Jamie Magnum and I became limp again. how the AWA got Nikita, i'll never know, but I still enjoy watching him to this day. By the way Kayfabe commentaries has a new DVD out that talks to Nikita and Magnum(not Jamie) about their feud. They did a simular one with Valentine and Santana that was very very interesting. Johnnie Stewart on the other hand is not interesting, if there was anyone that I would like to see get squashed its him. Can we get him in a handicap match with Flapjack Norton and Nord, throw in the Texas Hangmen as well. Eh, while we are at it let DeBeers squash him as well, thats how much I dislike him. I would rather watch 3 Boris Zukhoff matches...In a row! But like you said, at least it's not the UWF... "
It sounds like KC is putting out some good stuff with their guest booker series and now these feud ones. I would be interested to see the Magnum/Nikita one since I didn't get a lot of NWA stuff back then. I like your idea for squashing the boring ones, but we'd have to make sure that Greg Gagne came out of retirement to catch his beating too!
From Steve: "I think Bischoff's "Let's get to the ring for the announcements" is the new "Down to ringside to Rod Trongard and Lord James Blears" in the fact that Bischoff said his phrase before the matches took place, and Larry Nelson said his phrase before the matches started.
I noticed when the bell rang for the Carlson/DeBeers match that there were kids walking away from the arena. I guess they were tired of seeing weekly Col. DeBeers squashes for the past 4 years that DeBeers has been with the AWA.
Here's an interesting thing that I noticed on Friday's show: On commentary, Ralph talked about The Trooper saying that he believed in "Saying no to drugs". Well, look who has been appearing on all of these specials on drugs & pro wrestling. Yep, it's The Trooper himself, Del Wilkes, because he took steroids for many years. At least he's being a role model now, since he doesn't do drugs anymore and he's telling other pro wrestlers to learn from his mistakes."
Yeah, it's good to see that Wilkes is able to take his experience and possibly turn it into something positive, rather than carrying on and railing against everyone like most bitter, ex-pro wrestlers tend to do. As for Bischoff, I'm sure that he just didn't realize he was saying the same thing over and over, which is ok. Or he did know he was saying it over and over, and it was REALLY annoying and kind of prick-ish of him.
From Guest. : "Got to love Verne with the topical humor, like "Bart Whimpson" or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Spudheads. Although, come to think of it, it might've actually been topical in 1990, so he's got Vince Russo beat there. I'm also stealing Scrotum's bit here, but
"He says that instead of Larryland, Zbyszko was headed for Dreamland. I didn't even know that Dusty had a park."
just caused me to burst out laughing. My brother looked at me just weird after that. Anyways, promos saved this show, as Verne has gone from relying on the Midnight Rockers to relying on Curt Hennig to relying on Badd Company to relying on Larry Zbyszko to make shows entertaining. I love Larry, but he's no Hennig, he's no Rockers. Badd Company..... eh, they put on better matches, but Zbyszko's promos outclass them, even/especially with DDP as their mouthpiece. The main event just screamed more than usual "This is all we have, please buy house show tickets to see this so we can live." "
Pretty much everything screamed that for the AWA at that point, since I'm sure they were pretty much living show to show. I agree that Larry can't hold a candle to half of the talent that the AWA had during their run, but he was pretty much the best thing going and in 1986 was probably one of the most over heels they had and one of the best in all of wrestling. As for pop culture in the AWA, I'm pretty sure that Verne had never watched television, even his own show, based on how many things slipped through that seem inexcusable, so I'm sure that it was either Greg or one of the Gagne grandkids keeping Verne in the loop. I'm also glad that you enjoy my stuff and glad that you got a kick out of that one. I admit that I giggled a little as I typed it out.
From Bill_TX: "For some reason, what I found funniest about this show was Enos' dopey smile while Bloom was talking. Did ghl always look mildly stoned like that? Anyway, horrible show and great review!! "
Thanks for the compliment and yes, it was a horrible, horrible show.
From Robert Tivari: "Do you think there is any chance that we'll see WCCW after this AWA run finishes? I know McMahon owns the WCCW footage, but he also owns the AWA footage as well. ESPN has the rebroadcast rights to the AWA shows, so wouldn't ESPN also have the rebroadcast rights to the Legends of WCCW series as well? "
It's tricky, but I suppose anything is possible. If ESPN decides to exercise their re-broadcast rights, I would love for them to show that WCCW stuff. I didn't get to see hardly any of it on the first go-round and had to rely on Apter mags to get my fix of Texas goodness.
From Rob: "What was the deal with Wayne Bloom always cutting off Mike Enos? It always seemed weird and should have led to Enos turning on his partner.
Jonnie Stewart - the love child of Chris Candido and Billy Joe Travis. That was a nice elbow he dropped from the top rope, but everything else about him was as generic as it can get.
I find it amazing that the AWA could draw the number of people that it did in 1990. Watching this show has become more of an endurance test than anything else."
I always noticed that too. I'm not sure if it was to sow the seeds for a face turn, but it certainly got Bloom attention as a loud, obnoxious asshole. The elbow Stewart dropped looked good in full-speed, but on the replay it really looked like he barely made contact. Yes, watching this show has become a test of wills, but the AWA will not break me. I AM UNBREAKABLE!!
From Jasper: "I had totally forgotten about Johnnie Stewart until tonight's show. Now I was I could keep forgetting him. He looks like Chris Candido with down-syndrome.
Wow, the Russina Sickle was much more impressive when I was 8 years old.
Col. Debeers is the one of the only thing that keeps me watchin the show. For some reason I enjoy watchin him squash jobbers and I think his "cowardly heel" act is something that is missing now-a-days. Plus points for the badass stache.
Larry Z reminds me alot of a friend of mine. So much its pretty creepy. "
DeBeers mustache was always an instant winner for me. Pretty much any move looks more impressive when you're eight, but I would say that for clotheslines, I always liked Koloff's, as well as Stan Hansen's LARIATTTTOOOOOOO. In later years, JBL's Clothesline From Hell has always looked crazy and stiff as all hell. I don't blame you for forgetting Stewart, he's pretty forgettable.
From MemphisHeel: "Jonnie Stewart was decent, easily the best of the last crop of stars Gagne tried to create.
Anyone know the name of his entrance theme? "
That would be Pump Up The Jam, by Technotronic, some dance outfit from the late 80's and early 90's. Pretty much one-hit wonder territory if I remember correctly.
Finally, from Dave: "This is so weird. I mean I make all these cracks about horrendous ideas Verne has.(You know, the lousy puns I make.) Then it turns out we get something like "Bart Wimpson" which had to come straight from Verne and it's so horrid I could have written it in a comment. It makes my head spin.
Anyway what was the deal with the Hangman match? That jobber got right up from the first Hangman Elbow like it was nothing but then remember to stay down after the second.(And why would you show the first in the replay, to prove to people your post production is garbage?)
Of course Larry is still good at his craft and carried the Trooper to a decent match.(Man, if there was any question if he's on the roids look at all the freaking backne on him.) Of course it's pretty pathetic how far down hill the promotion has slipped at this point.(Did anybody else notice when Nikita was leaving after the win they accidently showed that front section of the audience that was almost empty.)
Actually the weirdest part of this whole AWA thing is that the first time I saw that commercial for the vacuum cleaner they always show I thought the pitch guy was Verne.(Yes, I'm serious this time. Hey it makes sense since if it was him he could have said just like my AWA this vacuum really sucks.) "
Verne pitching vacuum cleaners is enough to make me laugh for days, so thank you for that visual. The only thing that would be funnier would be picturing him selling them at county fairs or things of that nature, like some smarmy huckster. I did in fact notice that they accidentally showed the camera side and that there was like six people there. I guess that's what happens when you move everyone to hard camera to make it look like your promotion isn't dying.
Did you happen to catch that little jab Lee Marshall made at the Warrior? He didn't mention Warrior by name, but he said something to the effect of guys from other organizations taking steroids, painting their faces and talking like dorks.
I remember when I was a kid, WCCW shared the afternoon timeslot with AWA on ESPN. The AWA shows aired once a week, while WCCW usually were aired the other 4 weekdays. Its too bad you missed out on WCCW during its initial run. I was a little too young to remember WCCW's heyday from 1983-86 but being that ESPN aired the shows from previous years in the late 80's/early 90's when I was a little older, I pretty much got to see the entire lifespan of the company. I don't remember it dying an embarrassing death like the AWA did either. It at least got a proper send off when it was rebranded as the USWA.
One thing that sucks is that stupid ESPN cut ahead about 2 months in the current 1990 AWA shows. ESPN was notorious for airing shows out of order, even back in the day
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:07:23 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Bischoff welcomes us to the show and runs it down with Nikita Koloff, Psycho of The Texas Hangmen, Scott Norton, Larry Zbyszko and an AWA Tag Team Championship main event, all coming up after the break!!
We get the end of the Trooper/Zbyszko match AGAIN, instead of an actual match. I haven't said it yet, but Zbyszko's sell of the pinch is fantastic. His shoulders are all hunched up and his face is contorted, yet he still looks so damn comical.
