AWA Championship Wrestling with KB

[klunderbunker]

AWA Championship Wrestling
Date: January 22, 2010
Commentators: Rod Trongard, Lord James Blears

I know that’s far less information than I usually have but it’s all I’ve got at the moment. This is the other show that I can now watch and therefore will be bringing you hopefully once a week as it’s on ESPN Classic on Friday nights. Based on what I can see, this is a compilation of matches from various shows, so based on what I know of the company I’ll see if I can piece together what’s going on and when each match happened. I know very little of the AWA so here we go.

The AWA logo is what Cena’s shirt is based on so I know the look.

Jay York vs. Nick Bockwinkle

York is the Original Alaskan apparently. A graphic tells us that this is from 1986 and since Bockwinkle is world champion that would put us sometime between late June and the end of the year. Nick is freaking huge. This is apparently in Las Vegas of all places so there we are. The Midnight Rockers are mentioned and Shawn would have been a total rookie at this point.

Ron was a WWF commentator at a few random house shows in the late 80s and early 90s in case the name sounds just barely familiar to you. These shows used to be broadcast on ESPN in case you were wondering why this was on ESPN Classic. They start with some mat stuff as this is likely to be a glorified squash. Nick is getting almost dominated here which is odd as hell to say the least.

It’s so weird to see scores going on the bottom of the screen and wrestling going on. There are three consecutive empty seats in the front row. They couldn’t upgrade some people? After getting beaten on for awhile, Bockwinkle BOCKWINKLES UP (put that on a shirt) and grabs York by his beard. That’s different if nothing else. I see why this didn’t work. Bockwinkle is about as uninteresting of a wrestler and as uninteresting of a champion as I’ve ever seen. York goes out to THE BOCKWINKLE SLEEPER!

Rating: D+. It was a long and boring squash although the jobber controlled most of it. I wasn’t enthralled here at all and Nick just didn’t interest me at all. He was boring as hell, so they kept him as champion instead of that Hogan guy that never went anywhere.

We come back to see Bockwinkle being interviewed as apparently he was feuding with Stan Hansen at the time. He’s apparently just turning face as he’s surprised to get cheered and he says it’s starting to get to him. A graphic tells us that he won the title on June 29th in Denver. What it doesn’t tell you was there was no match and he was just declared champion as Hansen left the company. So based on that information, I’d put this in early July of 1986.

Alex Knight/Dennis Stamp vs. Midnight Rockers

Shawn is YOUNG looking here. I’m assuming this is from the same show and apparently they’re in the hunt for the tag belts but not quite yet. Stamp and Shawn start. I wonder who’s going to win here. Shawn has a mini afro going on. This referee is bad. He taps the mat instead of slapping it. Shawn botches a suplex. It’s weird seeing them this green.

It’s weird to say this: Shawn sucks at this point. Again they have a weird definition of what a squash is as the Rockers are in trouble far more than they should be. Shawn beats up Knight and a second rope splash ends it with Marty getting the pin.

Rating: D. This was a tag version of the first match but less interesting. There was nothing of note here other than how green Shawn looked. To be fair though, he had nothing to be compared to and would get a fair bit better.

The Rockers call out Somers and Rose which would be a year or two long feud that put them on the map.

Brad Rheingians vs. Pete Sanchez

We’re not even told his opponent’s name. Oh it’s Pete Sanchez. Brad is an Olympian but not a very good one. We’re in a different arena here and in a different city as we also have Bockwinkle on commentary. It’s after 1984 as they reference things from that year. Apparently Brad was an Olympic coach and they list off all of the medals his students won.

The fans chant USA at a Puerto Rican. That comes closer to making sense I guess. This is also from 86 but it’s a different show so I’m at a loss for when this is from farther than 1986. Brad hits a middle rope shoulder block which was really hard hitting to get the win.

Rating: N/A. It’s too short to really grade but it was fine. Nothing great but not bad at all.

Doug Somers/Colonel DeBeers/Larry Zbyszko vs. Curt Hennig/Greg Gagne/Jimmy Snuka

Larry has blonde hair here and it looks weird as all hell. This is back in Vegas for no apparent reason and is billed as the main event. Gange is the son of the owner and completely and utterly crap. He was given a title made for him and he was literally one of only two people to hold it until the company folded. The heels have Sherri Martel with them here and she’s listed as Women’s Champion so this is after June 28.

DeBeers says something stunning as he says he won’t wrestle Snuka as he’s not 100% white. Holy shit indeed. He’s apparently replacing some rookie named Scott Hall. I love seeing random names like that pop up.

And before any moron says something, yes I know Hall wrestled for a long time in the AWA. Larry Hennig, Curt’s dad, is on commentary with the other two. Larry (Zbyszko is the only one I’ll refer to for the rest of this match) stalls like he always does and the announcers make fun of him for it. Yeah it’s the same show as earlier as the same seats are still empty.

