411's AWA on ESPN Classic Report 03.21.08
Posted by Randy Harrison on 03.22.2008
Another big six-man tag in the main event, an in-ring appearance from the AWA Champ, Nick Bockwinkel, and The Midnight Rockers continue their pursuit of Somers and Rose.
411's AWA On ESPN Classic Report
Looking at the match listing, I have high hopes for this show, and the six-man tag in particular could stand to be a really good match-up. Here's hoping that as good as it looks on paper, it delivers once it hits my television. Let's get to it!!
AWA Championship Wrestling (Originally aired on August 5, 1986)
Ron Trongard and Lord James Blears are your commentators for tonight's show.
Match One:
Nick Bockwinkel vs. Jay York
Bockwinkel has already been named the champion so this episode is probably from the fall of 1986. They start out with a lockup and York pushes Bockwinkel into the corner, giving him a clean break and they're back to the center of the ring to do it all over again. Bockwinkel gets a go-behind into a rollup and scores a one count off of it before they stand-off again. Another lockup and York gets a top wristlock, putting Bockwinkel down to a knee, and just when it looks like Bockwinkel is going to reverse it, York yanks the hair and puts him down to the mat. Another near-reversal and another handful of hair puts Bockwinkel down on the canvas until he regains his feet and gets a go-behind into a hammerlock. York pushes him into the ropes and chops him off the break and Bockwinkel responds with a right hand that sends York staggering across the ring. York shoots in under the next lockup and goes straight to a bearhug and Bockwinkel breaks free of it with forearms to the head. York grabs a hip toss and follows that up with a front-facelock, pushing Bockwinkel into the corner and working him over a little before and Irish whip and a big boot puts the champion down. York to the throat with a shot and he rams Bockwinkel's head into the turnbuckle a couple of times, going to the eyes after that and then hitting punches to the head and body in the corner, Vader-style. York just starts choking at Bockwinkel in the corner, but Bockwinkel has had enough and grabs a handful of York's beard, yanking it hard and prompting York to take a swing at special referee Earthquake Ferris. Bockwinkel with right hands and hits a HARD forearm that puts York over the top rop and to the floor. Bockwinkel rams York's head into the apron and gets a rolling front-facelock takeover when York gets back into the ring, scoring a two count. Bockwinkel pushes York into the corner with another front-facelock and then shoulderblocks York in the gut a handful of times, firing away with more right hands. An Irish whip into the corner by Bockwinkel gets reversed and York charges in after him, landing a shoulderblock of his own to the stomach. York with an Irish whip to the opposite corner and he goes to the well once too often as Bockwinkel catches him with a knee as he charges in this time, following it up with a nice dropkick and he clamps on the BOCKWINKEL SLEEPER!! York's eyes get glassy and he's fading quickly and Bockwinkel's put him to sleep!!
Winner: Nick Bockwinkel (submisson, Bockwinkel Sleeper)
Match Analysis: Every time I watch Bockwinkel in the ring I marvel at his athletic ability. That's the great thing about Bockwinkel. He was like Ric Flair is today, but he could still go at that top, top level. He still acted like a heel at times towards the end of his career, but people respected him so much that he was able to be a face and get the cheers of the crowd when he faced off against the dastardly heels. The match was serviceable, but still enjoyable to see Bockwinkel work his magic at over 50 years old.
After the match, Bockwinkel does the sporting thing and helps to wake York up before making the motion to get him the hell out of the ring. Bockwinkel gets his championship belt and looks happy again. Bockwinkel talks with Larry Nelson and Nelson brings up Stan Hansen running away from Bockwinkel, which gave Nick his fourth AWA title reign. Bockwinkel says that Hansen was in the building but he left and broke the hearts of a lot of good wrestling fans. Bockwinkel is happy to have the belt for the fourth time and is not used to the repsonse he's been getting from the fans since being named champion. He also says that he plans on defending the AWA Heavyweight Championship the same way he did in his previous reigns and thanks Hansen for the compliment of running away rather than facing the beating he knew he'd get.