Match One: Kent Carlson vs. The Trooper
Todd Becker in charge again for this one and they hit a lockup with that masked man in the front row again, getting some camera time. Not sure which angle this is, but I'm sure it'll come back to me. Or never get paid off. This is the AWA after all. Carlson pushes Trooper into the corner and works him over with some forearms and right hands, but Trooper gets some lefts of his own in and picks Carlson up in a double-choke and throws him into the corner. Paintbrush from Trooper and he tells Carlson to run the ropes for a shoulderblock. After two attempts, Trooper hasn't budged and he hits a powerslam on the third attempt. Left hands into an Irish whip and Trooper gets a reverse elbow before he picks Carslon up for another Irish whip. Punch to the gut by Trooper and he follows it with a belly to back suplex before moving to a standing arm-wringer. Carlson goes to the eyes to break the hold and then rakes them again for good measure, trying to choke Trooper against the top rope. Irish whip from Carlson and Trooper gets a knee to the gut and then whips Carlson into the ropes for an ALABAMA SLAM!! Trooper flexes and talks a little shit before whipping Carlson in for a HUGE dropkick. Marshall goes into his spiel about Trooper being all natural with no chemicals, no steroids, no artificial sweeteners, no trans fats, no MSG and low sodium. Trooper locks in the NECK MASSAGER and Carlson catches a nap, causing the referee to call for the bell.
Winner: The Trooper (submission, neck massager)
Match Analysis: Eh. Trooper wrestles the same match, no matter the opponent. He gets in his stuff and hits his spots, but there's not a lot else going on. That bit on Marshall going on about steroids is hilarious in retropspect, but the match is pretty bland.
Trooper is with Bischoff and he talks about how good Trooper looks. Trooper says he's looking bigger and stronger because he really is bigger and stronger. He talks about the kids at ringside and tells them all to stay out of trouble for Uncle Trooper. Okay, that was a little gay. He tells Zbyszko to look out for his behind too. Okay, that's a LOT gay. He clarifies and says he's not through with Zbyszko and that he's young, vibrant, has a great personality and loves long walks on the beach and that once he and Zbyszko start, they're just going to keep going and going and going. Okay, that's SUPER-GAY. Trooper promises that he's going to be the next AWA World Heavyweight Champion and heads off-camera, allowing Eric Bischoff to do his best Geraldo impression on the throw to break.
We're back from the break to see the end of a Nikita Koloff/Mike George match that was shown on last week's TCS report. We join it with George getting a backbreaker in and following that with a reverse chinlock. Knee to Koloff's back and another and he grabs a front facelock to drag Koloff to his feet. Koloff counters into a standing arm-wringer and some right hands but George rakes the eyes and goes back to work on Koloff. Irish whip into the corner by George and he starts choking Koloff against the ropes in the corner before moving to an outright choke. Koloff catches George with an elbow coming in and rams him into the top turnbuckle over and over before leveling him with a big right hand. Irish whip into a shoulderblock and Koloff pushes George into the corner for some knees. Koloff with an Irish whip into the corner but George reverses and sends Koloff into the buckle. Another Irish whip into the corner by George and he charges but misses and shoulders the turnbuckle, turning around just in time for a RUSSIAN SICKLE and a pinfall. George attacks after the pin and then backs off and retreats to the locker room.
After that little clip, Bischoff is with the AWA Champ, Larry Zbyszko and Zbyszko says that it's lucky for Trooper that he ran out of time because he was getting sick of Trooper's tactics. Zbyszko says that Trooper and Koloff should wrestle each other to decide who's going to get the next one-way ticket to Larryland. Bischoff says that it's an easy way for Zbyszko to eliminate half of his competition, but I actually think it makes sense. Zbyszko says it's the only way to be fair and that it takes him back to a time when men were men and women kept their mouths shut. That's right, bitch!! Get back in that Larryland kitchen and FIX THAT MAN A CORNDOG!! Zbyszko says that they need to do it the right way, by climbing the steps one at a time, bringing up how he retired Sammartino and Bockwinkel and then says that the belt is happiness. Ex-wife and her boyfriend dying in a car wreck kind of happiness. I'm not even making it up, that's what he said. He says that the happiness belongs to him and that he's the undisputed Heavyweight Champion of YOUR world, JACK!!
It's Team Challenge Series report time and Bischoff bullshits at how people are loving the series and loving following it from week to week. Lee Marshall talks about The Texas Hangmen and The Lumberjacks and how Killer faced Yukon John and how that match ended with Psycho trying to hang Nord. The one point for the disqualification gives Baron's Blitzers a three-point lead over Sarge's Snipers and a five-point lead over Larry's Legends.
Match Two: Jim Evans vs. Psycho w/Killer
Killer rings his own bell on the outside and Psycho pushes Evans into the ropes off of a lockup and slaps him in the face. Forearms from Psycho and Evans gets a standing arm-wringer, but Psycho cuts it off. Hammerlock from Evans and Psycho elbows him in the face, snap maring him over and dragging him to the apron for a BIG elbow. Psycho distracts the referee to let Killer do some choking on the outside and Psycho snap mares him again, picking up the legs for a stomp to the gut. Bodyslam from Psycho and he goes for a pair of big elbowdrops but Evans rolls out of the way, kicking Psycho away and getting an armdrag takeover. Irish whip from Psycho and Evans does some good work with a leapfrog but Psycho kicks him in the gut and takes him over with a swinging neckbreaker that gets a two-count. RUNNING POWERSLAM from Psycho and he gets another two-count, but picks Evans up before the three. DDT from Psycho and THERE'S the three-count!!
Winner: Psycho (pinfall, DDT)
Match Analysis: Psycho laid a beating on him. And by beating I mean a soul-crushing. Fun to watch, solely because Evans was bouncing around like a superball on cocaine, but other than that, just the usual Hangmen's squash in singles instead of tag team.
Match Three: Tom Bennett vs. Scott "Flapjack" Norton
Marshall and Strangis get in the story about Norton and pancakes for about the millionth time and Norton and Nord chop the shit out of each other to pump Norton up. Lockup and Bennett gets dumped onto his ass a couple of times before he grabs a side headlock. Norton picks Benett up and carries him over to the top turnbuckle, sitting him up there and patting him on the back. I guess they teach you how to be a patronizing asshole when you work up at the lumber camp too. Bennett with some forearms to the chest and Norton completely no-sells them, hitting a variation of a one-armed chokeslam. BIG chops in the corner from Norton and he whips Bennett across for a big pancake out of the corner. Irish whip into the ropes and Norton hits a HUGE POWERSLAM for the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Scott Norton (pinfall, powerslam)
Match Analysis: Norton kills bitches. That is all.
From that match, we head back to the interview area with The Destruction Crew. Bloom says that Bischoff is talking about how Peterson and McCord actually have a chance. He wonders aloud if Central States is some kind of regional deal and then says that they're the WORLD Tag Team Champions. Actually Wayne, Central States IS a regional deal that covers, funnily enough, the Central United States. You take that and put it in your pocket, Mr. Bloom. He says that they're going to stay champions and that there's no way that Peterson and McCord are going to take them down. Bloom says that Nord and Norton are big and strong, but that they didn't get to be champs by beating up punks. Bloom makes fun of them for chopping each other on the chest and says that a team has to work in sync, like The Destruction Crew does. Okay, so if Eric is Lance, and Mike is Joey, who does that make Wayne? Bloom says that they have eyes in the backs of their heads and that no one is going to beat The Destruction Crew. If The Lumberjacks think they're going to do it, they can keep wishing and the Crew will send them back to the lumberyard.
Match Four: AWA World Tag Team Championship DJ Peterson and Ric McCord vs. The Destruction Crew w/Christopher Love
No idea who the hell Christopher Love is in the AWA context, since he just kind of showed up with them, but in non-kayfabe circles, he's Bert Prentice, long-time Tennessee promoter. The Crew shove around McCord and Peterson and attack before the bell with Enos kneeing McCord to the mat and then heading over to help Bloom double-team Peterson. They drop DJ with a double-back bodydrop and Bloom and Peterson start this one out for reals. Bloom stomps away at Peterson and tags in Enos as they double-team Peterson in the corner. Enos picks him up and carries him around over his shoulder, ramming him into the turnbuckle before hitting the BIG running powerslam!! That was pretty awesome. Tag to Bloom and they whip Peterson into the ropes, missing a double-clothesline and Peterson HITS ONE OF HIS OWN!! DOUBLE-DROPKICK AND THE CREW IS TO THE FLOOR!! We get a shot of Christopher Love on the floor and Marshall talks about how Love was the original manager for Tully Blanchard and how he's brought Tully back to the AWA. Then it turns to Love and Lord Humongous and that he's with The Crew now as well.
We see the masked man at ringside again and I'm REALLY hoping they pay this one off before they shut the doors. Otherwise, I'll have to call Verne and ask him myself. Enos gets in and tries to get Peterson to shake his han...KICK TO THE GUT FROM ENOS!! Enos with an Irish whip into the corner and he misses the follow-up charge, allowing Peterson to take him over with an armdrag and tag in McCord. Double-legdrop on the arm by McCord and he tries to work an armbar but Enos picks him up and slams him hard, tagging in Bloom. Bloom runs right into a HUGE armdrag from McCord, into a straight armbar and there's the tag to Peterson, coming off the top rope onto Bloom's arm. Peterson takes Bloom down with a headscissors into a short-arm scissors, turning that into a straight armbar. Bloom pulls the hair and shoots Peterson into the ropes, missing a clothesline and taking a flying crossbody for two. Peterson takes him back down with an armdrag and then tags in McCord for a DOUBLE-HIPTOSS!! McCord cranks the armbar and Bloom sends him into the ropes, with a reversal from McCord into a back bodydrop!! Back to the armbar by McCord and he transitions that into a front-facelock.