Larry has mad heat on him and the crowd tells him that he sucks. The Colonel comes in and refuses to fight Snuka. He’s from South Africa where apartheid was still going on. He actually has curled mustache and twirls it. I like this guy. The twirler is beating on Snuka while he’s tied up as we return from a commercial. He’s doing the traditional cowardly heel thing as he’ll only fight when it’s easy.

Hennig is the top face in the company only after Bockwinkle and would soon win the title from him, holding it for about a year. This is more or less completely lacking any kind of flow as it’s a clusterfuck if I’ve ever seen one. Gagne is getting the hell beaten out of him and Hennig keeps getting tags that the referee doesn’t see.

Hennig comes in and just whips that ass. You might even say he’s perfect at it. A missile dropkick on Somers gets the pin for the faces. DeBeers jumps Snuka and like an idiot goes for the head. If you’re going to be a racist, know your stereotypes.

Rating: D+. Again just kind of a clusterfuck but I’m assuming there’s a story here as there would be little reason to have this as the main event otherwise. Hennig was a god in the AWA at this time and this was no exception at all. He looked dominant and that was why this match happened.

Overall Rating: D. Take every grade of this show with a big grain of salt as there’s no way to really look at it fairly with zero context and that it’s a random show. I guess it’s possible that this was how it aired but I’m not sure. I’ll definitely be watching it weekly as it’s an hour and I’m not really having to think of it that hard so what they hell? Not terrible or anything but nothing jumps out. Although with three squashes and a 6 man, what more do you want really?

 

[X]

Good God KB do yourself a favor and fucking avoid that show like the plague man, it's just not worth it. ESPN Classic only seems to want to air the dying days of the AWA in the late 80s when they were just absolutely horrible. I believe they're just slightly edited versions of the weekly show AWA aired on ESPN back in the 80s, not a compilation of random matches.

Seriously though man, do yourself a favor, don't watch it. It's just not worth it. The AWA was a sad, sad fucking joke by that point. And WHATEVER YOU DO do NOT attempt to watch Herb Abrams' UWF that ESPN Classic airs old episodes of, because that's a thousand times worse and is arguably the single worst wrestling promotion to ever exist.

 

[klunderbunker]

AWA Championship Wrestling
Date: January 29, 2010
Commentators: Rod Trongard, Lord James Blears
Show Aired: May 13, 1986

Well apparently ROH isn’t on a channel I actually get so scratch that coming. Instead, it’s back to the AWA. Let’s do it. We actually get a date for this show: May 13, 1986.

Alex Knight/Sally Ruez vs. Midnight Rockers

This is going to be a tag team battle apparently. I think Knight was like their Barry Horowitz or something. There’s a troubleshooting referee that used to be a pro boxer for no apparent reason. We’re in Vegas again. Blears is your stereotypical British guy that might have wrestled like 15 years ago for all of 5 minutes. This time we have seven empty front row seats. I mean COME ON man.

Take a lesson from WWF and darken the areas behind them and make it look like you’re in a small place but it’s full. The referee is freaking ripped. The Rockers are still green as hell here. Yeah one of the jobbers is named Sally. The Rockers hit a combination suplex/top rope cross body to get the win. Apparently Blears has been around 50 years. Ok then.

Rating: D. Sloppy as hell and while it was a squash it was a pretty weak one. They were sloppy as hell in there but I guess that’s the point of having matches this short: getting experience.

Marty says the Rockers are ready for anyone and talks about Sheik’s Army which was a big heel stable at the time. Shawn talks about Rose and Somers. That feud would only take a year and a half or so.

We go to an interview segment with Larry Zbyszko and some random guy called In This Corner. Last week Hennig was on and Larry doesn’t like him. The mystery guest is….the host, Larry Zbyszko. We get a highlight reel of his stuff which is really bad looking to say the least. He’s not actually beating anyone in this package.

And this is going on WAY too long. We come back and there’s a ninja in the other chair and his name is Go. Those eyes look like that of Pat Tanaka. Larry apparently has him just in case something goes wrong. Larry calls out guys like Bockwinkle, Jerry Blackwell and Stan Hansen while talking about killing ducks. Yeah WOW.

King Kong Brody vs. Leon White

For those of you lacking an education of stuff pre 1990, this is Bruiser Brody, the king of brawlers, vs. Leon White, more commonly known as Vader. Brody had been suspended in Nevada which doesn’t shock me at all so this is in Minnesota. Vader is a fat man in shorts and a hat. Holy hell this is weird looking as he’s in essence a nobody here other than a glorified jobber and Brody has a chair 9 seconds in.

Yep there goes Vader’s leg. It’s so weird hearing him called Leon. Vader sells that knee for all it’s worth and this is nothing but a brawl. I think that’s Greg Gagne on commentary. And so much for the selling thing. Never mind he’s back to it. Vader is jumping. Holy fuck. This is intense stuff if nothing else. Sheik Adnan-Al Kassey (General Adnan in 1991 WWF) grabs the knee and works it over to take control back for Brody. And the referee calls it because of the injury. Well ok then.

