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411’s AWA on ESPN Classic Report 07.31.08

August 1, 2008 | Posted by Randy Harrison


411’s AWA On ESPN Classic Report

AWA Championship Wrestling

Lee Marshall welcomes us to the broadcast and talks about how people who have been reading the magazines have seen all of the fun that will take place during the Team Challense Series and today all of the matches are Team Challenge Series contests. He throws it to Eric Bischoff, who has Wayne Bloom of The Destruction Crew with him. Bloom is one-half of the AWA Tag Team Champions and will be taking on Baron Von Raschke in a Greco-Roman rules match coming up. Bloom says that he’s done his homework and studied for a couple of week and when he’s done suplexing Baron all over the ring, he’s going to wish he get picked for this match. Bischoff brings up the Baron’s extensive amateur wrestling background, but Bloom is unfazed, saying he’s more than ready for it and any other opponent. He feels like his strength will carry him through anything and he says that The Destruction Crew is the tag team of the ’90’s and that no one is going to interfere in their business. Not a bad piece of promo work from Bloom actually, though that could just be a situation where everyone has been so bad that Bloom seemed good.

Match One: Team Challenge Series: Greco-Roman Rules Match
Wayne Bloom w/Mike Enos and Larry Zbyszko vs. Baron Von Raschke

Lee Marshall is in the ring and he’s explaining the rules of the match. He says that Greco-Roman wrestling is from the waist up and nothing can be done below the waist. There will be three two-minute rounds with thirty second rest periods between the rounds. Lee runs down the points scoring for the match, kind of, and explains that at a one-count, the match will end. Baron seems really fired up to getting this one going and I guess round one is underway.

Round One

They lockup and Baron gets a big hip toss over, forcing Bloom to go over to the ropes to avoid being pinned. 2-0, Baron. Go-behind from the Baron and Bloom hooks Baron’s leg, which is against the rules, so he gets a caution. Armdrag takedown from Baron and he works the arm a little bit again, trying to get the pin, but Bloom makes the ropes again for the break, with a little help from Mike Enos on the outside. Side headlock now from the Baron and the bell sounds to end the first round. No idea what the score is.

Round Two

Leg trip from Bloom and he gets chastised for breaking the rules as he even lays a boot in on the Baron. Another caution to Wayne Bloom is issued and Bloom gets into a side headlock, sneaking a punch to the throat in while the referee is shielded and he gets a huge gut-wrench suplex for two points. Apparently, Strangis and the graphic on the screen say that it’s 3-2 for Baron, but he gets a big double-arm takeover into a near pinfall and I’m guessing that was another couple of points for the Baron. Baron almost has the pin, but Bloom holds on until the bell sounds to end the round. Baron is up 9-2 now, which means that must have been a six-point takedown.

Round Three

They hit the lockup and Bloom rakes at the eyes and gets a takedown for two points but Baron is in the ropes so he can’t go for the pin. Bloom gets a cheapshot knee to the back as Baron tries to get to his feet and Baron Von Raschke threatens him with the CLAWHOLD!! Another lockup and Baron gets double-underhooks and hip tosses Bloom again for two more points, extending his lead. Baron tries hard for the pin and he’s just about got it and HERE COMES MIKE ENOS!! STOMPS ON THE BARON!! ELBOWDROPS FROM BLOOM!! ENOS HITS A HEADBUTT FROM THE SECOND ROPE!! THERE GOES THE REFEREE THROUGH THE ROPES TO THE FLOOR!! They hit their sweet double-team finisher, which is essentially a Hart Attack, but with Bloom coming off the top rope, but Baron barely gets off the ground and sells it like shit afterwards. Tommy Jammer comes rushing in after a couple of minutes of a beatdown and finally makes the save for poor Baron. Lee Marshall is just disgusted by this whole situation, freaking out and he’s convinced that Baron should have won this match outright instead of by disqualification.

Winner: Baron Von Raschke (disqualification, Enos-ference)

Match Analysis: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORING. I think we all knew that Baron was going to be in control and then Enos or Zbyszko or both would interfere at the end.