Irish whip into the corner by McCord, reversed by Bloom and reversed again by McCord, sending Bloom into the buckles. Monkey flip by McCord and he goes right back to the armbar, tagging in Peterson to continue the punishment. Peterson pushes Bloom into the corner with the armbar and Bloom tries an Irish whip but Peterson reverses. Blind charge from Peterson misses and he's hurt in the corner as Bloom makes the tag over to Enos. BIG drop toehold from Peterson and he armbars Enos until Enos pushes him into the corner for some knees to the gut. Irish whip from Enos, reversed by Peterson into a monkey flip out of the corner!!
Bloom gets the tag and hammers on Peterson, pushing him into the ropes for a shot to the kidneys. Belly to back suplex from Bloom and they trade some right hands with Bloom coming out on top. He stomps Peterson's face and tags in Enos for a double-reverse elbow!! Enos with the cover and he gets a long two-count before whipping Peterson into the ropes for a POWERSLAM!! Another long two-count and Enos moves to the reverse chinlock, with the fans chanting and getting behind DJ. Peterson works some elbows into the gut and Enos sends him into the ropes and it's a SUNSET FLIP, BITCHES!! 1-2...NOOOO, BLOOM MAKES THE SAVE!! Chris Love distracts Gary DeRusha and in the ring, Peterson rolls up Bloom!! DeRusha finally over to count and it's another VERY near-fall. Enos tags in Bloom and Bloom picks him right up for a beautiful vertical suplex. Lackadaisical cover by Bloom only gets two and he picks Peterson up for a big bodyslam. Tag to Enos and he hits a headbutt off the ropes before hitting Peterson with a double-axehandle. Bodyslam from Enos and he heads up to the second rope, playing to the crowd and he MISSES THE SPLASH!! HOT TAG TO MCCORD!! RIGHT HANDS!! IRISH WHIP AND A BIIIIIIIIIIIG BACK BODYDROP!! BODYSLAM FROM PETERSON!! ALL FOUR MEN IN THE RING!! McCord locks in the abdominal stretch and has it cinched in, but the referee has to deal with getting Peterson back into his corner. Bloom climbs the ropes and WAFFLES McCord with a flying clothesline!!! Enos is on top, there's the pin and THERE'S THE THREE-COUNT!!
Winners: The Destruction Crew (pinfall, Bloom-ference)
Match Analysis: This was actually a pretty good little piece of business. Both teams had experience working with each other and worked well with each other, the sign of four decent veterans in the ring. The Crew keep their belts by continuing the cheapest shenanigans they can, which is always fun to see, but this still felt like there was something missing. Peterson and McCord didn't really have any star power and they seemed kind of beneath The Crew, making it hard to believe that they were going to win. It could just be me, but that's how I felt watching it.
Bischoff is at ringside, and he's got DJ Peterson and Ric McCord with him. Peterson says it's not an interview, it's a promise. One of these days, someone's going to catch the Crew cheating and that they're going to get the AWA World Tag Team Championships one way or another. McCord promises that they've been champions before and they'll be champions again and we're out of time!!
Final Thoughts
Well, they're not UWF bad, which is a plus since if I had to watch two shows that terrible, I'd consider taking my lifetime wrestling fan card and flushing it down the toilet. However, these AWA shows are just boring. The Zbyszko promo and the main event were the only highlights as the rest of the show was just kind of white noise. I remember it now because I just watched it,but if you asked me tomorrow what happened, I probably wouldn't be able to remember half of it. It used to be that Verne didn't rely on characters cause he had great wrestling. Now that the great wrestlers are all gone, he's got nothing.
Fun With Comments
From Robert Tivari: "Did you happen to catch that little jab Lee Marshall made at the Warrior? He didn't mention Warrior by name, but he said something to the effect of guys from other organizations taking steroids, painting their faces and talking like dorks.
I remember when I was a kid, WCCW shared the afternoon timeslot with AWA on ESPN. The AWA shows aired once a week, while WCCW usually were aired the other 4 weekdays. Its too bad you missed out on WCCW during its initial run. I was a little too young to remember WCCW's heyday from 1983-86 but being that ESPN aired the shows from previous years in the late 80's/early 90's when I was a little older, I pretty much got to see the entire lifespan of the company. I don't remember it dying an embarrassing death like the AWA did either. It at least got a proper send off when it was rebranded as the USWA.
One thing that sucks is that stupid ESPN cut ahead about 2 months in the current 1990 AWA shows. ESPN was notorious for airing shows out of order, even back in the day "
I did. It's pretty funny to hear him jabbing at Warrior then, but then kissing his ass when he came into WCW later on to work with Hogan. Such is the wrestling business. Yeah, I wasn't able to see much of the original WCCW run because the show didn't reach Canada, but I'm hoping that I can get to see it at some point, since it seems like it was pretty good television. I don't get the cut-aheads either, but I'm guessing that we're probably going to get to see all of the 1990 shows eventually.
From piperfan01: "Sometimes it's a struggle to have something to comment on these shows,so I give you all the respect in the world for having to recap them. I do have a question though, for how much longer do we actually have Larry Z to look forward to, when does he make his departure? Was there a storyline angle for his leaving? As far as Nikita's sickle goes, it was always more impressive when it hit people like Sam Houston, or Gary Royal or someone like that. When it hit a top star it never looked very good. Stan Hansen will always be the man as far as clotheslines go, I was never so happy as when he launched it on Lex Luger and pinned him. Gotta love the old school stars getting over with the most simplistic of moves, Hogans Leg Drop, Dusty and Boogie Woogie Man elbow smashes. In fact one of the angles I remember most as a kid was the whole Johnnie Weaver and the Weaver lock sleeperhold that he was teaching Dusty Rhodes. Damn those were the days, I even remember one time that blood capsules were used to really bring home the fact that this simple sleeperhold was so effective...Which brings me to another question, did Dusty ever have a run in the AWA or The Bill Watts UWF? "
Thanks for the respect, it can be difficult at times. I actually remember the Weaver lock and I believe it played heavily into a bout between Rhodes and..Luger I think. I'm trying to remember it from Dusty Rhodes' DVD set. In terms of UWF work, Dusty worked with the UWF guys when they did the merger, but I don't think he had a real run there.
And the answer to the Dusty question, from Steve: "Piperfan01, Dusty did have a run with the AWA around the beginning of his career, teaming up with Dick Murdoch as the Texas Outlaws. I believe that the AWA was Dusty's first major wrestling promotion which he wrestled regularly in, something that he shares in common with future rival Ric Flair.
I checked on the ESPN Mediazone site, and next Tuesday / early Wednesday's show will have a total of 9, that's right, 9 matches on the card! 5 are squashes, and 4 are random Triangle matches featuring a representative of a team in the Team Challenge Series. Also, be on the lookout for Larry Zbyszko defending his AWA World Title against the likes of DJ Peterson, Todd Becker, and even Harley Race! "
Nine fucking matches. That one could be a six-jugger my friends. Zbyszko/Peterson could be alright, Zbyszko/Becker is going to be terrible (though it could be fun if Zbyszko just kills him the whole match), and Zbyszko/Race could be tough to watch with the shape Harley was in at that point.
From Bryan: "To answer one of the questions above, Larry Z makes its all the way to the end of the AWA. If they end up showing the final episode, we will see him take on Harley Race. More important than that, we will see the return of Buck Zumhoff on that show.
This episode reminds me about how the AWA desperate for talent, had to take on the wrestlers from the recently folded Central States/WWA territory to fill up their roster. On this episode we see Peterson, McCord and a clip involving Mike George. Others from this territory that ended up in the AWA were Curtis Hughes, Akio Sato, The Nightstalker and The Russian Brute. "
So the Central States area is to be blamed for The Russian Brute. Nice. And you know what, I'm ALL ABOUT a Buck Zumhoffe return. That man could do no wrong in my eyes.
From Larry Nelson's Beard: "The man Nikita Koloff wrestled in the TCS report was Mike George. George was featured in the first episode of "Cheap Seats" when he defeated "Crazy" Luke Graham and his control top speedos. CONTROOOOOLLLL ITTTT!!!!
I'm suffering from Larry Nelson withdrawl. How long til we go back to the 1986 shows, so that I may witness "Hairy Larry" in all his coked-out drunken goodness. "
Glad to have you aboard Larry's beard. I too am suffering from Nelson withdrawal as he was so hilarious on those interview segments. Bischoff is a little too plastic for my liking, even when he's reacting to things. Nelson was just nuts. As for the Cheap Seats segment, I loved that show and I'm kind of sad that I don't get to watch it as much now that the AWA changed their timeslot.
From the_big_ragu: "about 10 years ago i had a girlfriend who worked with this guy. well this guy was hosting a christmas party with his "life partner". sure enough this guys partner was Ric Mccord. He was kind of quiet but being a wrestling fan, he showed me a few title belts that he still had. I saw that they billed him from being from Salem Va. which was cool because when i met him he was still living in neighboring Roanoke. He must still live in Roanoke because last november in nearby Rocky Mt. VA, the local ACW promotion had a night of honering legends such as Sandy Scott, Johnny Weaver, Don Kernodle, Rocky Kernodle, and yes Ric Mccord. Intresting note about that show was that it featured the last public appearence of the late Johnny Weaver, and the promotions heavyweight champion, Sgt. Jim Nelson a.k.a. AWA legend Boris Zhukov who also hails from this small southern town called Rocky Mt."
Wow, thanks for the info. I certainly wish McCord all the best in the future and say that it certainly explains a lot. That would be so cool to see the title belts and get to chat with him for a few minutes, so good on you! Cool to hear about that local show as well. I didn't know that Zhukov was still doing the Sgt. Nelson gimmick as well. I guess he runs both, just in different territories, since I know he's still doing Boris Zhukov too.
