AWA Wrestling

[gd]

I have to admit that I'm definetly not considered an "old school" fan. In fact, I wasn't even alive when the AWA was around, but I have been watching some episodes on ESPN Classic the last few days.

I may just be my opinion, but I think that the AWA sucks. Very few of the matches that I've seen have entertained me, there are a bunch of long squash matches, and nearly every other character seems to have either an American or Anti-American gimmick. The only positive I've really seen was Stan Hansen.

Now the AWA might have actually been good, I'm not sure if my opinion is biased based on me being a post 2000 fan. Or maybe I'm just not catching AWA in it's prime. All of the matches I've seen are somewhere from 1986-1988.

So, am I right in saying that the AWA sucked, or is this just the biased opinion of a modern wrestling fan?

 

[bfmooz]

Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons why I stopped watching AWA Wrestling on ESPN Classic. You are correct that the era that they play matches from is quite possibly one of the worst. These matches are from the last days of the AWA before they ended up with the three company merger.

I really wish they would play matches from a few years prior, as it was much better during that period. Fortunately I was around to see some of the periods with the territories, but it would be great for some of you that haven't been able to see some of these matches to be able to see what wrestling was back then.

I would gladly tune in to watch the matches from the early 80s. The AWA had a lot of talented performers during that period, like Jesse Ventura, Rick Martel, the Road Warriors, the Freebirds, Gorgeous Jimmie Garvin, Curt Hennig, Bruiser Brody, etc. Yes, the wrestling was no way near as fast paced and hard bumps as it is today, but it was a different time for wrestling.

 

[supersayian]

AWA was great back int the 70's and Early 80's when the 90's came around their was just not enough money to survive. there were great feuds there that i won't forget. like the Freebirds and The Road Warriors. Mr perfect was a star in this time. he was already in his prime then. AWA had a DVD com out recently watch it it shows you what they were really about and when they were great. watch then come back and see what you think

 

[X]

You have to remember that television matches shown in the old days of wrestling were always going to be utter garbage. Same thing with old NWA TV shows---just awful, awful wrestling. But they sold you the feuds and the stories, and got you to come out to the shows or pay for a video or eventually buy a PPV from them. It wasn't until the invention of Raw and Nitro that television wrestling became good really.

I still catch the AWA shows on ESPN Classic every now and then, always entertaining to see old school DDP, plus Curt Hennig and others. They usually choose to play the worst years though.

 

[LokiCobain]

The American vs Anti-American bit was due to the Cold War, where guys like T Joe Khan and the big Russians that the Sheik brings out come from. We don't care nowadays, which is one reason Vladimir Kozlov is tanking. Had he come out back when we actually feared Russia, then he would've been bigger. A few months ago I really enjoyed the AWA on ESPN classic, but as of recently I've been getting bored. The show, though, made me a big fan of Colonal DeBeers, who re-debuted (since the show is supposed to air chronologically) last night. The problem is he's an anti-American from South Africa, a country we don't care about now or see as anything threatening, which hurts his character looking on it now. But I believe he's 113 - 0 (or something like that), so they play him off as being a force.

 

[gd]

That's what I thought. I know that AWA was very good at one time, but it obvioulsy isn't their best stuff I'm seeing right now. For instance, Greg Gange beat some big guy yesterday with 3 dropkicks. I mean seriously, since when where dropkicks a finishing move?

I did notice that they mentioned the Cold War a lot, and it seems that that Sheik guy from Afghanistan is controlling aobut half the roster. DDP was pretty much doing the same thing by finding Cononel De Beers.

Also, I found it odd that they randomly interviewd Jerry Lewis on the last episode. It wasn't even about wrestling, it was about his telethon and his grandkids. After seeing that, I could tell that this was a company going downhill.

 

[Heel?]

I abo****ely love Colonel DeBeers. He was completely different from everyone else. For me, the mustache got him over.

