AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic 07.03.09

AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic

We’re in Las Vegas, NV at the Showboat on July 22, 1986.

CURT HENNIG vs. DON FARGO
I do believe Fargo is the less famous member of the Fabulous Fargos from Memphis. He’s pretty scary looking here, covered in tats and jacked. He’s good at making things look bleak for Curt, he puts Curt in the corner and starts unloading punches, and is surprised that Curt actually fights back with fists of his own. Curt brings the fight to Fargo by wrestling him and Fargo takes a powder. Curt tries to lock up and Fargo takes him down with a choke and it leads to a nice spot with Fargo trapping Curt in a headlock and staring into the camera, looking right out of a scary movie. Curt ducks a swing and hits Fargo with The Axe, his father’s finisher, and then finishes him with a dropkick off the second rope

Larry Nelson congratulates Hennig on the win. Hennig states that it’s a big day for the family, his sister got married and Larry “The Axe” in town! They bring out Larry and he tells Curt he’s proud of him. Then they start talking about Colonel DeBeers costing Hennig and Scott Hall the AWA Tag Team Titles, well Larry Nelson mentions it, Curt just veers off into talking about cowboys and how you’ve got to have guts to be a champion and he’s got them.

BORIS ZUKHOV vs. TIM PATTERSON
Hey, it’s more fun with Russians! Like his fellow countrymen a few shows back, Zukhov’s goal is to separate the shoulder form the body. Boris is coming of a loss to Bockwinkel and he takes it out on Patterson. He doesn’t quite have the brutal edge that Gordienko and Smirnoff did, but he’s good with using the boots and his Crossface armbar is nice. Patterson mucks it up a bit by fighting back as though he’s not hurt, but Boris puts the kibosh on that in a hurry. Boris drops the arm work and levels him with a big lariat and something off the top (ref was in the way and he fell short) gets the win. I know Verne was all about guys with legit backgrounds, but I think he missed the boat with not putting the title onto Boris. I’d imagine that Boris as heel champion would draw fans hoping to see him dethroned.

Interview with Sheik Adnan Al Kaissie and his army. The Barbarian has been carrying a stretcher to and from the ring when he wrestles, because the Sheik and his superiors require that everyone who wrestles the Sheik’s army must leave the ring on a stretcher. That’s actually pretty bad ass. They babble on about nothing for a little longer, the only thing of note is that Zukhov wants another shot at Bockwinkel.

Larry Nelson explains that Nick Bockwinkel is the AWA Champion because Stan Hansen refused to wrestle him in Denver, CO. We then head to Oceanside, CA and what wound being Stan Hansen’s last AWA Title defense.

STAN HANSEN © vs. JERRY BLACKWELL (AWA World Heavyweight Title)
This starts as a big brawl inside and outside the ring, Blackwell busts open Hansen with the posts, it’s almost five minutes before Hansen can even get his gear off. They slow things down and give Hansen control when Blackwell misses a charge, and Stan kicks and punches for a bit. Blackwell uses his size and catches Hasnen in a bearhug to kill some time. The ref goes down and Blackwell hits his big splash, but nobody is there to count. Hansen takes off his boot and uses it bloody Blackwell. Another ref comes down and Hansen starts beating on him, and the first ref calls for the DQ.

Promo from Hansen. He actually calls out Bockwinkel and DARES him to come to Denver and go for the title. There’s some irony!

BRAD RHEINGANS vs. ALI KAHN
As fun as this was, especially the way Brad worked over Kahn’s arm, it’s got a very stereotypical stink to it. Kahn, from Afghanistan, is portayed like a real bumbling idiot. Brad takes him down with ease and uses a hammerlock as genuine offense. Kahn only gets the upperhand through shady tactics like choking Brad, going to the eyes, and tying him up in the ropes. The only thing that Kahn does to Brad that’s on the level is when he takes him over in a headlock, and he doesn’t seem to know what to do with the hold, so he just lays there until Brad powers out. Again, it was fun to watch Brad work over Kahn’s arm, especially after the way Kahn’s stablemate, Zukhov had done something similar. The ref goes down, and Brad hits the Bullet, but there’s nobody to count. The ref comes to in time to see Kahn use a foreign object and calls for the bell. Sheik and Kahn keep up their assault after the bell and that’s all for this week.