From Guest. : "Really liked the Zbyszko/Rheiggans match, though that may be more me being a fan of technical wrestling than anything. I liked the Marshall dig on Steroids and Facepaint, because half the AWA roster at that point was probably roided up preparing to jump to the big two if given the call. Anyways, good for a Rheiggans match, though that's mostly cause of Larry being about the only main eventer outside of Slaughter and Nikita left in the AWA.
Random note: Did Nord seem extra stiff in the opening match? I'm not sure, but it just seemed like he had issues with the jobber, from some of the moves he did, to the scalping legdrop. "
Yeah, the Marshall steroids bit was pretty funny when you could CLEARLY see guys that were juiced to the titties. I liked Zbyszko/Rheingans as well, which is weird for me to say about a Brad Rheingans match. I re-watched the Nord match and he seemed a little snugger, but not anything more than usual, though it's not outside of the realm of possibility that there could have been a little heat there.
From Guest: "I don't know if I'm worn down from all these shows our what , but I think that Brad Rheingans has improved over time. He is using more professional wrestling moves and I think it helped him. "
A little from column A and a little from Column B I think. That along with being in there with Zbyszko who could wrestle a tackling dummy and make it entertaining.
From Rob: "Oh man. I'm watching the Wednesday night episode as I type, and Lee Marshall and Ringside Ralph have each made a point of claiming how "natural" The Trooper is. Lee even went so far as to say that it means "no steroids, no drugs, no chemicals...". Comedy at its finest. "
Yep, gotta love unintentional hilarity like that. I knew as soon as I heard it that I had to rip it.
Finally, from Dave: "Wow, another spiel on Norton beating the old flapjack eating record.(Just the "Wowie" look on Bisch's face made the whole thing so hokey. Well, that and the fact they knew the old record was 293) Hey that reminds me, the stupid TCS stats are back to being screwed up.(Now there's more losses than wins. Yes Verne, we know you're not trying any more.)
Anyway that knee from Stewart. Umm, if it's his finisher shouldn't he do it, you know, well? (I know it was "loaded" and everything but it barely touched the other guy and Stewart just looked like he had no clue what he was doing. Err, let me rephrase that. Stewart looked like he had no idea how to do his knee finisher.)
Actually there was one other thing I noticed.(I can't believe I'm bringing this up.) What was the deal with Donna's outfit? I mean I thought she was wearing a skirt. (I know since like you've guys have said, she really looks like Verne in a wig so that's pretty disturbing) But when she was leaving I realized she's actually wearing these weird lacy knee length shorts. (Which I guess makes things MORE disturbing) Oh well, how many more weeks of this stuff could there possibly be? "
I love that the standings of the TCS are going back and forth from being accurate to being an abomination to mathematics. Touching on Stewart's finisher, yeah it looked pretty terrible. There weren't a lot of things that he did well. He wasn't a great worker, but I guess when you're running on fumes, you work with what you've got. As for Donna's outfit, those shorts were pretty hideous. Seeing her all dolled up with essentially Verne's face, is frightening at best, emotionally scarring at worst.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:08:29 GMT -6
Before we get to the show I just wanted to touch on something that I read about that made me feel a little queasy. 411's own JP Prag, author of the Hidden Highlights column that I have enjoyed since its debut and even co-hosted on occasion, has apparently had his idea lifted. Stolen by a bunch of inferior writers on a hack site that should have closed up its doors when WCW did. Not only has it been lifted, but the man in charge of said website has denied that it's happened while sounding like the smarmiest of wrestling douches.
411mania.com is a brotherhood of sorts. Sure, we come from places all over the world and write on a variety of topics from wrestling to MMA to movies and music, but when one of our own gets put into a situation where they feel violated by people who have been "doing this since 1987" and should know better, it's disgusting. I may not have much sway in the IWC, considering my lot on this site, but I would ask all of my readers to not visit that particular hatchet-job of a website again. If you'd like to know which site I'm referring to, they talk about Pro Wrestling and it rhymes with Porch. Show them that you don't appreciate petty theivery by not giving them the time of day and maybe they'll show a little shame and humility and admit to their mistake.
JP is the most positive guy on this crazy site and it's something that comes naturally to him. To see four people try to force themselves to think the same way is a little ridiculous and really just makes them look silly, while also dragging the good name of the original down with it. To JP, keep your head up and fight through this. Your HH are one of the best columns around in the IWC and I even now find myself looking for things in shows, just from doing it with you a few times. For those of you who took his vision and sullied it, you should be ashamed of yourselves for being not only completely unoriginal, but for checking your own morals at the door in favor of showing how low you can stoop to try to gain your hits back.
I look forward to watching your website continue to plummet and hope that eventually it will wither and die. I will be waiting for the day that your site will fall apart, much like it appears your decency, morals and sense of right and wrong have. You ceased being relevant years ago and now it's time to pull the plug. You're dead to me.
Now let's move on to what we all came here for...SHITTY WRESTLING!!
AWA Championship Wrestling
I missed the first couple of minutes of the show due to some DVR difficulties, but it kicks in just in time for the first match. We've got Eric Bischoff and Ralph Strangis on announcing duty this time out. Not sure what happened to Lee Marshall, but I'm sure it had something to do with the shitty product and copious amounts of the finest malt liquor ever brewed in a bathtub.
Match One: The Tokyo Bullet vs. The Trooper
The Todd Becker is your referee for this one and in case you're curious, it's the Black Bullet. That still sounds like a sex toy no matter how many times I type it. They hit a lockup and Trooper pushes Bullet onto his ass and tells him to expect that all day, san. Trooper does it again and Bullet complains about a pull of the mask, following up his whining with a kick in the gut. He tries another kick off of an Irish whip, but Trooper catches it and gives Bullet a HUGE atomic drop that sends him to the floor. Trooper slingshots Bullet back into the ring and there's an Irish whip into a PRESS SLAM!! Strangis actually isn't terrible as a play-by-play man and Trooper catches Bullet with a dropkick off the ropes. Trooper shoots him off the ropes again and hits a back bodydrop and he LOCKS IN THE NECK MASSAGER!! Bullet's mask pulls over his eyes and he dozes peacefully, listening to sounds of the ocean and not realizing that the match is over.
Winner: The Trooper (submission, neck massager)
Match Analysis: Squashtastic trip to the historic Squash district in the town of Squashville. Bullet knows how to take a beating, but they really need to stop billing him from Tokyo. He has RED HAIR sticking out from under the mask. -sighing- Nothing to see here, time to move on.
Trooper gets some talk time with Bischoff and he talks about how he took Larry Zbyszko to the limit, quoting the Eagles and then saying it says something about his abilities as a wrestler. He says that when he looks into Zbyszko's eyes...he melts. No, actually he sees that Zbyszko is a tired and weary champion. He says that Zbyszko has already reached his peak and that there's nowhere to go but down, while he's getting better and better and getting closer and closer to the final moment. He says that he's getting closer to the belt, he holds up a towel with Zbyszko's name crossed out on it and threatens that Zbyszko is going to be like Abe Lincoln. Um..Del, I think if you shoot him in the back they'll disqualify you, no matter what your gimmick is.
Match Two: The Menace vs. Mike George
George's nickname is "The Timekeeper", because he likes to finish his opponents quickly. He chose "Another One Bites The Dust" as his ring music, which would be cool if he wasn't a nearly fifty-year old man with a blond mullet. Bischoff talking on the color role sounds a lot like Bischoff talking in the Monday Night War DVD or the AWA DVD. He's saying a lot while not saying anything, if that makes sense. They work the lockup and Menace grabs a side headlock into a hammerlock and when George reverses it, Menace takes him down. Hammerlock again from George and Menace hits a drop toehold to reverse it and moves to a front-facelock. Reversal to a hammerlock from George and he knees the elbow before ramming Menace into the buckle shoulder-first. He wraps the arm around the top rope and works it with some punches before whipping Menace in for a back bodydrop. Backbreaker from George now and he gets a two-count before picking Menace up off the mat. BIG neckbreaker from George and there's the three-count!!
Winner: Mike George (pinfall, neckbreaker)
Match Analysis: Bland. So very bland. George looks kind of like Greg Valentine, but wrestles like Johnny..after the plane crash. Oh yes, I went there. He seems like a good enough guy to be a mid-carder or a mechanic, but there's no reason why he should have been made out to be anything resembling a star.
YES!!! We get a Buck Zumhoffe promo and HOLY SHIT, he looks terrible. Zumhoffe says that whoever wins the main event match is going to have to face him to get to the AWA Light Heavyweight Championship. He says that the AWA is going all over the world and that since he's back in the AWA he's getting letters from all over the world. He says that the fans are behind him and that's what makes the Rock n' Roller a winner. He dances with his shitty discount department store boombox and Eric Bischoff holds his ear. Honestly, Zumhoffe might look like my drunk uncle at a wedding, but I don't care. He holds all that is awesome inside that spangled jumpsuit.
Team Challenge Series report time, but it's the same TCS report as the last episode of the show, which means I'm five minutes closer to being done the show! Happy dance for me!!!
Match Three: Spike Jones vs. Nikita Koloff
Lockup and Koloff goes straight to a standing arm-wringer and Jones pushes him into the corner to break it, hitting a cheap shot when Koloff lets go of the hold. Jones chokes him across the top rope and hammers at Koloff's gut with some right hands. Koloff fires a kick to the gut and shoulderblocks Jones in the corner, bringing him out with a big hip toss. Irish whip from Koloff and there's the jumping shoulderblock. He rams Jones into the top turnbuckle and whips him into the corner and follows with THE RUSSIAN SICKLE!! 1-2-3, it's all over!!
Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle)
Match Analysis: This one must have bought property in Squashville next to The Trooper match, cause it was essentially the same thing. If the matches are this short, I can see how they would end up having nine on one show. It scares me, but I can see how it could happen.
From there, we get the end of the Zbyszko/Rheingans match from a couple episodes back, so there's another three or four minutes I can save. Fantastic!! From there we get a promo from Larry Zbyszko. He says that people can talk all they want to, but when you get into the ring it's a different story. Zbyszko tries to sell it like his foot got tangled in the rope when Rheingans tried to kick out, which is a story full of win, and he turns his attention to the top contenders. He says that he's beaten all of them already and that he might just go ahead and take a vacation to Larryland for a few months to let them get their shit together. Bischoff points out how far Larry's team is in the TCS and Zbyszko says that that's why he's not on vacation. Zbyszko tells a story about his old martial arts sensei choking him when he went to wake him up and that he was told not to wake the sleeping tiger. Zbyszko calls himself a sleeping tiger and that he's going to take his team to the top of the mountain and that his entire team will shout as they cash that million dollar check, "I'M GOING TO LARRYLAND!!".
Tony Denucci cuts a promo about tonight's main event and he says that Stewart is the spoiled kid on the block that will do whatever he has to do. He says that he's here to make his mark in the AWA and that he's going to be a high-flyer and he has all the heart in the world. Johnnie Stewart gets his turn to make some comments and he says that Denucci reminds him of a beaver, anxious to cut down his first tree. Stewart says that his career might be long and storied, but it won't be successful if he faces Johnnie Stewart. He says that he'll beat Denucci and every other little punk to get the title and if he doesn't get it, his old man has fifteen cashier's checks that he can slip under the table.
We see the finish of last show's main event with DJ Peterson and Ric McCord facing The Destruction Crew for the AWA World Tag Team Championships, which leads us to our next bout.
Match Four: Tom Bennett and Kent Carlson vs. DJ Peterson and Ric McCord
Apparently Lee Marshall is under the weather, so that is why Bischoff is in the seat next to Ralph Strangis. Peterson and Bennett start things out and Bennett pushes Peterson into the ropes off of a lockup, but Peterson gets an armdrag into an armbar, tagging in McCord. Irish whip and Peterson gets a shot to the gut, with McCord following it up with a kneelift and there's a cover for a two-count. McCord picks Bennett up and chps him back down for a two-count, tagging in Peterson, who grabs a front-facelock. Bennett pushes him into the corner and tags in Carlson and he tries to take over, but Peterson can only hit a couple of shoulderblocks before Peterson hits forerams and Irish whips Carlson into the ropes. He takes Carlson over with a hip toss and grabs a front-facelock, with Carlson pushing him into the corner and tagging Bennett. Bennett takes over, ramming Peterson into the top turnbuckle and yelling at the crowd before he hits a double-axehandle and whips Peterson in for a hip toss. Stomps from Bennett and he whips Peterson in and what looks like it was supposed to be a clothesline miss by Bennett turns into a back bump when he fucks up and it all looks a little foolish. Tag to McCord and he whips bennett in and hits a big reverse elbow that gets him a long two-count. Right hand from McCord that puts Bennett down and he follows that with a kneelift, tagging in Peterson. McCord with an Irish whip and Peterson hits a HUGE SPINEBUSTER for the pinfall.
Winners: DJ Peterson and Ric McCord (pinfall, spinebuster)
Match Analysis: Not a bad little tag match, but again, it's two guys that had essentially no charisma. Peterson and McCord are solid workers, but if you can't get the people interested outside of the ring as well, they'll never care. Everything here was good, but not great, at a time when the AWA needed beyond great to even keep the doors open.
The Destruction Crew is in the interview area with Eric Bischoff and Bloom says that Bischoff looks like someone that might need glasses because they don't need a foreign object to beat anyone. He says that Peterson and McCord were a piece of cake and that everywhere they go their agent gets a call from ESPN saying that they want them all over the world at all the sporting events. He says that the agents say that The Lumberjacks want a title shot and he gives them credit for being tough but that if they want their shot, they have to get in the ring with the Texas Hangmen. Until they get through the Hangmen, they'll have nothing to do with The CREW!!
Match Five: Team Challenge Series Match: AWA Light Heavyweight Championship Eliminator Match Tony Denucci vs. Johnnie Stewart
Denucci represents Larry's Legends, while Stewart is down with Sarge's Snipers. Denucci's ring gear looks a little off, with shimmery silver leopard print tights being the order of the day. Stewart bops a little to his entrance music and they get to the action after Stewart stalls taking off his robe and giving it to the ring guy. They finally hit a lockup and Denucci gets a side headlock in with Stewart shooting him off and eating a shoulderblock. Lockup number two and side headlock number two lead to a rope-running sequence and a Denucci hip toss, with Stewart taking a time out on the apron. Denucci gets the crowd going and he grabs another side headlock, cranking on it and getting shot off again. Stewart drops down and Denucci drops down behind him and scares him all the way to the floor. Stewart LOSES HIS SHIT on the floor, hammering the apron with his fist before finally getting back into the ring. Side headlock from Denucci, which makes me think it's the only hold he learned in wrestling school, and Stewart picks him up for a nice belly to back suplex. Short-arm clothesline from Stewart and he starts choking on Denucci with his boot. He has tape and starts choking Denucci with it behind the referee's back. BIG backbreaker from Stewart, though he did it kind of sloppy and dropped Denucci on his shoulder. Elbowdrop from Stewart off the ropes and he gets a two-count off of that, following it with a whip into the ropes. Denucci flips over Stewart as he tries a back bodydrop and then dropkicks Stewart out to the floor. There are a LOT of empty seats in this building. By a lot, I mean A LOT. Denucci flips Stewart back into the ring and blocks a right hand, countering with a left that puts Stewart face-first onto the mat. Stewart hits a kneelift and whips Denuccit into the ropes for a dropkick, with a flex for good measure. Stewart lays some chops in in the corner and Denucci fires up, whipping Stewart across the ring into the corner and hitting a handspring elbow!! Shoulderblocks in the corner and Denucci tries the same thing again and Stewart moves out of the way. Vertical suplex from Stewart and he gets the three-count with his feet on the ropes!!!
Winner: Johnnie Stewart (pinfall, vertical suplex)
Match Analysis: Denucci looked green as hell, and when you combine that with Stewart and his apparent lack of skills, it's just asking for a bad match. They tried hard and I'll give them that, but you could tell that it just wasn't happening about a minute in, and by the end I was kind of just wanting it to be over, no matter who won. Call me cynical, but this just wasn't very good.
Denucci is PISSED on the floor, rattling the barricade around and stomping to the back. Now we've got comments from Johnnie Stewart and he says that he's motivated by snot-nosed punks like Tony Denucci. He says that he tore Denucci's head off and that he's like all the rest. He's proven that Johnnie Stewart is no pushover. Stewart says that Verne Gagne's losing his hair thinking about Stewart as AWA Light Heavyweight Champion and that after he's got that belt, he's coming after Zbyszko. Stewart promises that in 1990 he'll have the AWA right where he wants it. That's all Stewart has to say, and that's it for the show!!
Final Thoughts
No good matches, REALLY short squashes and a main event that probably couldn't have made it onto Superstars if both guys were in the WWF. International Superstars maybe, but certainly not the North American syndicated version. This show, like most of the others in this time, isn't outwardly bad, just incredibly boring. When I gets bored, I gets drinkie, so this one gets...
From Guest. : "I find it funny that you have the UWF, which revolutionized Japanese Wrestling and MMA, the UWF, arguably the hottest non-NWA/WWE promotion of the 80s, and you're reviewing the UWF: Arguably the worst promotion to have PPV of all time. Your luck to be stuck with that acronym.
Anyways, Norton looked real impressive today, and I really began to pick up on Bloom consistently interrupting Enos, doing it like 3 times in the promo today. I'm thinking Verne was planning on eventually doing a split, with Enos as the face cause Bloom kept interrupting them (like how people kept clammering for a 3D split with Devon telling Bubba to get his own damn table). Main event was decent, even if the managers were just introduced, and that Peterson's going after the manager seeing Bloom on the top rope was just so contrived. A shame though that we missed Tully in what would be his last wrestling appearances for a long while, when he came in for a few shows.
I think Verne's big problem is that he tried for so long to maintain his old school style of wrestling, the wrestling he still thought his fans wanted to see. However, with talent raids, and WWF doing everything to bury the AWA, he just didn't have the money to keep his horses for drawing people in anymore. By the time he gave up on his vision to be a pale imitation of Vince, he alienated his remaining old-school fanbase, and put on such poor shows and such that it didn't leech the WWF's fans back to his shows. This was somewhat laughable with the bad music videos in 86, and just sad how bad everything is right now. And he's still booking with sense, using the old school techniques which drew, but the horses are either too old or too young to matter. "
See, when I signed up for the UWF shows, I thought it was for the Watts UWF, so imagine my surprise. Egg all over my face on that one. I agree with everything from the Enos face turn, to the not seeing Tully, to the Verne speech. He didn't make the switch at the right time and in doing so, pissed off both of the fanbases he desperately needed to reach. Painful lesson learned, I'd say.
From Robert Tivari: "Does the Nightstalker ever wrestle a SINGLE match in the AWA? They teased a Trooper/Nightstalker feud a few nights ago, and it seems that they've since dropped that angle like a hot potato, and we've had no mention of either him nor Ox Baker in the last few shows. These last few shows have been so boring that I hope that the Russian Brute returns just to give them some comedic value.