 

[instantkarmaVA]

I get a kick out of seeing a young eric biscoff on the AWA shows. He was just cutting his teeth in the biz. Lol..
I enjoy watching awa for the retro factor. I remember watching these episodes when they first aired in the 80's. If you grew up on 90's wrestling and later then your most likely not going to appericate the show. Checking out the audience is half the fun. Mullets galore.There was always some guy dressed as a nun who sat in the front row. WTF?

 

[pampero firpo]

youre right the AWA sucked in the 1980's...... even with eric bischoff. they tried to go nationally like the wwf. the awa was great back in the 1970's. alot more wrestling back then and less storylines. the wrestling was better back then if youre a fan of pure wrestling. they had mostly squash matches on tv. alot of jobbers. they kept the big matches for there live events. almost every big name wrestler in the 1980's and 1990's were in the awa at some time. even the wrestlers that were in the wwwf went thru the awa first. alot of wrestlers came back to the awa. wrestlers like scott hall got his start in the awa, ric flair, dusty rhodes, superstar billy graham, road warriors, randy ortons dad bob orton,andre the giant, the rocks grandfather peter maivia, hulk hogan.......the list goes on forever. if you can get some tapes or dvd's of the awa back in the 1970's....it was alot better then the 1980's. the wrestlers being interviewed in the 1970's by mean gene orkerlund and Marty O'Neill was good stuff.

 

[LokiCobain]

One of the reasons I keep watching is to see younger versions of the guys that I recognize (the Monday Night Wars was when I was around 12, so those guys). Scott Hall was always one of my favorites, with his pornstar mustache, his jew fro, and cowboy-esque gimmick. A great match that was on a few nights ago was Jerry Lawler vs Curt Henning for the title, which Lawler won. But for the most part they're usually squash matches, or one on one matches between two tag team guys that ultimately lead to a tag team feud.

 

[mr.davidson]

Iam not a big fan of the AWA however I do know that there are really good matches out there to watch....... Hulk Hogans matches are pretty good, just before he came back to the WWF you get to see the birth of hulkamaina... Other really good series of matches are with the road warriors.... YOU REALLY GET TO SEE THEM DOMINATE THE OLD SCHOOL WRESTLERS...Very Funny... Also you get to see alot of the greats when they were young wrestlers....

soooooooooo yeah there are some good matches out there that I can remember just have to keep ur eyes open for them

 

[dmacizdman]

I remember watching one episode with Scott Hall before he did his "Hey Yo" schtick. Looked like a cowboy. Bruiser Brody was on the same episode.

 

[blair4107]

I've watched it a few times on ESPN and I was pretty amused, more amused than when I watch any WWE programming anymore. Unfortunately for some reason the show isn't classified as a recurring show on my network so my DVR will not tape it unless I choose each episode specifically. Also the other day I caught it on and there were literally 3 commercial breaks during the entrances alone; I didn't even see a single part of the actual match. ESPN, how is this a proper way to manage commercial breaks?

 

[mrstlouis]

That's what I thought. I know that AWA was very good at one time, but it obvioulsy isn't their best stuff I'm seeing right now. For instance, Greg Gange beat some big guy yesterday with 3 dropkicks. I mean seriously, since when where dropkicks a finishing move?

I did notice that they mentioned the Cold War a lot, and it seems that that Sheik guy from Afghanistan is controlling aobut half the roster. DDP was pretty much doing the same thing by finding Cononel De Beers.

Also, I found it odd that they randomly interviewd Jerry Lewis on the last episode. It wasn't even about wrestling, it was about his telethon and his grandkids. After seeing that, I could tell that this was a company going downhill.

this just shows you don't know crap about wrestling before 2000. dropkicks ,suplexes,neckbreakers ,headlocks & sleepers were all finishers in the old school days . you need to start watching only old school wrestling to learnrwhat real pro-wrestling not the crap you grew up on.jerry lewis was a big name back in days & AWA was trying to do the same thing as vince & WWF. the company did not start going really under or downhill till bischoff showed up.vince stole most of AWA's talent from 1984 till 1990. so awa was realy good because vince had to steal talent from there.