Rating: B. this was a DAMN good brawl. It wasn’t anything close to coherent or anything like that but it was freaking entertaining. These two would more or less have a bunch of wars that were really good just like this one, or was that Hansen? Might have been both.

Sheik says he wants more carnage and stuff like that. Brody is freaking INSANE. Sheik challenges Hansen for the world title for Brody. Apparently Hennig and Hall are the tag champions?

Colonel DeBeers vs. Nick Bockwinkle

Remember DeBeers is the racist dude from South Africa. Bockwinkle would get the title back soon enough. Nick has a big whip with him which I’d guess he stole from Hansen. We get a reference to the Cauliflower Alley Club. Hokey smokes that’s not something you hear about on TV. Go look that up. DeBeers actually is a mustache twirling villain. He’s a white supremacist as the announcers say.

Talk about a revolutionary character. We’re told that there is going to be an ESPN Champion crowned on June 28th. Trongard calls this vintage apartheid. That’s odd indeed. That title never happened by the way. Bockwinkle works the hell out of his knee so we have psychology. Bockwinkle is a great worker but at this point he would have been 52 at this point, so of course he held the world title at least one more time.

Ok, do something other than that leg grapevine. This is getting repetitive. This match is easily the longest match that this show has had so far and it’s pretty decent actually. Trongard uses the term pin cover which I had only heard Taz use. They ram into each other and the Colonel goes to the floor. Bockwinkle gets his sleeper broken and we have a minute to go and we get a draw to my surprise. Good night there are a lot of empty seats there.

Rating: B. Not bad at all here. I liked it actually as they worked pretty well together. Getting 15 minutes on a show like this was a nice perk. DeBeers is freaking evil to say the least and Bockwinkle going to a draw with him was a nice twist.

DeBeers says that America sucks to end this.

Overall Rating: B-. FAR better than last week as we got a lot of stuff here and a far better main event here. I had fun with this show unlike last time where it just kind of was there. The squash sucked but other than that this was a fun show indeed. No show this week so the next one is on the 12th.

 

[AnthonyM4]

I agree with Mr Eko. ESPN Classics seem to be showing the AWA when they were complete crap! Did they ever show the turkey on a pole thing? I want to see that just for a laugh! Anyway, yeah the awa that's shown on that channel is boring. The matches suck, the commentary is bad, and the production is awful.

 

[klunderbunker]

AWA Championship Wrestling
Date: February 12, 2010
Location: Showboat Sports Pavilion, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Ken Resnick, Greg Gagne
Show Aired: March 4, 1986

Buddhakhan vs. Shawn Michaels

The guy not named Shawn Michaels is a big black man. Yep that’s all I’ve got on him. This is pre Midnight Rockers so Shawn is REALLY young here. Apparently he was the Central States Rookie of the Year before this so he’s about 20 years old here. Shawn is in short black tights of all things. It looks odd as hell. The announcers talk about Shawn’s looks and you can hear Becca complain already.

Shawn shows off some sweet amateur stuff. Ok sweet for a twenty year old that has no idea what he’s doing on this level but whatever. Apparently Brody beat the hell out of Shawn last week. This not Shawn guy isn’t half terrible. Yeah I’m referring to him as not Shawn due to how hard it is to type his name.

If you look closely you can see more empty seats than filled ones. That’s the problem by having shows in places like these. This is going REALLY long by comparison to the other matches. Not Shawn is getting a chance to show off here. Shawn hits what would evolve into Sweet Chin Music before a decent looking top rope splash ends it.

Rating: C-. Not bad, but Shawn didn’t look incredibly dominant. Now to be fair it likely wasn’t supposed to go that way, but at the same time they made him look weaker than they should have. Not bad, but it could have been better.

Doug Sommers vs. Scott Hall

WOW. Scott Hall looks like Magnum TA. He has that permed hair and the big mustache. He also is WAY more muscular than he would be later. He has to be on steroids, period. If you get a look at his face you can tell it’s him but this is mind blowing. Hall and Curt Hennig are tag champions here. They plug Wrestlerock 86. We’ll get to that one.

Hall is just shy of 300 pounds. Apparently he wrestles alligators in his free time? What am I watching? Hall looks about as muscular as Davey Boy Smith if that tells you anything. It’s power vs. amateur here in case you were curious. He’s over as hell here too. I know I’m not talking about the match much but I’m in awe at how different he looks here.

Hall is really green here and can’t do much at all other than really basic moves. Apparently he was following the Vince method: look good and then not be able to do anything. That and a powerslam gets him a pin here.

Rating: D+. Pretty bad match here but it was designed to showcase Hall which I suppose it did well enough at. Hall needed a lot of work to say the least but he did ok. He would get quite a bit better I’d think. It’s hard to believe that this was 8 years before the ladder match between the two guys in the first two matches.

We come back to hear from the champions. Hall has no accent. Apparently Hennig hurt his throat a few weeks ago. Oh Stan Hansen did it, not Hennig. Good to know. These two as faces is just odd as hell. Both say they want a shot at Hansen’s title.