Also, as for Johnny Stewarts entrance music. He did come out to Pump the Jam, but also, a few nights ago, he came out to one of Technotronics other hits "Get Up" Technotronic actually had about 3 or 4 hits, so they weren't exactly a one-hit wonder"
I had forgotten about Technotronic's other "hits", so I thank you for that. I think I was just thinking they were all the same song because they all sounded the same. As to the OX/Nightstalker vs. Trooper deal, I think they were just flinging whatever at the wall and then forgetting it if it didn't work. I'm not even sure that Nightstalker and Trooper ever tangled, but if they did, I'm sure it was a mat classic.
From doug: "I just never knew how the awa was at the end. how close are we to the last show? I hope we get wccw or gwf next...you deserve something that was at worst marginally better and at times a lot of fun! "
Thank you for those kind words, but I'm sure that the people at ESPN Classic are reading these and enjoying my sorrow, so they'll continue to heap horrible AWA shows on me in the hopes of cracking me. I'll be either too drunk or too crazy to care.
From Teijo Kahn: "Here's what ESPN Media Zone lists for Aug. 28, though I don't think this is a real episode: Marty Jannetti (AWA debut) vs. Nick Kiniski; Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo vs. Cowboy Lang & Little Mr. T; Stan Hansen vs. Rick Martel (World Heavyweight Title) I don't think Jannetty and Martel would have been there at the same time, and didn't Nick Kiniski come much later? "
It looks like it would either be a best of show, or that they're going back a bit to the '86 time period again. Seeing as how none of that outside of Hansen/Martel seems worthy of a best of show, I think it just means that they're going back in time.
From Steve: "I don't know if this has been mentioned yet, but Ralph Strangis, the "other" announcer, is now the voice of the Dallas Stars. He is awesome as a hockey announcer and generally an all around good guy. He even got to call the Stars Stanley Cup victory in '99. "
I knew that voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. I watch some Stars games on Center Ice with the Dish (mainly when they play Detroit) and I've heard him for years, without knowing of his dark, seedy past. Thanks for the info, Steve!!
From memphisheel: "Damnit, when are we going to get a Kokina Maximus match?! I'm dying to show one of his pre-WWF matches to my wife, who only knows him as Yokozuna. I want her to see what Rodney Anoa'i was like before Vince McMahon turned him into a morbidly obese freak show character."
I too have been hoping to get to see Kokina in action. Hopefully soon, since we were teased with it a couple of weeks back. I'm interested to see if he was a decent worker before he added on about two hundred pounds and short-circuited his lifespan by four decades.
Finally, from piperfan01: "Jim Evans is my superstar of the week. He actually made me click the rewind button on my TIVO to watch some of his bumping around like a pinball. On one of these AWA shows thats saying something. "
Evans was indeed a fun jobber to watch and if I don't miss my guess, he did some job work in the big time for the WWF as well. Rewinding ANYTHING on these AWA shows is worthy of praise, to be sure.
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Post by CW .org .info .net on Feb 7, 2023 15:09:39 GMT -6
AWA Championship Wrestling
Eric Bischoff welcomes us to the show and runs down the lineup which is going to feature BUCK ZUMHOFFE!! Oh, HELL YES!! We head back to last week's show and the finish of the Stewart/Denucci bout that was the main event. It's promo time from BUCK ZUMHOFFE!! He says that the news is out that the rock and roller is back in the AWA. He says it doesn't matter where he's been (prison) or what he's been doing (getting shower raped), because he's back and everyone's bringing their radios out of their closets and out of their basements because the fans are standing behind him in the AWA. Rock and roll will never die, and neither will Buck Zumhoffe because he's managed to pickle himself with all of the drugs and alcohol he's ingested in the past twenty years.
Match One: Tom Stone and JR Carson vs. The Lumberjacks
Nord and Norton run the ropes and shoulderblock each other, chopping the piss out of each other and howling and hugging each other. Bob Lurtsema is the referee for this one and Lee and Ralph tell the retarded pancake story again, this time upping the number to 299. It's like Hulk Hogan and his claims of slamming 900-pound Andre The Giant in front of 230,000 people. Sadly, the promotion closed before they could lie Norton up to 500 pancakes. Norton and Stone get things underway with Stone grabbing a side headlock. Norton shoots him off into the ropes and takes Stone down with a shoulderblock and a clothesline. Norton whips him into the ropes and bearhugs him over to the corner, depositing him to tag Carson. Norton catches Carson with a side headlock and drags him over to tag Nord as we cut away from the ring and see Ox Baker at ringside, scoping things out. Nord with a kick to the gut and a BIG powerslam. He follows it up with another powerslam and an Irish whip into a BIG BEAVER SHOT!! Tag to Norton and there's an Irish whip into a HUGE POWERSLAM for the three-count. They pound on each other again after the bell, again inflicting more damage on thesmselves than their opponents were able to.
Winners: The Lumberjacks (pinfall, powerslam)
Match Analysis: Quick to keep The Lumberjacks and their cardio problems protected, but still a somewhat boring match for being quick. They were big, that's for sure, but I still want to see them in a match where they're up against an established team to see if they can hang.
Bischoff is in the interview area with The Lumberjacks and Bischoff asks Norton if he got many arm-wrestling challenges at the lumber camp. Nord says that they all had at it on the stump and that no one lasted more than two seconds with ol' Flapjack. Norton says that they want to break everything of The Destruction Crew and Nord says that they don't go down for nobody and that when they get in the ring it's only the Lumberjacks' way. They don't care and they "ain't" scared, apparently.
Back from the break, we have Eric Bischoff talking about Col. DeBeers and how smug and arrogant he is. Bischoff says that following this next match, he's going to get to announce a mystery opponent for DeBeers, which may make him just a little less arrogant.
Match Two: John Pistolka vs. Col. DeBeers
That could be the jobber's name, I didn't hear it very clearly. I don't think he'll be too offended that I got it wrong if I did. DeBeers opens up quick with a couple of kicks to the gut and a BIG pair of slams and we see Ox Baker at ringside again, scouting out DeBeers. Big bodyslam from Pistolka and he tries for a clothesline but DeBeers ducks it. He doesn't duck the come around though and Pistolka hits him from behind with a clothesline that sends him sprawling. Pistolka tries to go up to the top rope but he gets caught and DeBeers slams him off, laying in a stomp for good measure. Kneelift from DeBeers and another stomp and here comes the PANCAKE PILEDRIVER!! DeBeers gets the pinfall and the three-count and steps over Pistolka to add some extra shame. DeBeers ends up coming to the apron and running into Ox Baker, who tries to court DeBeers with a business card. DeBeers looks it over and flips it over his shoulder. Coming soon to the Team Challenge Series, a fourth renegade team, Ox's Assholes.
Winner: Col. DeBeers (pinfall, pancake piledriver)
Match Analysis: Same old, same old from DeBeers, only with the addition of Ox Baker and a business card. Move along people, nothing to see here.
Bischoff has DeBeers at ringside and DeBeers yells at the ringside crowd for having no respect for him. DeBeers says he's had it with the inept leaders, with Slaughter always sending DeBeers into battle instead of him. Bischoff tells DeBeers that next week he's facing "Flapjack" Norton in a Team Challenge Series takedown match. DeBeers shows flapjacks who the boss is by making fun of them for being fat egg and batter cakes. The look on DeBeers face when Bischoff tells him that Norton is a former arm-wrestling world champion is priceless. DeBeers goes through calling Slaughter a chicken again and says that he has no guts for not getting into the ring with "FlipFlop" Norton. The promo ends with Bischoff trying to throw it to a break and DeBeers rambling like a crazy, drunken, bus station pervert.
Lee Marshall joins us now for a TCS Report and we hear about how last week's main event and goes through and INCREDIBLY convoluted deal where Scott Norton beat Killer of the Texas Hangmen in a neck pull contest, and The Trooper beat three jobbers in three minutes while Mike Enous of The Destruction Crew only beat two, leading to the Blitzers gaining four points and that Trooper and Norton faced Psycho, Enos and captain Larry Zbyszko in the main event and beat them to sweep six points away from Larry's Legends. The Blitzers are on top with 38 points, followed by Sarge's Snipers with 31. Sucking hind tit is Larry's Legends with only 28 points as Lee Marshall tells us that time is running out for either team to catch Baron Von Raschke's Blitzers down the stretch.
Match Three: WT Jones vs. Buck Zumhoffe
Zumhoffe's fringed jumpsuit with a piano-key necktie is something special. Lee Marshall says that Zumhoffe is where the Rock n' Wrestling connection REALLY began. Jones has updated his look with studded armbands and a collar that looks a lot like something you'd see in Club Vandersexxx. Zumhoffe gets the crowd behind him, clapping his hands and playing to the people, while Marshall talks about how Jones was angry with him for making him look bad in front of his homies. Jones wants his hair nub to be called tail. Marshall's "black" voice while telling the story and saying "Y'know what I'm sayin' " over and over again, probably set race relations back a good fifteen years. Zumhoffe ducks under a lockup attempt and shakes his ass before grabbing a side headlock into a hammerlock, taking Jones over with a snap mare. Zumhoffe scrubs the sole of his boot across Jones' eyes and Zumhoffe heads over to rake Jones' face before playing to the crowd again. Marshall shows how cool he is by saying that Jones is being 'dissed' and then COMPLETELY DEFINING THE WORD TO MAKE IT SOUND TOTALLY UNCOOL. Top wristlock takeover by Zumhoffe into a hammerlock and he turns it into a drop-down hammerlock, cranking at the arm before picking Jones up for a BIG bodyslam. Standing arm-wringer from Zumhoffe and Jones punches him in the face to break it, following it with a headbutt that drops Zumhoffe. Front facelock choke from Jones and Zumhoffe fires off a pair of right hands into the standing arm-wringer again. Jones pushes him into the corner and headbutts him in the chest before whipping him across hard into the corner. Another Irish whip into the corner and Jones follows him in with a BIG reverse elbow. Another Irish whip from Jones but Zumhoffe reverses and Jones hits the buckles sternum-first. Zumhoffe is ROCKIN' UP!! He rams Jones into a couple of the top turnbuckles, drops him in the middle of the ring and hits the Rock n' Roll Splash (Vader splash) off the second rope to get the 1-2-3!!