Match Two:
The Midnight Rockers vs. Alex Knight and Dennis Stamp
Michaels and Stamp start out and lock horns in the middle of the ring, with Stamp getting a fireman's carry takeover into an armbar. Michaels Irish whips Stamp in but eats a shoulderblock before dropping down and catching Stamp with an armdrag takeover off the ropes. Michaels with an armbar of his own now and he cranks away at Stamp who reaches over and tries to get the tag to his partner, but Michaels drags him away from the corner and armdrags him over again, forcing Stamp to back away into the corner. Stamp tags off to Knight and tries to lure Michaels in but it doesn't work. Knight gets a side headlock off of the lockup and Michaels pushes over to his corner, tagging in Jannetty who hits a sweet dropkick and gets a one count off of it. Jannetty and Knight lockup and Jannetty gets a drop-toehold, stomping the back of Knight and they're back to their feet. Another lockup and Knight grabs an arm-wringer, working at the arm of Jannetty for a moment before Jannetty gets to the corner to make the tag. Double reverse elbow from the Rockers and MIchaels takes over with a BIG running powerslam for a two count. Michaels with a vertical suplex and he tags in Jannetty who gets a big bodyslam of his own, tagging Michaels back in. Michaels picks up Knight in an electric chair drop but Knight bumps forward like a victory roll and Michaels doesn't look happy with that. He stiffs a stomp in to the head of Knight, picks him up to land a hard spinning back kick to the gut. He picks Knight up and slams him again and Michae;s tags in Jannetty, front suplexing him onto Knight for a two count. Knight gets an arm-wringer and tags in Stamp who grabs a side headlock and pucnhes Jannetty in the face before choking him against the ropes. Another right hand from Stamp and an Irish whip into the ropes, but Stamp ducks too soon and eats a kneelift from Jannetty who tags in Michaels again. He Irish whips Stamp into the ropes and hits a big dropkick that sends Stamp to the corner to tag in Knight. Knight gets a side headlock but Michaels drops Knight HARD on the back of his head with a belly to back suplex and he tags in Jannetty. Jannetty gets a splash from the second rope for the 1-2-3!!
Winners: The Midnight Rockers (pinfall, second rope splash)
Match Analysis: Well, it's a 1986 Rockers match, so it can't be all bad. The problem with this one lays at the feet of Knight, who messed up at least a couple of spots and seemed to get some legit heat from Michaels because of it. It was a good match, just not a great one because honestly it looked at times like the Rockers were wrestling themselves.
The Rockers are with Larry Nelson and Michaels says that we saw a different Midnight Rocker team this week, and that they've proved that they're willing to kick somebody in the face to get what they want, and that's the AWA Tag Team Championship belts. He says that Somers and Rose can't hide and that the Rockers are on their trail and going to get them. Jannetty gets in a great line about Rose saying that if fear was snow, Rose would be a walking blizzard and they guarantee that at some point those titles will be on the line and the Rockers will win them.
Match Three:
Brad Rheingans vs. Pete Sanchez
Rheingans gets a go-behind to start the match and rides Sanchez a little, amateur wrestling-style, until Sanchez makes the ropes. Rheingans hits an arm-wringer, but Sanchez reverses it into one of his own, getting a standing armbar until Rheingans monkey flips him off of the arm and onto his ass. Rheingans again with the go-behind, into a headlock takeover and Sanchez shoots him off the ropes, but Rheingans takes him down with a shoulderblock. They run the ropes and Rheingans gets a cross-bodyblock but doesn't go for the pin. Back to their feet and Rheingans hits a neckbreaker, getting a two count off of it, before hitting a side headlock takeover, cranking away on Sanchez. Sanchez rolls him over and gets a two count, but Rheingans puts it back to the side headlock. Sanchez gets to his feet and breaks the headlock with a right hand and rams Rheingans into the top turnbuckle. An Irish whip in and Sanchez hits him with an elbow before bodyslamming him WAY too close to the ropes for my liking. Sanchez heads outside to get to the top rope, with Sanchez taking too much time to jaw with the crowd and getting slammed off the top. Rheingans with a right hand and another and he Irish whips Sanchez in, hitting a back bodydrop and he grabs Sanchez with a belly to belly suplex, climbing to the second rope and hitting a flying shoulderblock for the pinfall.