We come back (again) for In This Corner with Larry Nelson and Larry Zbyszko. Their guest is some rookie named Marty Jannetty. We get a highlight package of him beating up jobbers. Riveting stuff indeed. It is rather cool to see all these young guys that would be big deals later on as total rookies here. And Marty’s white tiger shirt is cool.

Marty says he and Shawn are planning on teaming up. He says this with a feather tied around his head. Ok then. There is a toy wrestling ring and wrestling figures on the table. Larry says he’s very liberal. That’s very amusing. Marty really does look like a bit of a douche here to be fair. It’s 1986 and Marty says it’s about to be the 90s. Ok then. Marty says he’s not afraid of Larry so there we are.

Back again we hear about last week’s main event of Jerry Blackwell vs. King Kong Brody, which is part of the Shiek Adnan Al-Kassey/Blackwell feud. And we’re going to show the main event again. Ok then. Blackwell weighs about 500lbs. This isn’t an actual match as Blackwell gets beaten down by both guys and a chair as this is really just a mugging. A bunch of people including Leon “Vader” White make the save. We don’t see this but we’re told that Brody beat up Greg Gagne, an announcer, and it caused Blackwell to make the save and demand a match with a member of the Sheik’s Army, which gives us this.

Jerry Blackwell vs. Boris Zhukov

Ok then. This is going to be bad. Like REALLY bad. Apparently Blackwell is one of the top faces in the company because no one saw anything wrong with a big fat man being the top guy in the company. Blackwell is disturbing looking as he’s so fat and out of shape. Blackwell does a “dropkick” which is almost a low blow. I’m not a fan of super fat men like this.

This is a lot of stalling and fat guy moves. Read as: this is boring as hell so they’ll give it a ton of time. We’re told about WrestleRock again. Who cares that we’ve been given two different dates for it? We’ll just figure it out. Can someone please just end this match? Blackwell gets a suplex and apparently it’s a big deal. He might have a broken nose. They say it’s swollen. How can you tell? His whole body is swollen. O

h yeah Boris has eye paint on that makes him look like a raccoon. If you remember Uncle Elmer from around this time period, Blackwell is fatter. Blackwell does his version of Hulking Up which I can’t think of a clever name for. From what I’ve read he was supposed to get the mega push that Hogan got. Yeah because Hogan wasn’t traditional enough to get the push right? The splash ends it. Like I’ve said: if your finishing move is a splash that isn’t from the top rope, you’ve got nothing.

Rating: D-. This was just boring as hell. Neither guy had a clue how to run a match and that was very apparent. Boring as hell match and bad too.

Blackwell says he’s an American and he’ll get revenge. I take it completely un seriously. He wants Brody. Good to know.

Overall Rating: C-. Not terrible and as bad as it was, the Blackwell thing was a big feud at the time. The showcase of the young guys was fun too. Getting in three matches and an interview segment isn’t bad at all for an hour so I’ll take it. Not bad, but not really interesting or anything like that.

 

[Davi323]

OOOO You had to remind me of Scott Hall's AWA look...I would say that the resemblance to Magnum TA was most likely highly intentional. The AWA made a habit out of copying the look and feel of some other company's wrestlers. Of course, nothing compares to the USWA's Macho Warrior Ric Hogan, but, who does? lol

Thank you for the blast from the past, the reminder that before he was "Toooooo sweet", before he was "the bad guy", he was a Magnum TA wannabe...Its always amusing to see wrestlers gimmicks BEFORE they made it big. Triple H's days as Terra Ryzing, the Undertaker as Mean Mark Callus, Kevin Nash as Oz (I actually liked the Vinny Vegas gimmick), etc. Even the biggest superstars had to start somewhere.

 

[klunderbunker]

AWA Championship Wrestling
Date: February 19, 2010
Location: Showboat Sports Pavilion, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Lord James Blears, Rod Trongard
Show Aired: July 15, 1986

I have no intro here, but this is I believe the latest show we’ve seen yet. If not it’s right around the time of the first one I did but my guess is that this one is a week or so later. Maybe we’ll find out. Bockwinkle is world champion here.

Some host tells us what we’ll see today. The tag champions are wrestling tonight. My guess is it’ll be a squash. They’re fighting a milkman and someone else with the belts on the line. The main event is coming also. No idea what it is but it’s coming.

AWA Tag Titles: Doug Somers/Buddy Rose vs. Jake Milliman/Chad Bardot

Rose is fat here but continues to insist he’s really thin etc. There’s a special referee here as there always is for some reason. They’re jobbers in case you didn’t know. We get a LONG stall to start. It’s nice to hear Bockwinkle talk as he knows his stuff as well as anyone. The jobber not names after a refreshing beverage isn’t that good. He’s rather shall we say chubby?

Milliman is the Brooklyn Brawler of the AWA. Just imagine him as a cult favorite. They try to make him sound tough but whatever. Oh wait, that’s Milliman? That makes little sense as he looks nothing like a Milkman (his nickname) but whatever. The referee is rather annoying to say the least. Milliman is over. Can’t take that away from him. The champions are managed by Sherri in case I didn’t mention that.

