411's AWA on ESPN Classic Report 03.25.08

Posted by Randy Harrison on 03.26.2008

Larry Zbyszko gets a match AND a promo, and Nick Bockwinkel defends his AWA World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. Just try telling me that I'm going to hate this show, cause it's not gonna happen.


411's AWA On ESPN Classic Report

Please be a good show tonight. That's all I ask. Let's get to it!


AWA Championship Wrestling (Originally aired on September 16, 1986)

Ron Trongard and Lord James Blears are your announcers for all of tonight's hot and heavy wrestling action.


Match One:
Greg Gagne vs. Ken Glover

The two men circle before they hit the lockup and Glover pushes Gagne into the ropes and gives him a clean break. Another lockup and Gagne gets a couple of armdrag takeovers and Glover heads out to the floor to think it over. Back inside the ring and Glover looks SHOCKED that Gagne was able to take him over that easily. He must not know who Greg's dad is yet or something. Glover gets a side headlock and Gagne reverses it almost immediately to a top wristlock, which gets reversed when Glover pulls the hair to take him down. Gagne reverses that into a hammerlock and Glover hits the bottom rope, even helpfully pointing it out to referee Scott LeDoux, who calls for the break. LeDoux points to his eyes as if to say "Yeah, yeah asshole, I saw it." and the two combatant hit another lockup, with Gagne pushing Glover into the corner. He gives Glover a little shove and that makes Glover go haywire at the referee. Um, you did just do that to Greg you know, so it's not that surprising. Gagne gets another hammerlock and Glover makes the ropes again and this match is really starting to lose me. Glover takes over with a forearm shot against the ropes and a headbutt, running Gagne across the ring for a turnbuckle smash. Glover with right hands and he Irish whips Gagne in and hits a reverse elbow, following that up with a snap mare for a two count. Gagne fires back with a forearm of his own, but Glover gets inventive and goes to the eyes to stop the comeback, clubbing away at Gagne in the corner with clubbing forearms. CLUBBERIN!!! He whips Gagne across and barely follows him in, settling on just choking him. At least he's making it look convincing and not doing it Vince McMahon-style like most of the other AWA jobbers. Glover goes to the throat with a thumb and Gagne is PISSED, firing back with right hands and running Glover into the top turnbuckle head-first. Gagne with a bit of a war dance and he hits a big back bodydrop before, sort of, hitting a hip toss, into the flying headscissors, which thankfully goes better for Gagne tonight. Another back bodydrop and two dropkicks later and Gagne is the winner with the academic pinfall.

Winner: Greg Gagne (pinfall, Gagne dropkick)

Match Analysis: He's not Brad Rheingans boring, but damn if Greg Gagne isn't close. Almost all of his matches I've seen so far look exactly the same and his work really suffers when he's not working the tag-team formula. His former partner Jim Brunzell could work well as a single because he had believable charisma, but Gagne just kind of comes off like a dead fish. I can see why Verne never put the title on him now.


Back from commercial and we're thankfully spared a Greg Gagne promo, instead heading right to the next bout, featuring the Tag Team Champions.


Match Two:
Doug Somers and Buddy Rose w/Sherri Martel vs. Pablo Crenshaw and Clement Fields

I laugh out loud when I see the graphic for Buddy Rose which has him listed as weighing in at 217 pounds, but with a question mark after it. Great touch by whoever was in production and that made me nearly fall out of my chair. Rose shimmies out of the belt without taking it off and then starts in with some jumping jacks and one-armed push-ups, with Crenshaw going one better, doing the push-ups with better form before ripping off his Chippendales pants to reveal a bright orange pair of wrestling trunks. I guess Mr. Crenshaw is "Working For The Weekend", and they welcome Donna to ringside for commentary on this match. Crenshaw and Rose get into a posedown and if you have to ask who won, then you've never seen Buddy Rose before. Rose tags in Somers and Somers loks a little confused by it and the match finally starts, with Somers getting an armdrag takeover and a BIG bodyslam on Crenshaw, dropping a knee across the throat to follow. Somers ends up with a reverse chinlock and is able to tag Rose JUUUUUUUUUUST as Crenshaw reverses it into a hammerlock. Crenshaw lets go of the hammerlock and does a little boogeying before they lockup, with Crenshaw dropping down out of a full nelson and making Rose look silly with a reversal into a reverse leglock. Rose makes the ropes and Crenshaw stomps at the knee before completely releasing the hold. Rose tags back to Somers and Crenshaw gets him over with a side headlock takeover, holding it until he can tag Fields, who continues to crank with the headlock. Somers gets a belly to back suplex to break that up and then tags in Rose who hits a BIG back bodydrop. Rose fights like a bitch and rakes his nails across Fields' back before tagging in Somers again. A HUGE vertical suplex from Somers and he rolls through it for the three count.