Winner: Buck Zumhoffe (pinfall, Rock n' Roll splash)
Match Analysis: Entertaining, if only for Marshall's incredibly un-hip commentary for the entire match. He was easily the best part of the match, for all the wrong reasons. Fun to see Zumhoffe in action, even though he's pretty dried up at this point. He was always small, but he looks like he's like 5'5" and 170 here, at the most. Again, fun to see Buck, but his best days were LONG gone and while it's fun , it's still a little sad as well.
Back to the interview area and we've got Eric Bischoff with Larry Zbyszko and Zbyszko doesn't want to talk about the lightweights, he wants to talk about the REAL men, the heavyweights. He mentions that the Championship Committee has given DJ Peterson a title shot and that Koloff and Trooper are the two biggest crybabies in wrestling. He says that they couldn't make the grade when they had their shot and so he's going to show the world what kind of champion he is. He calls DJ Peterson a piece of white meat and seems amazed that he WANTS to go to Larryland. He says that it's like a kid asking their parents to pass the Drain-O because it's suicidal to face someone who retired Sammartino and Bockwinkel. See you in Larryland, JERK!!
Back from the break and we've got Curtis Hughes talking about the main event and that they're dealing with "The Cat" and they're going to get scratched. He says that Psycho is going down, 1-2-3. The Hangmen have words for Hughes, saying that they're men from Texas and that they're going to find out the hard way who the Hangmen are. They say that it's an ESPN main event and they're not going to lose. Bischoff talks about the next match and how there are rumors flying about where Wayne Bloom is and if he'll even be wrestling in this match or whether he's hurt. Enos comes out with Johnnie Stewart, so it looks as if the rumor that Bloom was hurt might have some merit to it.
Match Four: Tommy Jammer and Jake Milliman vs. "Mean" Mike Enos and Johnie Stewart
Enos and Stewart jump Milliman and Jammer before the bell rings and they work over Milliman before double-teaming Jammer on the sinide. Enos RAMS MILLIMAN INTO THE RINGPOST ON THE FLOOR!! Jammer has Stewart in the corner for mounted punches and Enos attacks from behind!! Jammer shakes it off and turns his attention to Enos and STEWART COMES OFF THE TOP WITH A DOUBLE-AXEHANDLE!! ENOS THROWS THE REFEREE OUT OF THE RING!! Stewart picks Jammer up and Enos comes off the top rope for a SPIKE PILEDRIVER!!! HERE COMES BOB LURTSEMA!! RIGHT HANDS ON STEWART!! THROW TAKEDOWN ON ENOS!! SHOULDERBLOCK ON STEWART!! SHOULDERBLOCK ON ENOS!! IRON CLAW FOR ENOS!! STEWART'S BEGGING OFF AND RUNNING!!
Winners: Tommy Jammer and Jake Milliman (disqualification)
Match Analysis: All angle as they try to keep the Lurtsema/Destruction Crew deal going, though I'm not sure where Wayne Bloom was. This probably served a dual purpose as it kept Stewart and Enos from having to tag for too long so that they would be able to have the match, but not give away anything. Interesting to watch Lurtsema throw HORRIBLE punches and incredibly week offense and see Enos and Stewart sell it like he's Andre. I hope Verne put some extra rubber into their checks for selling that shit.
After the match, Lurtsema heads out to check on Gary DeRusha and helps him up to his feet as we see a replay of the action with Lurtsema at the end of the match.
Eric Bischoff says that Mike Enos is now complaining that he has a broken shoulder as a result of the attack from Bob Lurtsema, but that it's unsubstantiated for now as officials and doctors are waiting for the results of an X-ray. He promises an update as soon as it's available and it's time for the ESPN main event!
Match Five: Psycho w/Killer vs. Curtis Hughes
Hughes does his boogie and slaps hands with the people at ringside, coming off as a cheap imitation of the Junkyard Dog. He gets into the ring and Psycho BLASTS him from behind with a cheap shot, taking over with forearms and some choking, trying to whip Hughes into the corner. Hughes with a reversal and he whips Psycho in for a HUGE back bodrydrop and Psycho begs off in the corner, taking some kicks and forearms. Psycho heads out to the floor to think things over and we see Ox Baker at ringside again with another business card. Psycho gets back into the ring and motions for a test of strength, with Psycho hitting a headbutt to the gut to take the advantage. Hughes fights through it and takes over, stomping on Psycho's hands on the mat and taking him over with a big armdrag into an armbar.Psycho makes it to his feet and slings Hughes into the ropes, with Hughes knocking him down with a shoulderblock and then taking him down again with an armdrag, back into the armbar. Another shot into the ropes by Psycho and Hughes barely leapfrogs over the back bodydrop attempt and then hits a pretty decent dropkick. Standing arm-wringer now as Killer on the outside is screaming that Hughes is pulling on the mask. Psycho goes to the eyes to break the hold but eats a couple of right hands and goes down. Psycho with some shots to the gut now and he takes over with a snap mare, dragging Hughes to the apron and hitting an elbow on the outside before moving back inside to distract the referee. Killer gets some choking done on the outside, thankfully staying away from his noose, though I don't think anyone was watching at this point anyways to complain about something that racist. Psycho comes over and chokes on Hughes with his boot before distracting the referee to allow Killer to do more dirty work from the floor. Psycho tries to ram Hughes into the top turnbuckle but Hughes reverses it and drops Psycho with a pair of headbutts for a long two-count. Psycho goes to the eyes to take over again, hammering Hughes with some right hands in the corner before raking his eyes across the top rope. Reverse chinlock from Psycho now as Killer tugs on the hand from the outside to put some extra leverage on the hold. Psycho lets go of the hold and hits a short kneedrop before whipping Hughes into the ropes for a reverse elbow. More kicking and punching from Psycho and Hughes tries a couple of shots to come back but Psycho goes to the eyes to break it up. We get essentially the same sequence again before Psycho shoots Hughes into the ropes. Clothesline ducked by Hughes and he fires off one of his own, whipping Psycho into the ropes for a dropkick and Psycho falls out to the floor. They pull the switcheroo on the outside and Killer gets up onto the apron, getting himself slingshotted over the top rope by Hughes. Killer begs off and takes a big headbutt as Hughes slingshots Psycho into the ring. DOUBLE-NOGGIN KNOCKER!! Dropkicks for everybody and the Hangmen bail to the outside!!
Winner: Psycho (disqulification)
Match Analysis: Standard big man action, just with two big men who weren't very good, so it tended to get a little boring. You could see from a mile away that the Hangmen would pull the switch, but I'm glad that it wasn't quite the predictable finish that everyone expected. At the same time, I'm not sure why they would use the switch move and then not pay it off with the heels getting the win. It seems like a little bit of a waste to me that way, but I suppose I shouldn't expect much at this point from the AWA.
Back in the interview area, Eric Bischoff has Curtis Hughes with him and Hughes says that he was a man playing football but he's a bigger man now that he's wrestling. He says that the Hangmen got lucky this time, but next time they'll go down for the 1-2-3, and that's a promise, baby! Hughes is all out of time, and so is the AWA!
Final Thoughts
It seems to be a pattern for the AWA at this point. Bad matches in the opening and then a bland main event. The ratio of bad to bland may vary from show to show, but both will be there and rest assured, both will exact their pound of flesh. There's guys on here that have flashes where they look like they could develop into something, but Verne doesn't have time to let them develop. He needs them to be stars immediately and they just can't do that when they don't have the talent or the experience needed to be draws. A meh show usually gets at least two jugs, but with the poor main event, let's tack on another one, just for shits and giggles...
Now, let's hit the comments before my liver taps out!!
Fun With Comments
From Steven: "I'll tell you what, that music that Buck Zumhofe was playing on his boombox made a lot of sense, because he was making "Money for Nothing". The AWA had become a shell of what it was when Zumhofe returned in 1990. Don't know if he got the chicks for free, though I won't be surprised if he didn't with the way he looked in 1990. "
Oh, he was paying to tap anything with how rough he looked then. It certainly looked like Buck got all he could out of those years and he looked rather harsh by the end of it.
From AWA_4_Life: "You've got to love the crack AWA post-production team. On the show airing Wednesday, the TCS report had the graphic showing Baron's Blitzers with 33 points, Sarge's Snipers with 29 and Larry's Legends with 28. Lee Marshall, while the graphic is still on the screen brilliantly states the Baron's team is 3 points ahead of Sarge's team and 5 points ahead of Larry's!!
But that isn't the best part... On the show that aired yesterday, they repeated the same segment, error and all! It's bad enough that something like this made it into one show, but to rebroadcast it in the next show is just beyond belief.