They’re not that good but you can tell they’re far better than they’re given credit for. They do a basic style but it’s working I guess. A DDT which isn’t called that yet ends it. Roberts wasn’t a national deal yet so there we are. It’s called a small piledriver here. Ok then.

Rating: N/A. It’s a two minute squash. What can I really say about it? The champions looked dominant and that’s all that matters. It worked fine for what it was.

The announcer points out that Rose is fat and throws us to an interview with them. Rose, who is the mouthpiece, says the Rockers don’t deserve a title shot. That’s true. They wound up getting about 20. He also thanks Sherri for getting them the tag titles from Hall and Hennig.

Dennis Stamp vs. Jimmy Snuka

The announcement says this is the first match of the night. Weird as hell but whatever. Snuka is WAY over. And now we’ve switched commentators as it’s Lord James Blears instead of Bockwinkle. The front row is actually full here so that’s a plus. Stamp looks a bit like Terry Funk and he’s from Amarillo. Who knows?

We hear of Jimmy’s 14 year old son, who I would calculate to be Sim Snuka, or Deuce depending on which you remember. Ah there are indeed two empty seats. Good to see that some things never change. Snuka of course dominates for the most part here which is how he should be doing things. Soon after that the splash ends it, even though Stamp was literally sitting up when he jumped.

Rating: N/A. Same as the other match, but with a face and a sweeter looking finisher. Oh and Snuka worked on the arm.

Snuka says he loves the people and he’s coming for all of the big names on the roster. He would be gone in just a few months.

Jesse Hernandez vs. Colonel DeBeers

Remember DeBeers is the guy that hates anyone not white and is from South Africa. You can’t beat a legit mustache twirling villain. This is pure dominance as the Colonel is killing him. Hernandez apparently is walking around like a drunken sailor. Hey he’s getting some offense! DeBeers wins easily with a pancake. Think the Styles Clash without hooking the arms back. Well that was quick.

Rating: N/A. You might be noticing a pattern here. There’s just not anything of note here and it’s just too quick to really have much to say about it. It’s not bad, but just really fast.

AWA World Title: Nick Bockwinkle vs. Boris Zhukov

Sweet damn Nick is over. Bockwinkle is the hero so this is your standard USA vs. evil foreigner match which there’s nothing wrong with. Why mess with what works best? We have a REALLY long stall. Hey there’s a very long headlock. How interesting indeed. They get up and speed things up again, only to go right back down to a headlock. Damn that was close.

We almost got interesting there for a minute. He hits it a third time. Ok we get it you can give his head a hug. Blears talks about losing weight in a match, claiming to have lost 13 pounds in a match back in 1947. Ok then. Bockwinkle hits the post and we get some psychology. Sweetness. We get a LOT of arm work from Zhukov as this is longer than any of his WWF matches that I can ever remember.

Nick can sell if nothing else. Boris is mixing up the holds and shots so that’s a good sign at least. Apparently this is the 4th of July weekend, although the show says July 15, which is a Tuesday. Zhukox cheats to get two and thinks it’s 3 so he celebrates early, letting Bockwinkle get the pin off a dropkick and rollup.

Rating: D+. Eh I’ve seen worse. This was a very basic TV main event and it worked fine for what it was. Bockwinkle’s selling was solid and the match came off pretty well. Not awful but far from good.

Sheik challenges Bockwinkle for a match with either Zhukov or Barbarian but Sheik gets to pick the referee. Zhukov wants a Russian chain match. Good night that was a lot. That ends the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This was an ok show but nothing great I guess. We had some squashes and a decent main event. Two title matches on one show are pretty good so there’s that. It’s not bad at all I guess but nothing great at all. The shows are bearable, but the time frame makes this really complicated to keep up with.

 

[klunderbunker]

AWA Championship Wrestling
Date: February 26, 2010
Location: Showboat Sports Pavilion, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Ron Trongard, Lord James Blears
Show Aired: July 22, 1986

Hokey smoke we’re getting consecutive shows! Don’t think that’s ever happened before. Let’s get to it as I’m all moist just thinking about it.

No intro this week.

Don Fargo vs. Curt Hennig

Hennig was about to get the monster push so this should be a total squash. Fargo’s brother is much less famous than his brother, Jackie Fargo. Fargo is covered in tattoos. It’s so odd to see that in this company. Literally he has more than Orton does. Fargo dominates for a bit until eventually Hennig just freaking snaps and goes off on him. Larry, his father, needs to shut up though. He’s a guest commentator here.

Hennig works on the, ahem, hamstring which is a nice way of saying hitting him in the balls. One thing I like about the AWA is in their squashes they let the guy getting squashed get in some offense, which keeps it from being a traditional squash. It gives the other guy some credibility and makes the other guy have to work a bit. A running elbow smash, Larry’s old finisher, sets up the missile dropkick for the pin.