Winners: Buddy Rose and Doug Somers (pinfall, suplex)

Match Analysis: Too short to be anything of consequence, it was just here so that they could tease the Rockers being backstage and further their issue with Rose and Somers. I will say that Rose could flip the switch and go from being one of the funniest heels of his time to being an absolute sadist when he needed to be. Not many guys can do one or the other, but Rose could do both and doesn't get enough credit for that sometimes, I assume because of his physique. He kind of suffers from the Adrian Adonis complex that came about late in Adrian's career, where he was big and as such thought of as a joke, yet could still work circles around most all of the WWF roster. Somers brings the steak, but Rose DEFINITELY brings the sizzle and this team wouldn't be anywhere near as good without him.


After the commercial we get to hear from Rose and Somers and they're not very happy. Larry Nelson has to go ahead and stir the pot like usual, telling Rose that the Midnight Rockers are in the back, watching the match and that they're still back there. Rose's response is a classic deadpanned "Why?", which Nelson responds to with "Why do you think?". This is like a wrestling version of Who's On First. Nelson says that the issue with the Rockers is far from settled and Rose disagrees, figuring it should be over with after the beating that they gave the Rockers last time, claiming that it was such a fight that he ended up with a jaw that was messed up so badly he had to drink through a straw for a week. He went down to 209 pounds, THE POOR MAN LOST EIGHT POUNDS!! HE'S WASTING AWAY TO NOTHING!! He says that no matter where it is in the world, the last thing that the Rockers will want to do is to get in the ring with Rose and Somers. Nelson talks about how savage the last match was and Rose makes a good point about who came out of it looking worse for wear. Nelson concedes that they're right and says that it's going to be a showdown sooner or later and Rose rants away as Nelson cuts him off to throw it to a break.


After the commercial break, the AWA Repeat Match Syndrome rears its ugly head again, giving us a match from a couple weeks back, so let's go back in time and check it out....again.


Match Three:
Larry Zbyszko w/Ninja Go vs. Eddie Sweat

This should be classic. A HUGE Larry Sucks chant starts before the match can even begin. Larry is calling time out before he's taken his ring robe off. HE steps down the ring stoes and finally takes off the robe and HOLY SHIT, that guy in the crowd is wearing bug-eyed, cardboard glasses, and is also cursing at Zbyszko if my lip-reading skills haven't failed me. That scared me half to death, watching it at nearly 2 AM and all. We get the usual Zbyszko stalling, in all its glory and he heads out to smooth talk the crowd before calling time out again. Sweat starts chasing Zbyszko around the ring and out of the ropes goes Zbyszko again to the apron. They could take a commercial and come back and Larry still wouldn't be ready to lock up. Wait, they FINALLY lock up and Zbyszko starts going to town, hammering away at Sweat in the corner before snap-maring him out and raking at the eyes. Zbyszko grabs a front facelock and it looks like he has a guillotine sunk in. FALL BACK TO THE GUARD, LARRY, FINISH THE CHO....oh..yeah, that's the MMA in me. Sorry, folks. Sweat makes the ropes but gets a hard punch to the gut again for making Larry break the hold. Zbyszko hits a small package but it only gets two and he tries it again to the same result. Larry gets ahold of Sweat and PILEDRIVES HIM almost out of his trunks, to get the duke.

Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver)

Match Analysis: Zbyszko harasses Larry Nelson. Check. Zbyszko jaws with the crowd and calls them names. Check. Zbyszko stalls for a good two minutes before actually attempting an offensive move. Double check. Zbyszko spikes the jobber with the piledriver and gets the win. Check. Looks like that's the entire list checked off.

This time however, we get the Zbyszko promo!! YES!!!! The crowd boos him off the start and he tells them all to shut up, with Nelson begging to just hear the interview. Zbyszko says he doesn't know what he has to do and that they handed Bockwinkel the AWA Championship on a silver platter and that IT'S TIME FOR HIS SHOT GODDAMN IT!!!! Nelson informs him about the Championship Committee and Zbyszko goes ballistic, saying that by hook or by crook, whatever he has to do, he'll be the next Heavyweight Champion of the World. If the fans or "spudheads" can't accept it, he doesn't give a DAMN! He talks about all the guys he's beat up and says it's time for Bockwinkel and that there better be a signed contract and that he's going to start breaking people's knees. THEIR KNEES!!! Nelson sums it all up and sends us to a commercial.


