AWA Wrestling back on the air

[BruiserKC 0]

Always enjoy seeing some Memphis action on these AWA shows and it was amusing to see Lawler and Dundee be the first team from the area to win world titles.....over a makeshift Soledad/Sommers tag team?? It was hilarious that the ref counted a pin when Dundee was blatantly not legal at all (he was face in peril forever, finally tagged Lawler).

 

It's interesting to hear Paul E.'s promo setting up his Midnights vs. Lawler/Dundee by mentioning the notorious head shaving in Memphis where Idol/Rich shaved Lawler's head. That stuff would be about 10x better than anything on these AWA shows, but sadly we see none of that footage. It's bizarre hearing Lawler talk about it in the interview with Lance Russell since he mentions Rich, but in the AWA at that point Rich was a face and feuding with the Dangerous Alliance!

 

I remember seeing the Lawler head-shaving incident...the fans in Memphis just about rioted and stormed the ring. But IIRC doesn't Vince own the rights to the Memphis footage up until that time?

 

Global action would own...I would like to see guys like the late "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert one more time.

 

[cabbageboy 0]

I have no clue who owns the rights to Memphis footage. No idea about post 1989 USWA either. I've seen some of that head shaving angle on youtube.com and it did in fact rule.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Zoiks, they replayed the six-man tag w/ The Dangerous Alliance vs Rich/Wahoo/Blackwell from a show last week as last night's main event.

 

The tribute to Mad Dog Vachon was pretty well done for the time. Verne was kind of just rambling there during his interview but it seemed he meant well.

 

Soldad Ustinov scaring the bejesus out of Larry Nelson was precious.

 

I love how Paul E has become a regular at the studio interviews. Him laying down yucking it up on the phone was awesome.

 

And yes, I pretty much FF past all the matches to get to the studio hijinx.

[RedJed 0]

And yes, I pretty much FF past all the matches to get to the studio hijinx.

 

I'm the same way for the most part. There is just so many Wahoo, Adonis, or Midnight Express squash matches I can handle.

 

Yeah, alot of last weeks shows and also Mondays were from the same location (some high school gym in Wisconsin), so they re-did that six man on two shows for some reason.

 

Some of those matches from that Wisconsin taping were interesting though, such as the Dundee/Lawler v. Midnight Express title change. God, Verne Gagne was just freaking out at the ending on replay, and then they did a Lawler/Dundee squash the next show in which Gagne was just verbally blowing both Lawler and Dundee like crazy. That squash match was hilarious due to a few reasons, one of the jobbers telling the crowd to fuck off and it being clearly not edited off the show, and then the other jobber takes a monkey flip as his first bump of the match and totally lands wrong and basically the match has to be rushed from that point since he was so out of it, could barely stand up.

 

Last nights show was good stuff, a segment of the show was devoted to recapping the first three months of 87, and they showed the great stuff from Rockers/Somers and Rose (including the title switch from the Met Center in Minneapolis, a venue that was tore down to build the Mall of America years ago, used to be the place that WWE always came to) as well as Hennig/Bockwinkels matches to lead to the title change. The rest was pretty forgetful, other than Heyman's promo hyping up Rich/Adonis for next week (which is hopefully going to air tonight)

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Havent watched last night's show yet but yeah, those squashes were terrible. Jumbo Baretta, Rick Gantner, Pete Sanchez . . . were these guys even trained to wrestle? They can hardly take a bump which you would think would be the one thing they'd have down pat.

 

The title change was definitely fun. Surprised they picked up the phone shot on the replay . . . and nice continuity of Heyman showing up for his next promo w/ a taped together cell.

[cabbageboy 0]

I dunno some of the jobbers but Pete Sanchez was at least the jobber Flair beat in his MSG debut in 1976. That was on the Flair DVD. Sanchez looked about 80 lbs. lighter back then.

 

These 1987 shows need Dennis Stamp to deliver the jobber goodness. Too many bad, boring jobbers.

 

 

[RedJed 0]

I dunno some of the jobbers but Pete Sanchez was at least the jobber Flair beat in his MSG debut in 1976. That was on the Flair DVD. Sanchez looked about 80 lbs. lighter back then.

 

These 1987 shows need Dennis Stamp to deliver the jobber goodness. Too many bad, boring jobbers.

 

He actually was on last night, in a tag against Pat Tanaka (apparently making his AWA debut) and Jammin' Mitch Snow. Sold like crazy for Tanaka. Speaking of Mitch Snow also, for some odd reason, we saw him in two tag matches IN A ROW last night, not sure what the deal was there. One with Tanaka and another with a jobber, against the Midnight Express (who didn't have their tag titles and werent announced at the tag champs, wow I'm confused).