Rating: C. Not bad at all. It let Hennig get an easy win here and since he was about to be pushed to the world title this was the right way to go. Fargo got to have some offense in there so you can’t complain about that. Decent little match and the crowd was into it.

Hennig has his father come into the ring and they talk about Curt’s sister getting married today. Hennig calls out Colonel DeBeers and says he’s ready to come out of his shell. That’s an understatement. The guy could talk to say the least.

Tim Patterson vs. Boris Zhukov

Boris was about to head to the WWF here. Scratch that it would be about another year. Oddly enough I saw Patterson (the announcer calls him Peterson and then Trongard calls him Jim) was on the Superstars I reviewed yesterday, fighting the guy that Zhukov would replace as Volkoff’s partner. I love things like that. Now this is what you call a squash. Zhukov was a pretty decent heel back in the day. He’s as much of a stock character as you could ask for but that’s the 1980s for you. Patterson gets your generic jobber offense in and that’s already over.

We get a ton of arm work. Why are we getting psychology here of all places? WOW Trongard can be annoying at times. This thing freaking better wind up with an arm submission as there’s been WAY too much work on it otherwise. Nope instead it’s a….knee splash? He messed it up but whatever.

Rating: D. This was boring and it was a squash. Do you realize how hard it is to do that? The arm work was just odd as hell and it made no point to the whole thing. This was boring as hell.

In the back the Sheik (not the Iron version) talks about his army, one of which is from Afghanistan and the leader is from Iraq. Oh dear. There’s a new member here named Ali Khan. Nord the Barbarian has a stretcher. He’s more commonly known as the Berzerker. This was your standard evil heel foreigners stable.

AWA Title: Stan Hansen vs. Jerry Blackwell

This is from about a month prior and it’s the night before Hansen forfeited the title and it was handed to Bockwinkle. Why are they showing this? I don’t know. They point out everything I just told you, but whatever. This is from Oakland in case you’re wondering. I guess this is from an old TV taping or something? Blackwell weighs about 500 pounds so Hansen is in by far better shape…somehow.

Hansen doesn’t have his vest off yet. Blackwell has a bad ankle apparently. Hansen is busted open. Yeah this is from June 28, but they’re airing it on July 22. Sure, why not? Hansen can’t slam him of course. Blackwell is your standard big fat man that can’t really do much of anything due to his excessive fatness. Hansen is in a bearhug and he’s totally no selling it for the most part.

The referee goes down as Blackwell hits the splash. A boot to the back of the head of Blackwell and he’s down. Another boot shot and he’s getting up. Yeah the more you hit him the more he gets up. Why does this make no sense? Blackwell is bleeding as we’re at about 15 shots with the boot. The new referee comes in and does the incredibly stupid thing and tackles Hansen. After getting his ass kicked, Blackwell gets up after about 20 boot shots and beats up Hansen. What a clusterfuck at the end.

Rating: D+. This was a brawl and not a very interesting one. For whatever reason Blackwell was WAY over and that’s about it here. The ending was a mess as this flt like something from a house show or something like that. Nothing good at all here but it was an ok brawl I suppose.

Hansen says he’ll beat up everyone. Yeah right. Tomorrow would be his last day in the company.

Brad Rheingans vs. Ali Khan

I’ve seen Khan somewhere before but I can’t place him. Rheingans was an amateur wrestler that wasn’t very good in the pros but he kept getting pushed for his amateur record. Apparently Khan is a no one that used to be a jobber. Ok then. Good night this is a boring match. The AWA had a problem with clashing styles and this is a great example of that.

The problem was that Khan isn’t very good and the other guy is just generic as hell. Oh and he’s an AMERICAN! Never mind that ht edesign of the red white and blue of the tights he’s wearing is the pattern of the French flag. Good night this is bad. Brad is blinded all of a sudden for no apparent reason. Oh never mind he’s BRADING UP! When Hogan is a thousand times better in the ring by comparison, what does that tell you?

The referee goes down of course and Brad hits his finisher, a top rope shoulder block, but there’s no referee. Yeah we haven’t seen that recently at all have we? Sheik slips him something and it’s enough for the DQ. The heels beat on him for a good while and the fans don’t seem to mind at all. A big referee comes out and gets in Khan’s face. And that’s how the show ends. Ok then.

Rating: F. Really? REALLY? You air a fucking match from a month ago and do the EXACT SAME THING the next match? Are you fucking KIDDING ME? This was idiotic to say the very least and FUCKING STUPID at worst. Horrible ending.

Overall Rating: F+. When a glorified squash is the best thing you’ve got, that’s not a good sign at all. This was terrible. I have no idea what they were going for here but it was just bad all around. I couldn’t stand this show, especially the last two endings. I mean seriously, how hard is it to switch up the endings or something like that? Good night this was awful.

 

[klunderbunker]

AWA Championship Wrestling
Date: March 1, 2010
Location: Rochester Civic Center, Rochester, Minnesota
Commentators: Ralph Strangis, Lee Marshall
Show Aired: January 1990

Oh dear. Oh dear indeed. It’s the Team Challenge Series. More or less this was the dumbest major idea in wrestling history. The AWA was on the verge of death so they came up with this monstrosity. The idea is the ENTIRE roster is divided into three teams.