Match Four:
Curt Hennig vs. Bill Tabb

They lockup in the middle and Tabb pushes Hennig off into the corner. Hennig gets a top wristlock and Tabb starts to use his power to reverse it. Hennig fights off the reversal and gets a go-behind into a hammerlock and Tabb makes it to the ropes. Hennig ducks away from the next lockup and does a little amateur wrestling ride on him, taking him down before letting him back up. Hennig gets a go-behind on the next lockup but Tabb takes over with a reverse elbow and some blows, knocking him into the corner. Tabb with a hip toss out and he gets a BIG bodyslam on Hennig, even pressing him into the air a little bit. Tabb with an Irish whip in and a wicked clothesline stuns Hennig and Tabb follows it up with a kneelift. Hennig fires back with some chops and tries to send Tabb into the corner with an Irish whip, but Tabb reverses it sending Hennig for the ride to take the Bret Bump against the turnbuckles. Tabb lifts Hennig up and gets a backbreaker, following it up with a HUGE legdrop, but Hennig fights it off to get a side headlock. Tabb sends Hennig into the ropes and they blow something, with Tabb ending up on his back and holding his head. Hennig with a boot to the gut and a huge kneelift, knocking Tabb on his ass. He stomps away at Tabb and whips him in for a BIG shot to the gut. Hennig to the top rope and he hits the flying dropkick from the top rope for the 1-2-3!!!

Winner: Curt Hennig (pinfall, flying dropkick from the top rope)

Match Analysis: A Hennig squash, but it's interesting to see some of his more heelish mannerisms and to hear about him laying Greg Gagne out with a forearm after a tag match didn't go their way. The seeds are being sown and it really fits Hennig more to be a heel than a babyface. Some guys just have it in them naturally to be a heel and Hennig had that quality in spades. It was hard to introduce him as a heel when he's the son of the well-respected Larry "The Ax", but once Larry was gone, the greatness of heel Hennig began to shine through.


Match Five: AWA World Heavyweight Championship
Boris Zhukov w/Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie vs. Nick Bockwinkel (c)

A big USA chant starts out before Bockwinkel is even introduced and the crowd gives him a really good pop when he finally makes it to the ring. Zhukov talks some shit to the crowd as the Sheik gives him some advice in the corner. Zhukov heads out to confront the crowd personally for their USA chant and get even more advice from Shiek Adnan. They finally get down to business and Zhukov charges across the ring at Bockwinkel, but he misses and eats a mouthful of turnbuckle. Zhukov misses another couple of charges and Bockwinkel goads him into another one, taking Zhukov over with a couple of armdrag takeovers and a BIG hip toss. Zhukov bails back to the outside and manages to get up to the apron before Bockwinkel threatens him with another right hand and he hits the floor....AGAIN.

Sheik is outside threatening Lord James while the "action" continues in the ring, with Bockwinkel holding a side headlock. Zhukov sends him into the ropes and Bockwinkel shoulderblocks him twice before taking him back down with another side headlock. Bockwinkel cranks away at the headlock and Zhukov rolls him over for a two count by holding the trunks. Zhukov sends Bockwinkel to the ropes again and gets taken down by another Bockwinkel shoulderblock. Bockwinkel reverses a hip toss into one of his own and it's right back to the side headlock takeover. Zhukov gets to his feet and pushes Bockwinkel into the corner, wailing away to the gut and back with forearms before trying an Irish whip into the opposite corner. Bockwinkel reverses it and sends Zhukov in, leading to the big Russian bailing to the outside again.

He grabs one of Bockwinkel's legs and drags him out under the bottom rope, ramming the knee against the ring apron, alternating with chops to the chest. Zhukov stomps away at the knee and drops the elbow on it a couple of times before moving to a leglock. Bockwinkel fights to get out of the hold but Zhukov just resorts to biting the knee, kicking the leg out from under Bockwinkel as he tries to stand up. Zhukov lays the leg across the bottom rope and drops down on it before stomping away some more and he falls out under the ropes, dragging Bockwinkel into the corner and wrapping the leg around the ringpost. Bockwinkel tries to fight back but Zhukov kicks his leg out again and goes to the stepover toehold. Bockwinkel gets out of it with a right hand and fires another right hand that hurts his fist on the head of Zhukov, allowing for Boris to kick the leg out and put Bockwinkel down again.