Winner: Brad Rheingans (pinfall, second rope shoulderblock)
Match Analysis: Ugh. I think I've seen Senate sessions that are more exciting than watching Brad Rheingans in the ring. I have all the respect in the world for his amateur accomplishments, but he just can't translate them to the professional ranks. Boredom, thy name is Rheingans.
Match Four: Six-Man Main Event
Doug Somers, Col. DeBeers and Larry Zbyszko vs. Greg Gagne, Curt Hennig and Jimmy Snuka
DeBeers freaks out during the introductions and claims that he won't wrestle anyone that isn't 100% Caucasian while pointing out that it was supposed to be Scott Hall and not Snuka in this match. Gagne and Zbyszko start out the match and Zbyszko manages to only stall for a couple of minutes, jawing the crowd and yelling at the referee before they finally get to a lockup. Trongard notices that that's how every Zbyszko match seems to start, which prompts me to ask which matches he'd been watching before if he just noticed that now. Gagne gets a quick go-behind and Zbyszko rolls over with him and they transition on the mat a little, grappling until Gagne gets a hip toss. Zbyszko immediately claims that Gagne pulled the trunks and LOUDLY protests. Another lockup and Gagne gets an armdrag with Zbyszko claiming a hair pull this time, WHILE he's in the armbar. Zbyszko pushes Gagne into the heel corner and Somers grabs the trunks from the outside, holding Gagne in place so Zbyszko can charge forward with a knee. Gagne ducks out of the way though and Zbyszko levels Somers with the knee, flying over the top rope himself and banging his head on the apron before hitting the floor. Zbyszko is PISSED outside, and he goes back to stalling before tagging in Col. DeBeers. Gagne turns to tag Snuka in and DeBeers immediately tags in Somers to avoid the less than lily white Superfly.
We come back from a commercial break and Somers locks up with Snuka, pushing him into the heel corner where they all work him over pretty good with punches and forearm shots. Zbyszko chokes Snuka over the top rope while DeBeers fires away with forearms to the back. Gagne and Hennig on the other side are livid and trying to get past the referee to make the save but they can't. Somers keeps taunting them to let the beating continue before turning his attention back to Snuka and tagging in DeBeers. A big running boot to the chest from DeBeers stops Snuka in his tracks and DeBeers fires a right hand onto Snuka's head, hurting his hand in the process on his thick Fijiian skull. Somers comes back in with a front facelock and tags Zbyszko who puts the boots to Snuka before Irish whipping him into the ropes. Snuka comes back with a right hand that knocks Zbyszko on his ass and THERE'S A CHOP FOR SOMERS!!! Snap mare on Zbyszko and Snuka goes up to the second rope to hit a fistdrop. Irish whip into the ropes and Snuka gets a BIG chop before tagging in Hennig. Hennig with a HUGE dropkick on Zbyszko off the ropes that gets a two count and Hennig is going to town, beating on all the heels and dropping a big elbow on Zbyszko for a pin attempt that Somers breaks up.
Hennig tags in Gagne who comes off the second rope with a knee to Zbyszko's arm, running right through it to deliver a forearm to Somers before turning his attention back to Zbyszko. Turnbuckle smash from Gagne and he whips Zbyszko in but misses on the dropkick when Zbyszko holds on to the top rope. A tag to Somers and he comes in with a couple of kneedrops on Gagne, pinning him and getting a two count. He drapes Gagne along the second rope and stomps away until the referee pulls him off. At that point Zbyszko comes in and chokes Gagne against the ropes. Somers and Zbyszko take turns holding Gagne so Sheri Martel can paintbrush him from the outside, nearly slapping the skin off of his face. Snuka comes around the ring to run her off while inside Somers keeps working over Gagne, ramming him into the turnbuckles. Somers grabs a front facelock on cranks on it before dropping a forearm on the back of Gagne's head. Back to the front facelock and Somers is getting pushed back, Gagne's getting closer to the tag and JUST when he gets it, Zbyszko distracts the referee and Hennig has to head back to the apron.