For about 10 months they competed in random stupid matches (one was a frozen turkey on a pole match) with the team accumulating the highest amount of points getting a fake million dollars. And you wonder why this company bombed. Let’s get this over with.

Wow Lee Marshall is annoying as hell. There’s a football match. What the hell am I watching?

We go to an interview with Wayne Bloom conducted by ERIC BISCHOFF. Wow he looks more annoying than he does now. Apparently he and Baron Von Raschke are having an Olympic Style Match. Oh dear. He and his partner Mike Enos are tag team champions here and were rookies of the year. They were good here but they became the Beverly Brothers. There you go.

Wayne Bloom vs. Baron Von Raschke

Remember this is Greco-Roman rules. There are epic amounts of empty seats visible so I shudder to think what the camera side looks like. Marshall goes over the rules in the ring and good night this is stupid. Can’t touch below the waist, you win via one count, you get points etc. This goes on for like 3 minutes. Raschke is a captain of his team and Bloom is on Larry Zbyszko’s team.

Oh and Marshall says when you do this, at which point he made a hand motion, it means one point. What was that hand motion? Hell if I know, as the camera wasn’t on him. The teams here are Baron’s Blitzers, Larry’s Legends and Slaughter’s Snipers, which was turned into DeBeer’s Diamonds when Slaughter went back to WWF. There’s a 30 second rest period after round one.

Bloom goes for the leg to take down Raschke but we can’t do that! That might be interesting! Apparently at the end of the second round of three it’s 9-2 Baron. This is just so stupid. And with four seconds left Mike Enos comes in for the DQ. They try for the finisher and it is just AWFUL looking. This was beyond idiotic. Post match Raschke says that he’ll get the Destruction Crew (Enos and Bloom) back through a payment plan and come Christmas, the Visa bill is in the mail. WOW.

Rating: N/A. I rate pro wrestling remember? For a real rating, this is about a G-. I cannot fathom how completely stupid this was. I truly can’t. Why in the world was this supposed to be entertaining?

The Trooper, who would become known as The Patriot in WWF, is wearing a football jersey for his match with Mike Enos later. The referee is a former Minnesota Viking that no one has ever heard of.

The Trooper vs. Mike Enos

Enos is one of Larry’s Legends and I have no clue on The Trooper. Larry is a champion of some kind here. Apparently he’s world champion as we continue to try to get this down to a specified date. Apparently you have to get a football in a goal and you can’t throw it. There is going to be a player on offense and one on defense and downs. First to five wins. Oh dear. They’re wearing helmets and full pads. Oh good night.

They’re having a jump ball for offense first. And the referee knocks Enos into the hockey goal behind him. 1-0 Trooper. And now they’re using wrestling moves on each other. I hate my life. Oh so each possession is 45 seconds apparently. 2-0 Trooper. They pointed out that Trooper played two years in the NFL. Oh and the Vikings donated the equipment here.

Enos stalls a lot. Trooper recovers a fumble to make it 3-0. More stalling ensues as we’re approaching ten minutes for this. Drop toe holds are legal? Enos hits a helmet to the knee and doesn’t go for the score of course. Oh ok it’s 3-1 now. So Enos beat the hell out of the leg so Trooper can’t move. PSYCHOLOGY? HERE? 3-2 as Enos throws the ball in even though that was deemed illegal earlier.

And the referee hits Enos for no apparent reason. They’s in football gear and using leg locks. WOW I hate this company. Tied up at three. Trooper is thrown to the floor, meaning this is going to take even more time. 4-3 Enos. What is in the water in Minnesota that they actually created this? Trooper makes it 4 all and we’re at next goal wins. And the referee knocks down Enos so Trooper can win unopposed. Oh my freaking goodness.

Rating: S. Sixteen minutes. Sixteen minutes. THEY SPENT SIXTEEN MINUTES ON THIS CRAP??? This is worse than the Doomsday Cage. I didn’t think that was possible. Why am I watching this bullshit?

Larry complains about how his team has been cheated.

Texas Hangmen vs. Johnny Stewart/Unknown Soldier vs. Jammer/Diamond

This is a battle royal apparently and it’s for the Team Challenge Series. Whatever man. I don’t care anymore. Even though it’s a team battle royal, it’s one person wins. The Hangmen are named Killer and Psycho. Sure why not? Soldier is out so we’re down to five.

This is just idiotic in case you didn’t know. Jammer is out. The Hangmen’s name changes to the Texas Outlaws halfway through. Oh and we have no idea which is which. Stewart is gone and it’s 2-1. Heel miscommunication gets us to one on one. The other Hangman interferes and the other one wins. Brawl on the floor follows.

Rating: F. Boring as all hell, but somehow the best thing on the card. That’s sad.

Bischoff plugs a show January 29…which helps a bit more.