Indian deathlock from Zhukov now and he's torquing that leg and knee, putting on the pressure until Bockwinkel fires right hands to get out of it. Back to their feet and Bockwinkel hits a kneelift before sending Zhukov into the ropes for another knee to the gut. Bockwinkel chokes Zhukov in the corner with the sole of his boot and lifts him up to Irish whip him into the ropes, following it with a big back bodydrop. Bockwinkel with the pin but he only gets a one count off of it, picking Zhukov up and trying a bodyslam but his knee gives out and Zhukov gets a two count before Bockwinkel gets his foot on the bottom rope. Zhukov with a turnbuckle smash and another and he viciously rams the BACK of Bockwinkel's head into that top buckle with a handful of hair. ANOTHER wicked turnbuckle smash to the back of the head and Zhukov hits headbutts to the back of Bockwinkel's head, throwing some stomps in for good measure.

Zhukov keeps working him over, focusing on the head of Bockwinkel now and he's down on the mat, with Zhukov taking a two count. Zhukov grabs a full nelson and starts to ragdoll Bockwinkel around or like Trongard says "like a dog shakes a chicken". I guess when your market is mainly the farming areas in the Midwest, you have to play to the demographic. Why not go all out with it? "Zhukov is shaking Bockwinkel around like a grain farmer shakes the herbicide after he's added the activating ingedients to the spray bottle and hooked the sprayer to the larger tank and fires up the engine on the machine" That would get those farmers angry with that dirty Russian because they know that you have to turn on the engine BEFORE you hook on the sprayer.

Anyhow, Zhukov rams Bockwinkel into the turnbuckle again and re-applies the full nelson, but Bockwinkel walks the turnbuckles and turns it over on Zhukov, causing a double pin. Zhukov swears that he's won, but he didn't see Bockwinkel raise his shoulder a split-second before the third slap of the mat. Zhukov lays some stomps in on Bockwinkel who rolls out under the bottom rope and we're right to the closing sequence.

Winner: Nick Bockwinkel (pinfall, double pin)

Match Analysis: A really good main event that shockingly didn't suffer from Zhukov's lack of a moveset. He used psychology really well, though I don't get why he switched so suddenly from the knee to the head, but it was still great to see him working on breaking down a body part for much of the match. Good, old-school wrestling and of course, Bockwinkel brought his usual greatness. A really good use of the old double pin spot too, since that's a finish I haven't seen in quite some time.

Final Thoughts

This was a fairly decent show and the main event was really quite good, which made the show a keeper. Hennig goes heel-ish, we got to see a Zbyszko match WITH FOLLOW-UP PROMO, and Bockwinkel did his usual awesome job in the ring, looking smooth as silk even with someone as limited as Zhukov. A thumbs-up on this episode for me, which is a welcome change from the past few nights of shows. The only thing I regret is not setting my DVR to go all the way to the end of Cheap Seats, since it was a classic wrestling episode and I could have thrown that in as a bonus. Oh well, something to tease you all with for next time!!



Fun With Comments

From Eric:
"So-so show I'll agree...

Ali Khan was Tom "TNT" Lintz. So, wow, something I didn't know,
courtesy of Greg Gagne! But the name was familiar....once upon a time Lintz
was a AWA studio jobber, but I seem to recall him working in Missouri for
awhile. Gagne decided for a time to make him a member of Sheik's army. Just
peachy. ;-)

I never doubted John Nord's abilities...he did have the pro football player's
physique. But...since Verne couldn't keep Brody in the AWA, so he created
Bruiser Brody-lite, right down to the barking and the fuzzy boots. It was
pretty funny that everyone was pretty much busting on Scott Hall by this point.
If the timeframe is correct, Hall was on his way out of the AWA. You could
figure the verbal abuse going on was rolling strong, right down to Col.
DeBeers' worked-shoot interview claiming Scott Hall was a steroid user.

Well, no shit. As much as I hate to admit it, and given what we all know about
signs of usage, most of the AWA (excluding Greg Gagne and Jerry Blackwell, of
course) was using. You could see the water retention big time, especially in
the Midnight Rockers.