 

Part 2 of the 87 Year in Review last night was weak, just a 30 second clip from Hennig turning heel on Greg Gagne and then they showed the finish of Hennig winning the title from Bockwinkel at Super Clash 2. Oh and another very brief clip of the Russians beating the Rockers for the tag titles.

 

Once again, Heyman cuts an incredible promo on Tommy Rich to end the show, and before that, they aired Rich v. Adonis in a super heated match from the Showboat, unfortunately the finish was basically a no contest when Heyman interfered and the heels laid Rich out. Good stuff though.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Is that cut on Snow's head ever going to heal? Seems like he's had that band aid on for the last half a dozen episodes.

 

That jobber teaming w/ Snow isn't just any jobber . . . it's Art Washington, the same guy Ted DiBiase hired to wrestle in his debut. He lost to Chris Curtis and got beat down by DiBiase and Virgil.

 

Rich/Adonis was good classic rasslin. The crowd digs Rich, that's for sure.

 

The Peterson/Madusa/Nailz stuff is a little confusing. I didn't even know they were feuding . . . next thing you know they're fighting in MN's answer to the Mid South Coliseum and now Madusa is Peterson's "slave". And the pjs he made Madusa wear . . . I don't get it. I figured she'd come out lookin like a Poison groupie but oh no.

 

Going back to Wed's show, it was quite humorous how Adonis didn't feel like working so he splashed the shlub in the 1st minute and forceably held him down for the 3 count as the jobber was kickin away. Better for all of us.

[BruiserKC 0]

I have no clue who owns the rights to Memphis footage. No idea about post 1989 USWA either. I've seen some of that head shaving angle on youtube.com and it did in fact rule.

 

Only time I've seen anything post-1989 from USWA is when I had the chance to catch IWA wrestling from Puerto Rico on Empire Sports. They would show a lot of USWA and Global footage from that time, including Austin, the Ebony Experience (aka Booker and Stevie) and the Patriot.

 

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Last night's ep was nothing special other than Dennis F'N Stamp opening up on Adonis like a house of fire . . . before getting kneed and pinned in under a minute. Easy come, easy go.

 

Oh yeah, they showed DJ Peterson in one of his first matches looking like a dead ringer for Magnum TA rather than a dead ringer for Brutus Beefcake like he would later . . . and no the match wasn't intended to be a flashback, just shoddy post-production.

[RedJed 0]

Haha yeah that Dennis Stamp offensive burst was hilarious!

 

I totally dont get the Medusa humiliation angle by having her come out in a bath robe and a shower cap. WTF?! Although I guess that having her coming out in next to nothing isn't exactly punishment for her, eh?

 

Wahoo-Hennig in a strap match tonight though, awww yeah....

[MillenniumMan831 0]

That fuckin clutz Adonis accidentally cut Hennig's hand w/ that knife. Trongard was flipping out when he thought Adonis handed Hennig the knife.

 

And is it just me or does Wahoo look like a grumpy old crust all the time?

 

Oh my goodness, Larry Nelson is at a bar hosting a New Year's Eve party. God bless that man.

[RedJed 0]

Oh wow, tonight's show may have been the best AWA show I've seen so far on ESPNC, it was fucking great.

 

First, the segments they did at some junky looking bar in Minneapolis called Jukebox Saturday Night on New Year's Eve 1987 were fucking gold. It was all just surreal, Nelson was getting a good buzz on, and then interviewed half tanked guys like Wahoo (who cut the most driveling promo I've ever seen him do), Rockers, Mitch Snow, and then being surrounded by goofy looking drunks who are trying to get on TV on top of it. The ending segment with a clearly drunk Larry Nelson in a dunk tank with a super young Eric Bischoff holding the microphone for him while he was in the tank was hilarious, I guess Eric didn't lie when he said for those first few years he was pretty much a gopher for Gagne. This was likely his first on screen appearance in wrestling, well over two years after he actually was on TV regularly, essentially taking over Nelson's role in spots. On top of all this, Jerry Sags, who I don't even think was working for the AWA at this point (they came in later in 88), was constantly walking around in the background of the promo Nelson did with Wahoo in the bar, trying to get his face on TV. My guess is he was literally just there as a fan/patron of the bar that night and tried to meet some of the AWA guys while he was there.

 

The matches themselves were quite the shit too. Some new guy called Billy Jack Strong debuts and makes the Ultimate Warrior (who I think he was kind of loosely patterned off of) look like a fucking technical dynamo. I've never seen such a shitty, sloppy worker in a long time. Starts to give the jobber a side slam, but instead this idiot doesnt even move at all once he lifts him by his side, and then just drops him with no protection.....and then tries the move again and fucks up again. He then gives the poor jobber one of the nastiest and uncoordinated botched closelines I've seen ever, basically a hard forearm to the side of the jobbers head.

