AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic 07.05.09

AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic

AWA CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING ON ESPN CLASSIC
We’re in Las Vegas at the Showboat and it’s apparently May 28, 1987 according to a few clips from youtube. However, there’s talk of the big battle royal series that comes in October, and May seems a bit too early to be looking that far ahead. So I don’t know when in ‘87.

BUDDY LANDELL vs. ML WILLIAMS
The ring announcer makes a bit of a Freudian slip and announces Williams as being from “Atlantic City, New Jewsey.” Buddy Landell apparently comes to the AWA with a big reputation, I’ll just leave that one alone. Nothing much to see here, it’s mostly Buddy working a chinlock and some forearm shots. Williams tries to mount a comeback after getting sent to the floor, but he misses a dropkick and Buddy crushes him with an elbow drop and a figure four gets the submission.

ADRIAN ADONIS vs. TONY LEONE
Another squash for Adrian. Dangerously distracts Leone and Adrian attacks from behind and Leone is as good as done. Adrian with a brutal DDT, but keeps the punishment coming. He attempts what looks like a slingshot suplex but screws it up, then he seems to try a one-legged slingshot, but that goes wrong too. Finally Adonis with the sleeper and the arm drops thrice. It’s not over yet, Adonis won’t let go and two jobbers come out to help, and Adonis beats them up. Tommy Rich comes out to help and Adonis and Dangerously back off.

CURT HENNIG vs. MIKE TOLOS
It’s funny, Curt is probably most well-known for overselling and over the top bumping, but he’s the exact opposite here. He’s the one dishing out the punishment in the over the top manner. Hennig explodes on Tolos with a dropkick and then beales him all the way across the ring. He KO’s him with The Axe, and then pins him with, what we now know as, the Perfect Plex.

GREG GAGNE vs. RICK GANTER
This actually has a sort of sideshow appeal to it, almost akin to something you’d expect to see from way back in the carny days of the business. It starts out like clean match, but then Ganter goes for the hair and then tries to cover his tracks by claiming that Greg did. Greg tries to let it go, but Ganter keeps on harping, so Greg gets fired up and hurls him across the ring. Ganter starts choking to halt the momentum and using fists, but Greg is only letting him to get him to drop his guard. When he does, Greg fires away with fists of his own, throws him into all four corners and the pins him after two dropkicks. Aside from the relative oddity of seeing someone use a dropkick as a finisher, this was actually kind of fun. For someone who was said to have never been much good, Greg sure has been consistent on these shows.

Larry Nelson with “Jammin” Mitch Snow (from the Carolinas) and he’s excited for the Fall Battle Royal series and also for wrestling Larry Zybyzsko in the first round of the AWA TV Title Tournament. Madusa tells snow to take a hike and brings out Kevin Kelly and Nick Kiniski and Larry Nelson tells her she’s hot in red leather (and he’s right!). Kelly says that the NFL is on strike and all sorts of football teams want him to join them. Whatever.

DENNIS CONDREY/RANDY ROSE vs. DJ PETERSON/JT SOUTHERN
You know why the Original Midnight Express is mostly a footnote, while the Eaton/Lane version is legendary? Because Eaton and Lane wore matching gear, while Rose and Condrey didn’t. It’s a proven fact, look at all the great tag teams in history and they all wore matching gear. Instead Condrey has half-orange and half-red trunks while Rose has red ones. This takes a while to get going, but it also lays the groundwork for the story pretty early. Rose and Condrey can never seem to get anything going for themselves, even when they try to bend the rules a bit. Condrey will try to get Peterson in the corner so they can double team, but Peterson is able to fend them both off and escape. It happens several times throughout the first half. They appear to finally have something going when Rose is able to back Southern into a corner and unload on him, but Southern makes his own save.

It’s not until Rose gets a knee to the back (which we’re told is also something that’s been bothering Peterson a lot) that the Midnights get something going, but it’s a fun ride when they do. They keep working over Peterson’s back, which is smart and Condrey throws in some fun bits, like making all four sides of the arena get a good look at Peterson in pain and then punch him in the face. Peterson tries to sneak through Rose’s legs for the tag, but Randy drops down and blocks him with a front headlock. Peterson finally makes the tag, after ducking a double clothesline and hitting his own, and Southern puts Condrey in an abdominal stretch and Rose belts him with the phone for the DQ. I hadn’t been keeping track since I started covering this stuff for 411, but I’d be surprised if there were more than a couple of TV episodes that had clean finishes.