The heels switch out while the referee is trying to get Hennig back on the apron and Col. DeBeers is in now with a BIG bodyslam on Gagne and a standing fistdrop gets a two count. DeBeers tags in Zbyszko who grabs a front facelock and grinds Gagne's face against the mat. AGAIN, Gagne makes the tag but the heels distract the referee and he doesn't see it, forcing Hennig back to the apron again. Somers comes off the top rope with a double sledge and gets a two count before landing hard forearm shots to Gagne. Irish whip in and Gagne ducks behind and gets a sleeperhold on Somers, but Col. DeBeers breaks that up rather quickly. Somers grabs a headlock and gets whipped in and they smash heads and both men are down!! They finally regain their feet and Somers tries to slam Gagne but he goes over onto his back and Gagne gets a two count. Somers with an Irish whip and Gagne gets a sunset flip for another two count before mule-kicking Somers in the face. Gagne with a HUGE kneelift and he heads towards the wrong corner with Col. DeBeers laying in a HARD right hand. Gagne comes back, nailing Somers in the stomach, crawling between his legs and FINALLY making the hot tag!!
Snuka is in and he starts kicking and chopping at Somers in the corner, snap maring him over and dropping a headbutt. Tag to Hennig and he goes up to the second rope with a HUGE splash for a two count. Irish whip in and a LOUD chop to the chest from Hennig leads to another Irish whip and THE AX!!! Hennig to the top rope and he hits the FLYING DROPKICK to get the three count!!!! The crowd is going nuts and while Gagne and Hennig celebrate outside the ring Col. DeBeers attacks Snuka from behind and starts laying in the punishment, ramming Snuka into the top turnbuckle. Snuka takes it all and turns on DeBeers, stalking him down and DeBeers takes the low road, scurrying out under the bottom rope and heading for the exit.
Winners: Curt Hennig, Greg Gagne and Jimmy Snuka (pinfall, Hennig dropkick from the top rope)
Match Analysis: Another hot six-man tag main event, but this one just didn't have the fire that the match with the Rockers from the previous show did. All six men had issues with each other but unfortunately we didn't see much interaction from that. Snuka and DeBeers didn't do anything together, Hennig and Somers weren't in the ring together until the finish and only Zbyszko and Gagne did any time together in the ring. It was a good enough match, it just wasn't great enough to cover for the first three matches.
Final Thoughts
As good as the show looked on paper before it started, once the show was over I kind of felt like it fell a little short. All of the in-ring action was alright, it just felt flat to me. The crowd was big on the main event but I just didn't feel like it was as good as it could have been. This show gets a thumbs in the middle for me, which sucks because I liked the work that guys like Bockwinkel, the Rockers and Zbyszko did, but there is just too much bland for me to go all the way up with this show. I guess all good things have to come to an end, and this is the end of the AWA's hot streak.
Fun With Comments
From Frozen: "If you take a second look at the Somers-Gunther squash, I'm pretty sure Somers
gave him that beating after the bell due to the fact that Gunther no-sold after
the three-count. After the bell sounds, Gunther just gets up as if nothing
happened. Somers was right to give him an extracurricular thrashing."
I did notice that on the second viewing and while I'm never a big fan of guys going into business for themselves to punish a transgression in the ring, I HATE guys not selling the finish of a match. Two wrongs don't make a right, but in this instance I can understand why Somers laid a few extra boots in on him now.
From Real: "I didn't watch the first 40 minutes of the show, but the mainevent rocked. They
didn't even do a clean pin, but the crowd was so into the match. I think this
was definetely a case where the crowd definetely knew who the faces were and
who the heels were. I really wish TNA could get their heels and faces over like
Michaels, Jannetty, and Zybyscho was."
The crowd really knew who was who, that's for sure. I think that until TNA can stop trying to make everything so "shocking", while completely convoluting the storylines, they will never be able to get that kind of heat on their heels and faces. The problem with getting behind anyone in TNA is that they're usually one second away from the next SWERVE, which keeps people from wanting to fully emotionally invest in the babyfaces, which is never a good thing.
From Joe K. : "Did you notice that during Snuka's promo, Snuka had to ASK Larry Nelson who the
guys in Sheik's Army were? Tremendous! Not as bad as Rikishi referring to
Robert Rude as "Rick Rude", but still...
and a good game to play for money during these shows is to put money on how
long it takes for Zbysko to make contact with his opponent. I always put my
self at over 5 minutes"
I did notice that Snuka had trouble remembering who it was that he would be facing in the Sheik's Army. I think that it was partially because he was new in the territory and maybe didn't do his homework. The other thing I think that could probably have been to blame is that it WAS 1986 and Snuka probably had the "SNIFFLES" , if you catch my meaning, which would make it hard for him to remember his own name, let alone someone elses. A much more fun way to play that would be a drinking game where you take a drink every time that Zbyszko fakes a lockup or bails to the outside to yell at someone.