Overall Rating: W. As in WOW. This was without a doubt the worst hour of whatever you want to call this that I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t wrestling so I don’t know what to call it. This company deserved to die, plain and simple. This was atrocious. Stay FAR away from this time period in the AWA.

 

[klunderbunker]

AWA Championship Wrestling
Date: March 5, 2010
Location: Showboat Sports Pavillion, Las Vegas Nevada
Commentators: Ron Trongard, Lord James Blears
Show Aired: September 23, 1986

Well at least it’s not the Team Challenge Series. This is the latest show they’ve ever aired. Let’s get this over with.

Robert Burroughs vs. Mr. Go

Go is usually Zbyszko’s second but it’s reversed here. Blears talks about trying to pin a cat or a dog. Oh dear. This is a squash and a bad one. Go wins with a second rope elbow. Larry cuts a heel promo afterwards. I hate this already.

Rating: N/A. Nothing special here as it somehow got Larry over. I have no idea how but whatever.

Thomas Pittman vs. Scott Hall

I still cannot get over how different Hall looks here. I mean it is freaking SCARY how much different he looks. I legit didn’t recognize him again. I love having the actual jobbers in there here. They had guys that could get completely crushed and never lose a thing in the losses. Hall is Big Magnum now so they’re not even trying to hide that he’s a Magnum TA clone. Some chick named Donna is on commentary here. No clue who she is. A bulldog ends it.

Rating: N/A. Just a squash to get Hall over. Nothing wrong with that at all. It’s still weird as hell seeing him look like that too. A graphic tells us Hall has been voted the most eligible bachelor in wrestling. HAHAHAHA!

Hall says he’s ready for DeBeers. It’s weird hearing him with no accent. Hennig, Hall’s partner, says he loves the fans and that they’re a great team.

Ali Khan/Boris Zhukov vs. Pat Myers/Butch Cooper

Holy third squash in a row Batman! This is pure dominance to put it mildly. The heels were getting a solid push around this time if nothing else. Cooper hasn’t been in yet. This is total dominance. Myers taps to an Argentinean Back Breaker. Cooper gets beaten up afterwards.

Rating: N/A. See the Hall match but insert the names of the evil foreign heels and subtract the bachelor part.

Sheik says they want a tag title shot.

Paul Garner vs. Nick Bockwinkle

Nick is world champion here. I’ll give the announcer this: he manages to make the name Bockwinkle sound interesting. Garner is getting to go on offense here so if nothing else we get to see Bockwinkle have to be on defense. It’s a nice little change of pace if nothing else. This is by far the most interesting match of the day so that’s something I suppose.

Bockwinkle starts to OLD MAN UP but that gets stopped. Maybe this garner guy is worth something! I smell an upset! Oh there’s the figure four which is called Indian Deathlock for no apparent reason. Never mind.

Rating: C. By far the most interesting match of the night, even though it was as basic as you could ask for it to be. Nothing at all interesting here but they showcased their champion so that’s better than nothing I guess.

Colonel DeBeers vs. Scott Hall

So he wrestled twice in one night? Ok then. This was a big feud at the time so this is a fine choice for a main event. I just find it odd that this is the main event after the squash earlier. Something tells me we’ve had some editing here. Hall dominates until a missed elbow ends that streak. DeBeers controls for awhile as we talk about Hall being on steroids. Ok then.

Hall is really limited in this era. I mean he’s got almost nothing at all to use other than punches and slams. The bulldog gets two and the referee goes down. And down he goes again. Uh oh. Hall is MAD! And there’s the bell for the DQ as another bulldog hits. DeBeers wins by DQ for no apparent reason. Oh ok he thinks Hall intentionally rammed him. Trongard says the staredown is like Ali vs. Frazier. That speaks for itself I think.

Rating: D+. Not bad but nothing special at all. This wouldn’t be the big showdown but a match is better than nothing I guess. Hate the ending but at least we got some of them fighting so there we are.

Hall wants DeBeers again. Make your own alcohol jokes. Hall more or less says he’s obsessed with DeBeers and it’s like a demon to him and that’s the end of the show.

Overall Rating: D. Boring as all hell here with nothing interesting at all. It’s ok I guess if this was a show at the time but even still, just not an interesting show really. DeBeers and Hall were pushed so that’s better than nothing if nothing else. Boring show otherwise though.

 

[tdmoon]

Did OP really say, "Bockwinkle is about as uninteresting of a wrestler and as uninteresting of a champion as I’ve ever seen."
Wow.

 

[klunderbunker]

Did OP really say, "Bockwinkle is about as uninteresting of a wrestler and as uninteresting of a champion as I’ve ever seen."
Wow.

Yes he did say that.

This version of Bockwinkel was old, over the hill and staying on because Verne wouldn't change with the times. He could cut a great promo as a heel, but his matches don't hold up that well at this point in his career, with an emphasis on the last part.

 

[tdmoon]

Yeah, you might have a point. Just being too sensitive because I was a fan of Bockwinkel. But his last couple years weren't great.
Mostly enjoyed it, though. Good job.