AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic 8.05.09

AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic

It’s May 13, 1986, and we’re coming to you from the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas, NV. However, AWA Championship Wrestling is seen coast to coast and continent to continent, from Montreal to Missouri, from New Brunswick to New Jersey, from Florida to France, and from New York City to Newfoundland.

Current Champions:
AWA World Heavyweight Champion: Stan Hansen
AWA World Tag Team Champions: Curt Hennig and Scott Hall
AWA Light Heavyweight Champion: Buck Zumhofe
AWA Ladies Champion: Candi Devine

SHAWN MICHAELS/MARTY JANNETTY vs. ALEX KNIGHT/SALLY RUEZ
No attempted shooting from Alex Knight this week. There’s isn’t much to see though, the teams just don’t seem to be on the same page with anything they do, and everything they does looks ugly unless it’s something very basic, like the Knight/Jannetty opening stretch. Here’s how bad it gets, Shawn presses Marty onto Ruez for a near fall, and instead of kicking out, Ruez just raises both arms and Jannetty jumps off. Shawn and Marty finish Knight with the Rockerplex and he goes up for the suplex without incident.

Larry Nelson with the Midnight Rockers. They’ve been racking up wins and their goal is the tag team titles. They both agree that there are a lot of great tag teams in the AWA, like Brody and The Barbarian, but the Midnight Rockers are moving up the ladder. Shawn says that they’ve had problems with Buddy Rose and Doug Somers recently, but their goal is still the titles.

The two Larrys are in the studio for In This Corner. Zybyszko promises a great guest, and we show a video of him. The guest is Larry Zybyszko! The video is actually pretty good, especially that shot of him knocking out LeDoux with the nunchucks at about 2:32 of the clip below. After the video we meet Go the Ninja. Larry Nelson insists that Ninjas are just killers. Larry explains that Go is his training partner and also an excellent wrestler. Bockwinkel and Curt Hennig are getting title shots because they know the right people, Go is there to make sure Larry gets his title shots.

　
King Kong Brody is suspended from wrestling in the state of Nevada, so the next match comes to us from St. Cloud, MN.

KING KONG BRODY vs. LEON WHITE
Holy shit, Vader vs. Brody! Don’t get excited though, it’s not nearly as good as it sounds. Brody attacks the knee and ankle with a chair before the bell rings and Leon is a one legged man. Brody’s stooging and selling for Leon’s punches and lariats is nice, but that’s all Leon has to do. Brody take Leon down with boots to the face, and goes after the leg with stomps and kicks. The ref finally calls it off after, what seems like, far too long.

Larry Nelson with Sheik Adnan Al Kaisee. Larry wants to know why Sheik gave him the chair, but Sheik just gloats that Leon is in a cast now because of what Brody did to him. He wants a World Title match for Brody and a tag titles match for Barbarian and Zukhov. Larry says that it depends on what the Championship Committee~! says. Sheik wants to know if Hennig and Hall are man enough to put the titles on the line or if they’re cowards hiding in the closet. Check the bars, Sheik.

NICK BOCKWINKEL vs. COLONEL DeBEERS
Well this answers two things that I’ve been curious about. Why was Bockwinkel pushed so hard, and why are all of the DeBeers matches short squashes, and now I have the answers. Because Nick was still quite good, and DeBeers really isn’t. Once they get the feeling out portion out of the way, with a few clean breaks and Nick mocking DeBeers marching and mustache twirling, they get down to business. When DeBeers is in control its able to cure insomnia, he just sits there and holds a headlock, not working the hold, and not trying to make it look like he’s taking the match any place. DeBeers works in once a nice spot, a roll up for a near fall. When Nick gets control he works over DeBeers’ leg and it’s a joy to watch how crafty Nick is with the holds he works and the ways he can outsmart DeBeers, and DeBeers is his usual fun with his stooging and putting over the hold. DeBeers back in control after a cheap shot kick to the head, and tries for his usual brawling tactics that wins in his squashes, but Nick outsmarts him again, and catches him in a sleeper, and as the clock ticks down, Nick tries again and again to finish him off, but time runs out. I’ll be watching Jumbo/Bockwinkel sooner rather than later now.

Larry Nelson with Colonel DeBeers, Nick Bockwinkel was too angry at the time running out so he refused to be interviewed. DeBeers says that Americans have time limits because they’re weak and have no will power. South Africans wrestle until there’s a winner, no time limits. Larry reminds him that he was saved by the bell, and DeBeers dodges the questions and continues on with his usual rant that America is the suxxors and South Africa roxxors.