Finally, from Silo Sam: "well...a good main event but I'd say the streak of great shows is
over...although, i am still grateful for a non squash main event and no repeat
matches. I agree with "Frozen" Gunther got up really really fast
after taking the pinfall from somers(It seemed Like he got to his feet before
the ref)Which i think prompted the extra attack from doug somers. It takes
alot of "talent" to be in that short of a match and make that bad of
an impression...well not much else to say about this one...other than
maybe....cool action figures?"
Yeah, as I said earlier, I think Somers was well within his rights to lay that beating on Gunther. The action figures were SUPER cool and I remember having a handful of those sweet-ass Remco figures. I wish I had taken better care of them, seeing how much they're worth now, that's for sure.
That's it for another week of the AWA on ESPN Classic reports! I'll be back on Tuesday with another look at some more exciting AWA action, so have a great weekend everyone!!
well...in retrospect Somers let Gunther off easy compared to the beating
Michaels gave Alex Knight. That match was rough. I swear that the finish was
supposed to be the rockers front suplex splash on knight(as they've finished
people in the past with that) It got interesting after that because it felt
like stamp and knight were tagging back and forth every time the rockers
knocked them down to kinda delayed the finish. it really hurt the flow of the
match. Seemed like a case of the "veteran jobbers"(more so knight
than stamp) not wanting to put over the young guys so easily. Well, he got
some stiff shots, a stiff superkick and a rough BACK DROP DRIVER! for his
troubles. Add to that the fact that I will remember him as the jobber that
didn't want to put over Shawn Michaels...Quite a claim to fame. I wish you
would give Brad Rheingans a break. Is it his fault that the only trunks he can
find with red, white, and blue is that of the french flag? Is it his fault that
he has the charisma of a wet noodle?..well, yes.. He SUCKS. I want to like
him, I want him to be good, I root for him...but, Its just not there. Its a
shame. Main event was good..as most of them have been lately. Although, I
gotta tell ya..I wish it was Hall instead of Snuka. I'm not really a Snuka fan
but, ah..what can you do. good match. Anyone else catch some of the UWF
marathon today?
Posted By: Silo Sam (Guest) on March 23, 2008 at 12:13 AM
I never watched ESPNC until I saw that they were playing all these old shows.
Nostalgia time. I had heard of the UWF but never saw any of the shows. They
don't really give you any timelines until about the 3:00 or 3:30 show, and then
it's only briefly, I kind of guessed 89' or 90' because Col. Debeers comes out
to Welcome to the Jungle. Alot of the guys are either just starting out or on
the decline. B Brian Blair, Danny Spivey, a young Mick Foley, Debeers, Orndorff
after his arm atrophied from his neck injury, Steve Williams appear to be the
major names. The shows start out like they are held in a casino room, but they
say they are in LA. They then have later shows from Fla. and Bob Orton is the
champ at that point. Prior to that there is no mention of any title belts. They
say they are going to have a TV champ tourney but I haven't gone that far with
the shows yet.
Posted By: jbgs2 (Guest) on March 23, 2008 at 09:56 AM
I wish I could have watched the UWF marathon. I didn't know it was on until the
last 5 min of the last show. I work with Mike Williams who was a jobber on some
of the shows. I would have been cool to see him back then. Who knows, maybe
they'll do it again next week.
Posted By: guest (Guest) on March 23, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Dennis "I'm not booked" Stamp did actually wrestle then? Wow. He's
still a whiner.