Chicago wrestling and WWA fans will remember Princess Jasmine as a regular
worker in the midwest and the Chicago area. Jasmine was on the back end of her
career as she had started working for Dick the Bruiser's promotion in the early
70s. The Martel/Jasmine match actually wasn't bad, but Jasmine was no jobber.
Moolah certainly trained Sheri Martel well, don'tcha think? I believe Jasmine
was trained at Moolah's South Carolina school as well.

I will agree with Randy on this one: outside of the main event, which I'd rate
a "good"....the show wasn't anything special.

I will comment on one thing in regards to the downfall of the promotion: once
the real purging of talent (courtesy of Vince McMahon) began throughout 1987,
the programs needed to rely more and more on fresh graduates and younger talent
to fill out the shows. Zbyszko stuck around (except for a brief run in the NWA
in 1987) and was there in the end, Col. DeBeers stuck around. Sgt. Slaughter
returned to the AWA for awhile (and left when the promotion folded). Blackwell
finally retired. And the Baron returned....already pushing 50. This severe
overturn of workers is what forced Verne Gagne into the partnership with Fritz
von Erich (World Class), and Jerry Jarrett (Memphis)...and we all know how that
turned out.

It'll be interesting to see if they keep the same semi-chronological tapings
together.

And for the record, the AWA used to be the only promotion that went through
Lincoln, Nebraska. The attendance for this show sucked, and I don't believe
the AWA ever returned to the area. It would only get worse.

And I'm out..."

Always interesting to hear your thoughts and again I agree with pretty much everything, including how well Moolah trained the ladies in the main event. The Nebraska crowd seemed dead for most of the night, which is probably why they went ahead and dubbed in some of the Las Vegas crowd in the beginning. I notice they haven't left 1986 yet on the episodes, so maybe once they get through all of them in their mish-mash order, they'll decide to move on to 1987.


From soulpower:
"For the first time since they started airing AWA, I wasn't able to watch the
entire show. Just to many squash matches for my liking... Maybe that's why
there wasn't a match listing for the show."

I don't blame you for not making it to the end. If I hadn't been contractually obligated to do so for 411mania.com, I doubt I would have either.


From Infamous Male:
"HAHAHAHAHAHA. Thanks for the Boris Zhukov picture. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Too funny.
Anyway, your right, this show sucked. You know since these shows started airing
again, I'm starting to see Col. Debeers in a new light. It's not so much that
he's Karl Gotch in the ring or anything. It's the character. I really hated the
guy when these shows were originally airing during the 80's. I just love seeing
wrestling characters that are not politically correct in todays day & age.
Steroid comments about other wrestlers ? Ultra conservative racist aparthied
propagandist ? America hating cold war era flag waving Russians ? Islamic arab
sheiks ? All on the same show ? Did the AWA have any Nazi's to go with this
lovely group ? Oh wait, where's Baron Von Raschke when you need him?"

Yeah, that Zhukov picture was classic and I appreciate the thought that went into sending it to me a lot. If I had to judge from the picture, I'd say that the litter should have been born a couple of weeks after that. And like I said before, there's NOTHING that's more racist than wrestling before say 1990 or so. It was infamously racist, except for the instances like Bobo Brazil, where they actually integrated BEFORE society had. The main thing about the racism in wrestling was that it was mainly stereotypical and not deep-seeded in hatred. Not quite comically stereotypical, but enough that it wasn't completely uncomfortable.


From Silo Sam:
"...shit show, nuff said(man what was the barbarian on during that promo?)"

I agree...and I'm guessing he was on the good shit, cause he looked like he was higher than a kite.


From Rob:
"I remember one Saturday long ago when they showed AWA wrestling in the morning
and Georgia Championship Wrestling in the afternoon.On the Morning card Baron
Von Raschke was from West Germany (good Guy) and in the afternoon he was from
East Germany (bad guy)"

I used to love things like that about the old days of regional wrestling and some of my fondest memories are of sitting in front of the TV Saturday morning to watch the AWA, Saturday afternoon to watch the WWF Superstars show, then Saturday night to watch the TBS shows, not to mention any of the local promotions that were on on Saturday afternoons as well, featuring guys like Don Callis, Chris Jericho, Rick Martel and even a pre-WWE Edge. The best thing that a little eight year old wrestling fan could ask for.


Well, that's it for today's AWA Report. Thanks for checking it out everyone and I'll be back tomorrow with the next look at the fantastically fantastic nostalgia of the American Wrestling Association!! Don'tcha dare MISS IT!!!