 

[gd]

this just shows you don't know crap about wrestling before 2000. dropkicks ,suplexes,neckbreakers ,headlocks & sleepers were all finishers in the old school days . you need to start watching only old school wrestling to learnrwhat real pro-wrestling not the crap you grew up on.jerry lewis was a big name back in days & AWA was trying to do the same thing as vince & WWF. the company did not start going really under or downhill till bischoff showed up.vince stole most of AWA's talent from 1984 till 1990. so awa was realy good because vince had to steal talent from there.

I just thought that it was stupid that the Gange only got a 2 count after doing a pretty nice flying cross body, but got a easy pin with a dropkick. I realize that wrestling was different back then but I'm attributing this to the fact that AWA sucked by 1988.

As for the Jerry Lewis thing, it was just stupid. I don't see the point of it, since it took up time of AWA programming, but had nothing to do with wrestling or the AWA at all. If Brad Pitt was interviewed backstage on Raw by Todd Grisham for 5 minutes to talk about his new movie and his work helping the poor, wouldn't you find it kind of strange?

 

[gd]

No, but I do find it strange when Jenny McCarthy does it...

Wasn't she actually involved in a match as a manager or something? I could be wrong, but I think she was at least kind of involved in a match.

you are wrong & you grew up watching that psed up 200o crap they told you was wrestling. AWA is real old school wrestling & how wrestling is suppose to . so AWA does not suck you just don't know what wrestling is

I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure almost everyone in this thread has said that by 1988 AWA sucked and most TV matches were just squashes. It's not my fault I was born when I was and that I'm more used to a different product. I was however open minded when making this thread, and others actually agreed with me that what I was watching did indeed suck.

 

[pampero firpo]

this just shows you don't know crap about wrestling before 2000. dropkicks ,suplexes,neckbreakers ,headlocks & sleepers were all finishers in the old school days . you need to start watching only old school wrestling to learnrwhat real pro-wrestling not the crap you grew up on.jerry lewis was a big name back in days & AWA was trying to do the same thing as vince & WWF. the company did not start going really under or downhill till bischoff showed up.vince stole most of AWA's talent from 1984 till 1990. so awa was realy good because vince had to steal talent from there.

you are right. the wrestlers in the awa were so much better at wrestling then the wrestlers in the wwe today. they would out wrestle them easily. i know wrestlers are much bigger and faster today. but as far as wrestling moves and holds..... they would be outclassed. if you watch clips of the wwwf (wwe) back in the 1970's and watch the awa back in the 1970's, the awa was far more entertaining.
bobby heenan came from the awa and he was hilarious back then. even shawn michaels came from the awa. many big named wrestlers honed there mic skills and there wrestling in the awa..

 

[grifdog44]

The problem with the AWA on ESPN Classic was that was the version of the AWA after they signed the national deal with ESPN. The real AWA was before the national deal with the Road Warriors, The Free Birds, and The Long Riders. During the time on ESPN though, we get to see a young Midnight Rockers, young "Big" Scott Hall and "Cool" Curt Hennig". A past his prime Nick Bockwinkle and other older stars were there. Stan "The Man" Hansen, the Bad Man from Borger, Texas was there and made a great impact. Sad to say though the WWF took most of their talent and really never regained from that raid. With all the talent stolen, why didn't Vinny Mac take Greg Gagne and make a star out of him? (Insert your own jokes)

 

[pampero firpo]

the awa was a sinking ship. they went to espn out of desperation. verne refused to have big ring entrances, and gimmicks. vince changed with the times in the 1980's and verne was too old fashioned and refused. the 1970's wwwf was a hell of a lot less entertaining then the awa in the 1970's however.
the nwa was also good in 70's.