Posted By: Maffew (Guest) on March 23, 2008 at 10:52 AM
I never understood why Nick Bockwinkle was just handed over the AWA World
Heavyweight Championship when Stan Hansen was stripped of it. Verne Gagne was
the personification of old school & is many said he was a cheap ass. Some
sort of tournament to crown a new champion would have at least sold some
tickets & given the new champion some credibility. Not that Bockwinkle
didn't, he most definitely did. But I thought the both Bockwinkle & the
belt took a hit with the decision. I could understand if it was a second or
third tier belt, but the World Heavyweight Championship Title Belt? With names
like Bockwinkle, Snuka, Zbyszko, Hennig, Hall, Gagne, Debeers, Micheals,
Jannetty, etc., you could have at least had a decent tournament. Even if
Bockwinkle won it in the end it would have sold some tickets & not hurt the
belt & the champion. Dumb move Verne.
Posted By: Infamous Male (Registered) on March 23, 2008 at 11:30 AM
I've already emailed ESPN to thank them for re-airing these shows, and I
encourage all of you to do the same, to at least let them know we're watching.
This is the first wrestling I've watched on tv since the last Nitro aired.
On another note, Boris Zhukov is still very active on the indy scene, wrestling
a lot of shows in the soutwest Virginia area with Jimmy Valiant. Valiant's in
retirement, but is promoting his mammoth autobiography and helping to promote
shows for some of his former students. For those of you who don't know,
"The Boogie-Woogie Man" has a wrestling school in Shawsville,
Virginia.
Posted By: Guest (Guest) on March 24, 2008 at 12:03 AM
When Bockwinkel was given the title belt by forfeit in 1986 it wasn't the first
time that happened. When Verne Gagne retired as heavyweight champion,
Bockwinkel was awarded the belt that time as well. It's nothing against Nick as
a champion, because he was very articulate in his interviews and was very
methodical in the ring - especially when he was a heel - that did make him a
respectable individual to hold the belt.
For those complaining about the squash matches, that's the way they still did
it through the 80s until the advent of the PPV as the main money draw. The
formula was short matches, spotlight the talent, do the interview segments to
move storylines along and SELL TICKETS. This is just a variation of Csonka's
thoughts about giving away PPV caliber matches on free TV. Also, there wasn't
this huge obsession with ratings as there is nowadays. Obviously ESPN was
satisfied with the AWA programming enough to keep them in decent timeslots for
nearly six years. That's not bad for a national sports network to do that.
Then again, ESPN then isn't the ESPN now either.
The one thing you'll see that's different when comparing the AWA to the UWF: at
least, even with the occasional fuckup, you still had a fairly well booked
match. I couldn't watch so many hours of the other show - combine the low
budget, the jobbers who couldn't job very well, and a horrible announcer in
Herb Abrams (I'll take Rod Trongard any day of the week by comparison)
And Randy....you think Brad Rheingans is boring? Watch most of the
UWFers....and Rheingans is the Rock by comparison! ;-) Remember, Rheingans was
a trainer and an assistant coach in the Olympics - and I'll bet if you dig deep
enough you'd have found him still in that coaching position when Kurt Angle was
still an amateur. Yes, he was as bland as oatmeal, but Brad knew all the
basics, and was usually the one making sure 'most' of the jobbers and new
talent knew what to do in the ring. Someone else worked on interview style,
because he didn't do too much of that. He wasn't supposed to.
I didn't mind the mash-up main event so much due to the crowd being so into it.
That's the thing that holds my interest, especially on the old shows. You'll
see this in programming that came out of World Class and Crockett as well. If
the crowd is really HOT for the match, it does wonders for the interest level
for those watching at home. And that was the whole point...
...you wanted to make sure your product looked good so people would pay for
tickets to the house shows and buy those t-shirts, etc. That was their bread
and butter. Don't give too much away. Juuuuust enough to make you excited to
go to your local arena.
As far as the main event goes, Greg Gagne was never really a good singles
wrestler. His forte` was tag team wrestling. But put him in with a partner or
two and you could generally get good effort out of him. I think some of it had
to do with the fact that he was never the wrestler his father was. He was a
football player in college, not a pro wrestler.
At the time I wasn't too enamored with some of the wrestlers featured on the
old AWA shows, but comparing them to some of the half-assed efforts and rigidly
booked storylines (Katie Vick anyone?), the old-school stuff was very underrated
and looks pretty good nowadays.
Ah, nostalgia....you know?
And I'm out...
Posted By: Eric (Guest) on March 24, 2008 at 12:28 AM
