AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic 06.21.09

Posted by Mike Campbell on 06.21.2009

AWA Classics are back!


AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic

My bread and butter is usually the video review section, but when I saw this opportunity, I couldn't turn it away. I've recently jumped on the DVR bandwagon and nobody picked up the slack when Harrison bowed out. I ran the idea by Darth Csnoka and here I am, your new AWA on ESPN Classic recapper.

A quick word to those who might have certain expectations. Don't. There's no rhyme or reason (that I can determine) that ESPN Classic uses when they air this stuff. It's sometimes on twice a day, sometimes once, sometimes not at all, and it's on at various times (that's where DVR comes in handy). There's also no discernable organization to what episodes are shown. So if you like what you read about an angle, don't get too hyped about finding out what happened afterwards. Just do a google search or check on Wikipedia. Another lesson that I just learned is that is not always on when ESPN says it will be. I found that out when I went to watch the 11 pm and 12 AM airings from Friday night/Saturday morning and was instead treated to boxing that took up the first hour and most of the second.

Let's jump in the time machine and go back to 1988 in Las Vegas at the Showboat. We're not told when in ‘88, just the year. Larry Nelson shows us clips from last week when the Midnight Rockers wrestled the Nasty Boys. Marty and Saggs brawled in the ring, Shawn and Knobbs on the floor, and then the other two went the floor too. Knobbs climbed into the ring and Jannetty hit a high cross body press for the pin, but it turns out he was the illegal man. Larry tells us the Nasty Boys want a rematch and the Championship Committee~! is considering it. That means that the Rockers are the champions and that puts us between January and March, since the Rockers dropped the titles to Bad Company on 3/19/88.

WAHOO McDANIEL vs. SAMOAN JOE
No, I'm not making that up. That's seriously the name of the guy Wahoo's wrestling. It's obviously not the more famous Samoan wrestler named Joe. Wahoo and Joe trade chops, with Wahoo winning. Joe goes to the eyes and then staggers Wahoo with headbutts. Wahoo fights back with more chops and then hits a big chop to send Joe to the mat, and then pins him after an elbow drop.

THE HURRICANE KID/BILLY ANDERSON vs. PAUL DIAMOND/PAT TANAKA
This is a pretty effective squash for Bad Company. The really cool part is the first minute or so, Hurricane tries to take down Diamond with a headlock, and Diamond outwrestles him to escape and then puts the boots to him. It might not come across so well in written form, but it was totally bad ass! Tanaka does a bunch of eye-raking and stuff, just because he can. The announcers babble about Billy Anderson being so big that Bad Company might have trouble with him, but one kick from Tanaka floors him, and then he's finished a minute later with a sweet slingshot to DDT combo.

Back with Larry Nelson, and clips of last week when Sheik Adnan Al Kaisee attacked the claw hand of Baron Von Rashke. The Baron cuts a promo on the Sheik that you really can't understand, but it was so angry and hateful that it ruled like you wouldn't believe.

GREG GAGNE vs. THE DESTROYER SAMOAN
Three matches in and three Samoans (the second was Hurricane Kid) on the card, Verne must have cut a deal with Afa or something. Popular belief says that Greg sucks and Verne pushed him to the moon and everyone hated him. However, I gave Greg the benefit of the doubt and I'm glad that I did. Greg is clearly a better wrestler here, and the match looks fine when he sticks to that. He takes him to the mat and applies a cross armbreaker, which wasn't very common for wrestling in the U.S. circa 1988, and it's fine that Greg uses the Gagne dropkick to take him down. But Greg is just as often to be found trading shots with the big guy and he even throws him a couple of times, which just looks silly. Greg finishes him in short order with the sleeper. It was actually pretty fun to watch Greg use his wrestling skills to offset the Samoan's brawling and size, but then Supergreg showed up and killed it.

Lee Marshall interviews Curt Hennig at ringside so that Curt can gloat about being champion and nobody being able to beat him. Greg shows up and wants a shot, and Curt tells him he's not worthy. Greg tells him that he's not considered the Champion of the world by everyone. Greg is actually right about that, I'd guess that in ‘88 most fans considered Ric Flair or Hulk Hogan to be the real Champion of the World, but I think Greg implied that some fans might think that the real Champion was Greg Gagne. I don't know who he's talking about, but I bet they didn't actually watch wrestling

BOB ORTON vs. KEVIN COLLINS
Total squash by Randy's father. He attacks Collins right out of the gate and traps him the corner and knees the piss out of him. Then he holds him in a front headlock and alternates between cranking the neck and throwing more knees at him. This goes on for a few minutes and then Orton finishes him with a superplex. Collins still sells the neck, so Orton gives him a piledriver behind the ref's back after the bell.

Larry Nelson wanted to interview Soldat Unstinov and the Sheik, but only Soldat comes out. Nelson speculates that the Sheik is afraid of the Baron, but Soldat says that the Sheik isn't at the Showboat because he's too busy eating fine foods. He calls the Baron a coward and gets as far as "you're a German and you're just like the Americans" before Larry cuts him off and they go to commercial.

CURT HENNIG © vs. JERRY LAWLER (AWA World Heavyweight Title)
On the surface this doesn't look like much of a wrestling match. It's a lot of punching from Lawler and stalling from Hennig. You might think that's a bad thing, but you'd be wrong. The punches are from Lawler, so they look good and the match RULES because of them. Well, because of them, and Hennig's bumping and selling for them. Curt's stalling gets tiresome though, he goes to lock up and then changes his mind, or he takes one punch and rolls to the floor. It's great for getting the fans riled up, but it's not very exciting. Curt tries to play Lawler's game of punching and loses easily. They wind up on the floor and both get counted out, which saves Hennig's title, they keep fighting, and the best part happens when Hennig misses Lawler and punches the post, and then Lawler grabs the hand and slams it into the post again. Hennig buggers off to the back and Lee Marshall and Rod Tronguard bid us farewell and remind us to tune in next week.