 

They also had Gagne v. Adonis to crown the first TV champion in the most unceremoniously ridiculous fashion. The match itself has great heat, most in part thanks to Heyman, and ends by DQ when Bob Orton shows up out of nowhere to help Adonis. One would assume they have a rematch to find out who is the first champ, but instead Gagne is announced as the new TV champion, showing him in the ring less than thrilled, but acting like he is. It came off so just matter of factly. On top of that, there wasn't even a title to give to him yet. Wow......just wow!

 

Main event of the Rockers return to the AWA was pretty good, crowd again was super hot for this match. Solid show all around, hilarious on many levels.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Had to be the most entertaining ep I've seen. Nice to see the Showboat actually full instead of looking like a half empty convention center.

 

If Mitch Snow would have been loaded before all his promos, he could have been a mega star. You know Jannetty was getting laid by at least two chicks that night. Nelson going into the dunk tank when it's probably -10 degrees outside . . . probably not too wise. Awesome to see Bischoff's plastic smile even back then.

 

Gagne looks pathetic out there. And his promos are shit.

 

I believe the Nasty Boys already started w/ the AWA since they've been on the Top 5 Tag Team list for at least a few eps already. But yeah, Sags was definitely whoring to the camera.

 

Line of the Night - "It's the wrestling . . federation there is." - Wahoo McDaniel letting everyone know how great the AWA is.

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

Nasties were trained by Verne IIRC

[cabbageboy 0]

I should have this on DVR so I will definitely check this goofy episode out. Sounds hysterical.

[The Tino Standard 0]

Looks like we've skipped ahead, big time.

 

I turn on tonight's show and it looks like the first ep. of 1990, with Bischoff in the Larry Nelson role, with Lee Marshall on PBP, a guy I don't recognize on color and (I think) Donna Gagne doing ring announcing. Give me back Larry Nelson, Ron Trongard and Mitch Karch from the Showboat, damn it. Then again, they'll probably never top last night's show.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Ouch, one ep in and 1990 looks putrid. By AWA standards, the color man w/ Marshall isn't too bad. Bischoff is cheesy but not terrible. The wrestling is another story.

 

No wonder Vince stuck Paul Diamond in a mask and never gave him promo time. That interview he had w/ Bischoff was gruesomely bad. Something about being in battle royal and not going over the top and winning because he's not going to be thrown over the top.

 

I didn't know the Team Challenge Series was underway. I thought it was a late 1990-early 1991 deal. I am really dreading the pink studio shows. I actually hope they hit the reset button by then and go back to 1985-86 shows when I wasn't DVRing them and catching about an ep per week.

 

And that main event . . . zoiks. It was supposed to be a Bodyslam Match between The Berzerker and Yokozuna. Only Yoko was a no-show so General Adnan had to fill in and get his flabby ass slammed. Though his prematch promo somewhat made up for it blaming Yoko's absence on all the snow all over the world.

[cabbageboy 0]

What's so goofy is that Adnan was in a friggin BODYSLAM match and he's not exactly a big dude. Nord could have simply slammed him off the bat and it would have been over, but that excruciating trash lasted 15 mins.

 

What's odd is that several of these guys went on to get jobs in the WWF or WCW. Bischoff of course, Nord became The Berserker, Kokina became Yokozuna, Destruction Crew (who were only mentioned) became the Beverly Bros., Slaughter and Adnan were signed for the Iraq angle, Larry Z. went to WCW, and so on.

 

This show sucked of course but I will say this about the Saito/Larry match. Saito busted out one of the rawest submissions ever, with this Sharpshooter attempt with a twist to it where he grabbed Larry's arm as well. Does that have a name? Cause it's awesome and begging for someone to use it now.

[DarKnight 0]

I'm probably the only one looking forward to these AWA shows from 1990, so I can see how bad they are. I actually would rather see this stuff than the 86 and 88 shows, as I think these AWA shows are just boring. There may be good wrestling at times, but these shows mostly suck. The only thing thats good about some of these shows is seeing DDP as a heel manager, he was awesome in that role. Oh, I also enjoy seeing Dennis Stamp. Those shows from 87 are terrible, as it clearly shows the AWA had no roster then. The show from 1990 they showed was bad, but that was expected. I hope they keep showing those though, as I am curious to watch shows from promotions' last days, like WCW, just so I can see how bad they got.

[DarKnight 0]

Oh my god. I watched this one AWA show from 1990 a few minutes ago, and it was the worst shit I've ever seen in my life. There was some awful Trooper vs. Mike Enos football match or something, which was the worst stuff ever. Thats like something that you see when you go to hell, and thats your punishment, to watch that.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Yeah, I watched about a minute of that before FF hoping I'd forget that segment some day.

