AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic 06.27.09

AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic

No, I didn’t give up on recapping after only one show. ESPN Classic can’t seem to follow their own schedule and air the shows when they say they will. I’d be less frustrated if this was actually on ESPN following a real sporting event, since you never know how long it’s going to last for. But this is a channel for stuff that’s already happened, there’s no excuse for such disorganization.

Set the Delorean for October 5, 1986 and rev it up to 88 MPH and head for the Showboat Sports Pavillion in beautiful Las Vegas, NV.

LARRY ZYBYZSKO vs. BUTCH COOPER
Once Larry quits stalling and trying to rile the crowd up, this is a fairly fun squash. Larry works over Cooper’s arm with the Crossface Chickenwing and then follows up with a shoulder breaker. He works back to the hold a few times and then trades the shoulder breaker in for a regular bodyslam. Three slams and a piledriver finish off Cooper. If Larry got right down to business this would have been almost Goldberg-esque.

Larry Nelson congratulates Zybyzsko on his win and Zybyzsko tries to challenge Bockwinkel for a title match, but keeps stopping to tell someone in the crowd to shut their face. He actually gets on his knees and begs Stanley Blackburn to have the guts to sign the match. I don’t know Blackburn, but I think Larry’s methods would be more useful if it was Pat Patterson he was trying to persuade. Larry even offers to wrestle fifty Orangutans with one hand tied behind his back. If TNA decides to use that to decide the next challenger for the TNA Title, then we know what Russo’s watching on his days off.

BRAD RHEINGANS vs. BILL TAB
I’m surprised that Verne never gave Brad any big push. Considering that he always seemed to think that the best *wrestler* should be the champion, which is proven by the long reigns by himself and Bockwinkel. You’d think that a former Olympian would fit the bill. I was expecting Brad to be all carny and stretch Tab within an inch of his life, but he didn’t. Brad’s idea of showing his mat skills seem to be constantly using a side headlock. He was occasionally flashy, such as his cartwheel when Bill dropped down. He also took a damn nice bump when Bill used a kitchen sink knee. Too bad the knee missed by a mile. All Tab is good for is showing his strength by bodyslamming Brad. Tab misses something off the ropes and then Brad finishes him with his diving shoulderblock that he calls “The Bullet”.

Larry Nelson asks Rheingans what’s in store for the future. Brad says that he’s suffered a lot of setbacks due to the Sheik’s Army and now he’s got a new weapon for them. The Bullet!

Larry turns his attention to referee Scott LeDoux a former boxer learning to wrestle. Scott tells us that he’s working out a lot and lifting the weights. Larry asks if he’s gong to find a tag team partner and Scott tells him that he was didn’t need any help when he was a boxer and he won’t need it as a rassler. He plans on using the heart punch as a finisher.

Promo video for Silo Sam. He’s 7’5″ and weights 550 lbs, he’s bigger than Andre. We get clips of him in Memphis in a handicap match, making Lawler and Dundee into his bitches. Then we see him working around the farm.

SHAWN MICHAELS/MARTY JANNETTY vs. EDDIE SWEAT/PABLO CRENSHAW
Jannetty’s ribs are bandaged from the injuries sustained in the famous bloodbath they had with Buddy Rose and Doug Somers. Marty and Shawn try to target Eddie’s arm with Marty splashing it, but he hurts his ribs (duh) and it lets Eddie tag out and Crenshaw starts punching Marty in the ribs. That’s the only notable thing from the jobber team. The rest of it is All Midnight Rockers All The Time. They try a spot with Marty springing off Shawn’s back and catching Eddie with a knee, but things go wrong. The Rockerplex that finishes off Eddie goes wrong as well when Shawn drops him too early. It actually would have been nice to see this go for a little longer with the jobbers beating on Marty’s ribs for a bit and giving the fans a scare that they could actually lose.

Larry Nelson with the Midnight Rockers, they’re still targeting Buddy Rose and Doug Somers. Shawn says that they don’t shoot their mouths off (he sure changed his tune on that one), they back up their words with their actions. The champions started something they can’t finish and the Rockers will be the next World Tag Team Champions. Marty says he’s in a lot of pain but don’t worry about it, because like Shawn said, they’re going after the champions.

COLONEL DeBEERS vs. ROBERT BURROUGHS
Total squash for DeBeers, he outwrestles Burroughs with a headlock and then stomps and slams him over and over again, front piledriver gets the easy pin. Then the real fun comes when Lary Nelson has to interview him. It starts out sounding like Bob Backlund with some big words that really don’t mean anything and him trying to sound very educated. Then he cuts to the chase, which is that he won’t wrestle Scott Hall because he believes that he uses and abuses anabolic steroids! DeBeers was on the right track, he just had the wrong substance. DeBeers compares America to South Africa by saying America is weak like Hall and that why he uses anabolic steroids and that South Africa is strong like him and doesn’t need them. He says he won’t wrestle Hall until he takes a drug test, either a blood or urine test. He should have asked for a breathalyser.

For the main event, we go into the time machine again, to April 20th and WrestleRock ’86 in Minneapolis in the MetroDome

GREG GAGNE/JIMMY SNUKA vs. KING KONG BRODY/THE BARBARIAN (Steel Cage Match)
This is fun to watch, but there really isn’t a whole lot to actually write about. It’s a lot of brawling, which makes sense with the cage stipulation. Brody was selling and bumping his ass off for Snuka and Greg, when Snuka did the double leap frog and then chop spot, Brody damn near soared across the ring. There was a really funny part when Brody hit Greg with a couple of big strikes and Greg got fired up and handed it back, and then Brody killed him with a big boot to the face. It was a bit odd seeing Brody sell so well for Greg, given the size disparity, but it does make sense in the context of their having a long feud and Greg really bringing the fight to him.

I really hate when the ref randomly enforces tags in cage matches, he was fine with Brody and Nord double teaming Snuka, but when Greg tries to help, he’s holding him back. The finish, with Brody accidentally kicking Nord letting Snuka get the roll up was OK, but doesn’t work well for a cage match, more fitting for a TV main event to build to a cage match. Of course, a few minutes earlier, Snuka had accidentally hit Greg, so it’s nice to see them go full circle with it. But hey, I’ve recapped two episodes of this show so far and Greg Gagne hasn’t sucked either time.

Right after Snuka’s pin on Nord, we cut to the ending credits. That’s all for now, we’ll be back whenever ESPN Classic decides that they can pencil the show in!