I'm surprised that you didn't catch this Randy. It seems like something that you would be all over. I guess these AWA shows are finally starting to get to you! (I know that they are getting to me!) "
Actually, I tend to space out a little bit when those Team Challenge Series segments come on, since they're dreadfully boring, but I have to say that I'm not shocked that the standings had errors in them, since they've been riddled with errors from the beginning.
From Robert Tivari: "Have you noticed that with these 1990 shows, Verne Gagne hasn't made a single appearance? Its like, even he was embarrassed to be associated with it at that point. In prior years, he would do his little segments with Larry Nelson, name dropping the WWF among other things.
By the way, I know I'm probably in the minority, but I actually kind of dig Johnny Stewart. He's not that bad of a worker and is one of the few people that actually make these AWA shows watchable for me. It took me a little while to warm up to him, but he actually looks like he's putting in a little effort while the rest of the guys are either green as grass, or they're just phoning it in.
And what more needs to be said about Buck Zumhoffe, the guy who would blast Jerry Lee Lewis on his boombox, hence the name "rock n roll" Just showed how out of touch Verne really was when it came to modern day 80's pop culture. "
You're definitely in the minority on Stewart, though I do agree that he seems to be putting some effort into it. I have noticed that Verne is nowhere to be seen, as is Greg, though they did mention him today at least. My guess is that it's partly that he didn't want to be seen with the product, and partly that he was under a lot of stress in trying to keep the promotion running, trying to fight the state of Minnesota in the eminent domain case, and everything else that he had going.
From piperfan01: "Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo vs. Cowboy Lang & Little Mr. T? Holy Batman...um Batman... If that is true, that will be a highlight of this entire AWA run for me. I assume Little MR T is the Haiti kid. Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo were always gold together, lots of good childhood memories to be had. As far as this peticular show, ROCK N ROLL is back!...Wait, no thats his older deformed brother, wait no thats him, life was not kind to Buck, but damn if it won't be fun having him around again. Does Buck fight Larry Z at anytime upcoming? "
We've actually seen some AWA midget goodness earlier in the run, I'm pretty sure that it was actually those four in a tag match, so it might end up being the same one. Little Mr. T is indeed Haiti Kid, and if I remember correctly, the match wasn't terribly good. I'm not entirely sure about Buck and Larry Zbyszko, but I would assume they probably hooked up at least once, since there were no real stars left when it came to main event match-ups. And yes, Buck looked like life kicked his ass and then asked for seconds.
From Bryan: "The AWA may have finally hit rock bottom with that main event. I did get a nice chuckle when the mic cut off during Lee's introduction of Peterson and McCord. Too bad his mic did not cut out when he was calling matches.
Mike George had a good run in Mid-South in the early 80's, but there is a reason that he was stuck in Central States for the rest of the decade. Speaking of Central States, despite the constant claims of Peterson and McCord being tag champs there, they were never champs together. Peterson held the title with Todd Champion while McCord held it with Bart Batten and Porkchop Cash.
Looking at the ESPN Media Zone web site, it looks like in September we start getting repeats of 1986 and the 1988 Superclash III build up shows. Also, it looks like no more Sgt. Slaughter, Paul Diamond or Kokina Maximus as they are not listed in any upcoming matches from what I remember. "
Thanks for the info, on both Mike George and the future episodes. If it starts turning into a huge repeat party in September, I might just have to move forward with my plans to set up WWE 24/7 online and start the WWF Wrestling Challenge shows from the beginning, which would be all kinds of fun for me. Of course, I still have the UWF to fall back on, but that's akin to saying that I would like to break my fall with a bed of nails.
From Josh: "Verne at this point has pretty much given up and his idea of a "Light Heavyweight" would work...if it wasn't 1990 when guys like Jushin Liger were revolutionizing Light Heavyweight Wrestling. Its amazing how far behind America was behind Mexico and Japan in that aspect. Can you imagine Verne booking something like a triple threat or ladder match? They would would be too busy hanging from the ladder doing Greco Roman Knucklelocks to grab the belt.
On to my real point of my commentary however. It says a lot about the quality of the site that has been around since 1987 when their ass-kissing waterboys have to rip off a smaller free site for material. Just looking at the "No Dressing Porch".com site it looks like my elderly grandmother put it together. I for one rarely go there but i would encourage people to show disgust and let their feelings be known to Wade Keller about such tactics. Keller should spend more time making sure his writers are not ripping off other websites and more time fact checking his info so guys like Jim Cornette won't have to tear a hole in his ass.
From Guest. : "Missed the show last night to go see Clone Wars, a decent popcorn flick. Decided to catch your review to see if it was worth it, and I think I'll just look up the Larryland promo, cause that's about all that looked good.
Here's the real morbid thing though: These shows are 2 hour shows apparently. So ESPN is cutting down the shows to one hour, and is only showing us the best of the shows I think. Then there's the other AWA shows in syndication. Would the jugs increase by the hour if you reviewed that stuff?
Anyways, got the Gagne Guest Booker DVD today. Its kinda funny to see Greg drinking beers and cussing all the time, considering the kinda straight-laced image he always gave off in the AWA. Anyways, its a definite buy if you want an insight into AWA booking strategy, which makes a lot of sense looking at how some of their cards were put together. Its also got some great stuff on how Vince would do pretty much anything to put the AWA out of business, and claim he just did it in the spirit of competition. Then there's a short Iron Shiek story which humbled him into accepting wrestling as legit, which I found kinda funny. He also showed great insight as to why Dusty failed as a booker for the most part in the NWA, talking about how he was booking weekly angles like he did in Florida, since they ran the same shows every week, and how the AWA did monthly angles since they ran the big cities once a month. Meltzer has a real good piece on this in one of his '91 back issues up on the sight, and the varying philosophies on booking.
Anyways, short version is their best months were always from the Battle Royals in October up until their Supercard in April, which was the period they booked with the talent available in Pro Wrestling USA. The Supercard ended up being Ric Flair (champ) vs. Nick Bockwinkel; Tully, Arn, and Ole vs. Road Warriors and Dusty in a Steel Cage; Jake Roberts vs. Sgt. Slaughter; Brody Squash; High Flyers vs. R&R Express 20 minute Broadway; Kerry Von Erich Squash; Butch Reed vs. Ted Dibiase; and Ivan & Nikita vs. Rick Martel and Curt Hennig. The big angle was a subtle AWA vs. NWA angle between Bock and Naitch, carried through promos and wins by Bock over Flair's rivals, and Naitch over Bock's rivals.
Only problem is, they had a ton of talent that they ended up leaving on the table, and this was probably the biggest issue. You get stars not being used, Vince will just pick them up, after stealing the guys who get used. Theoretically, it might've still been possible if he could've worked with WCCW and Memphis, but that was a screw up of Epic Fail. Oh yeah, and Gagne hates Jerry Lawler, and thinks he's a jerk. Apparently, Jerry Jarret was supposed to hate him, but told Lawler Verne was to pay him, which lead to the issues. "
That sounds awesome and I cant wait to see that Guest Booker DVD when I finally manage to pick it up. As for the extra hour, if there is any way that this show gets more terrible, I'll have to up the jug scale to ten jugs and go from there.
From Brian: "NICE jugs Randy!!! (Heh)
As much as I dislike the Trooper, I believe that he is actually Del Wilkes, the future "Patriot" and he was grrrrreat in that role. (Am I correct as to his idenity?)
Like you, I VERY much enjoy the "Hidden Highlights" articles. Not sure about the issues you mentioned regarding it, (and am glad I don't) but just as in rasslin', good will prevail over evil!!!!!
I love the promos by the Destruction Crew...(Beverly Brothers) Or should I say, the promos by Wayne Bloom. ("I've got this") Good stuff.
Last...I just HAVE to comment on Tony Denucci. This was the first time I'd seen him on a rasslin' show and in the ring. I knew of him having been an AWA rassler because he appeard a number of years ago in some local commercials for a business. (Don't recall what the business was, possibly used cars.) I remember thinking that if he was a rassler, I hoped he had a manager, or some kind of spokesperson since he had a voice that NO ONE could possibly take seriously. I actually started to laugh out loud when I watched him cut a promo!!!!! Ya...he sure does sound intimidating.
Keep doing the J.O.B. - This can't go on forever...can it??? (Heh) "
It can't go on forever, it just feels like it will. Denucci didn't seem like he had anything going for him, outside of his look, but even that was nothing special compared to most of the guys around in those days. Glad to see you noticed the jugs make their comeback.
From Guest#3646: "On the whole Hidden Highlight/JP/ideal stolen issue, there is really only one thing to say.....SO!! Wrestling promotions steal from each other all the time. Seems like JP should get thick-skined, put away the kleneex, and feel flattered that they "borrowed" from him. Besides, HH sucks anyway!! "
Personal preference aside, the issue is that the guys essentially told him they were going to steal it, apparently in a joking manner, then lo and behold, they really stole it. That's probably the part that bothers the most. But again, it's a done issue and in the past and JP will handle it on his own.
From The Kid: "Am I the only one who caught Tony Denucci say something about finding every cook and nanny instead nook and cranny? That was a priceless promo flub. "
You just might be, since I had pretty much tuned Denucci out by that point, but it's pretty damn funny to think of him looking around for cooks and nannies. I guess he liked the older women.
Finally, from Guest: "ESPN have come to terms on the release of anyone who can wrestle. ESPN wishes them the best in all their future endeavors. "
BWAHHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....I've been thinking that for weeks now. Thank you for the laugh.
That's it for the show and that's it for the week of AWA action. 1990 rolls on
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