 

The battle royal wasn't 1/2 bad for what it was but putting that up against the Greco Roman and football match makes it seem like Flair/Steamboat in comparison.

 

I honestly don't mind the new format making each episode seem like more of a live event then just having matches arbitrarily spliced together, but the action is shit. I don't know how they got as many people in that building as they did. I'm mildly surprised Bischoff doesn't suck ass interviewing here. He's pretty decent trying to keep interview on track and not letting wrestlers just ramble on and on and on like Nelson did. Though, we all love Nelson.

[cabbageboy 0]

That football crap on the recent episode was truly horrible. As in some of the worst crap I've ever seen level bad. The battle royale was at least kinda fun.

[DarKnight 0]

Thats what is sad about the AWA in 1990. They have guys that I like on these shows. I've always liked the Patriot, so its kind of interesting to see him on here as the Trooper. Those guys the Texas Hangmen seem like pretty cool heels, and in that battle Royal, there was some Chris Candido looking dude, that seemed like he was a pretty good heel too.

[RedJed 0]

FYI, these were the shows I was talking about before in how they taped these in Rochester, MN ad nauseum, went to many of these tapings, they were brutally hard to sit through since they taped five hours in a row once a week (I think they did them on Saturdays). As you could probably see, the lights are extremely lowered because there really wasn't that many people at this shows, especially as they went on. When they first started doing weekly shows, they papered the shit out of these shows until they thought enough would come back and pay next time around, well they didn't. If I recall, tickets were real cheap, I think $5 for general admission and ringside was $10. Be prepared for some ridiculous shit, the show from Thursday already proved that with very odd gimmick matches. I just have watched bits and pieces of the last few shows, but I'm sure I'll post more on them when I catch up, as I probably will recollect things from seeing these horrible shows.

 

One thing I did notice though, some really shitty production values with Bischoff doing the interviews behind a shitty looking bluescreen. Definately showed the company was about to go under here. And I forgot about that god awful announcer with Lee Marshall, ugh!

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Watched last night's ep earlier today. I see the AWA has installed MORE rules to ensure that nothing exciting happens until their death a year or so later. The Beverly Brothers got DQed for hitting a shlub w/ the Doomsday Device.

 

The main event was Baron and Candi Devine vs Col DeBeers and Magnificent Mimi. I didn't sit through that but I saw the promos. Mimi was smokin and looked like a sweetheart. Devine, on the other hand, looked like a cold-hearted shrew. Definite miscasting there.

 

And yeah, the AWA's bluescreen effects are the worst I've ever seen.

[DarKnight 0]

I actually thought the newest episode they showed was lightyears better than that one that had that football crap. The newest one seemed like a regular wrestling show at least. The matches weren't any good of course, and I also found Candi Divine to be really hideous looking. The Beverly Bros. didn't get DQ'd for doing the doomsday device, they got DQ'd for... wait for it... jumping off the top rope! Anyone noticed that any promotions that do that kinda crap always goes out of business? I too found the Bischoff blue-screen stuff to look really bad. Did anyone notice one of the announcers calling him a choir boy?

[MillenniumMan831 0]

IIRC, it's only illegal to come off the top rope if the opponent is either prone on the mat or elevated (as is the case w/ the DD). Then again, I'm taking Ralph Stargis's (sp?) word for it, so who knows?

 

Apparently, JR also checks in on the AWA (from his blog):

What’s available on WWE 24/7 sort of blows away some of the recent content on ESPN Classic’s AWA Wrestling show especially when "Greco Roman" matches and "football" bouts are featured. Nonetheless I catch myself checking out the old AWA shows on a regular basis and then roll right into Poker After Dark on NBC.

 

Oh sure, reference THAT episode. Don't tell me you weren't marking out for the NYE ep Jimbo.

[cabbageboy 0]

Shit dude, I'd watch any of these bad AWA shows over stuff like WWF World Tour 1996.

 

In regards to that mixed tag main event, how can you not love Col. De Beers? This guy cut a heel promo bashing women in the workplace, then proceeded to cheat Candy Divine that entire match when she would end up in that corner.

 

Mimi was still hot but not as much as she was in the 1988 shows when she was tormenting Madusa. I recall one of those where she got in the ring wearing this ultra 80s miniskirt and good lord she was a babe.

[DarKnight 0]

What’s available on WWE 24/7 sort of blows away some of the recent content on ESPN Classic’s AWA Wrestling show especially when "Greco Roman" matches and "football" bouts are featured. Nonetheless I catch myself checking out the old AWA shows on a regular basis and then roll right into Poker After Dark on NBC.

 

I really don't blame Ross for making fun of that shit. It really was the worst stuff I've ever seen.