Eric Bischoff gets a word with Baron Von Raschke and he says that Greco-Roman was his specialty and that he had the match in control. He says that Mike Enos couldn’t stand that he was going to get the pin and that he beat The Destruction Crew fair from square. He swears that Enos and Bloom will pay on an installment plan. Merry Christmas, the Visa bill is in the mail. No really, that’s what he said.

We’re back from the break and Eric Bischoff has The Trooper with us now, and he’s in Vikings football gear for the football match with Mike Enos. Trooper talks about his background in football and that he might be a little rusty, but it’s like riding a bike and it’ll come back to him. Bisch brings in Bob Lurtsema, who will be the special referee of this match. Lurtsema says that he’s going to call this one “jungle” rules and that Enos cheats a lot, but he’s going to call it even for both men. Well, that was a waste of time. Trooper isn’t sure about playing football in a wrestling match and the referee is going to call it down the middle. Isn’t that pretty much what we knew already? Anyhow, Bischoff makes good on his threats and the football match is next.

**WARNING** The following segment of the AWA on ESPN Classic Report is Rated R. Not the good Edge kind, but the kind where pervasive foul language and EXTREME booking stupidity reign supreme. Persons under the age of 17 should immediately scroll to the main event below and yes, I will be checking ID’s.

Match Two: Team Challenge Series: Football Match
Mike Enos w/Larry Zbyszko vs. The Trooper

I give Larry some respect, he’s getting behind this concept and he’s ringside for almost every single one of his team’s matches. That’s being a coach and motivator people. Or a camera whore. Either way, Larry’s easily the best part of the promotion so I’m happy to see him. Lee Marshall again is in the ring to explain the rules. Here’s an idea guys, having to have the rules explained before EVERY FUCKING MATCH, might just be a tad confusing to people. There’s little road hockey goals set up in opposite corners of the ring and there’s lines taped across the ring and there’s a HIDEOUSLY convoluted set of rules for fouls and the lines and I’ve officially stopped paying attention or caring about them. When you score, the opponent gets the ball back, there’s 45 seconds to each series and the first guy to score five points wins. What a goddamned trainwreck.

Lurtsema says that it’s “jungle” rules and mumbles his way through saying that he doesn’t trust Mike Enos. Zbyszko is pissed as usual, saying that Lurtsema made a career from not playing football and that he’s going to be keeping an eye on him.

Just to show how they can’t keep the rules of anything straight, Lurtsema starts the game with a fucking jump ball, like in basketball. This is already more retarded than that Corky kid from that horrible TV show in the late ’80’s. You know the one I’m talking about. Enos shoves The Trooper out of the way and gets the jump ball, but Lurtsema shoves Enos onto his ass and gives the ball back to The Trooper. Yeah, fuck that whole “impartial” thing. That shit’s overrated most times anyhow.

Trooper gets the ball and bulls right past Enos, running face-first into the goal and scoring the first point. 1-0, Trooper. Enos gets the ball now and stares down Trooper before the play starts. Trooper gets a BIG hit on Enos and Enos puts the ball down and just kicks the crap out of Trooper instead. Trooper catches one of the kicks and hits a sloppy-ass atomic drop as Lurtsema picks up the ball with 20 seconds left in the play. Enos is holding his ass like it’s his first trip to San Francisco and he makes another attempt at trying to score but gets held up by The Trooper. No points for Enos, still 1-0, Trooper. Trooper has the ball now and back bodydrops Enos over and struts into the goal for a 2-0 lead. Enos rolls out to the floor, takes his helmet off and takes a time-out. Zbyszko tries to give Enos some pointers as the smattering of fans in attendance sit in what can only be described as confused silence. Enos is back on offense again and he tries a “spin”, but Trooper just waffles him twice and knocks him down. Trooper hits Enos hard and causes a fumble and he picks up the ball and gets into the end zone for a 3-0 lead. Enos pulls the helmet off again and kneels in the corner to talk to Zbyszko and gets kicked in the ass by Trooper for his troubles. Enos gets a penalty called, presumably for delay of game and Enos gives him a little shove for being biased. Lurtsema, drunk on the power of one Super Bowl sack from fifteen years before, forearms Enos in the helmet while Enos has his head turned to Zbyszko. He leans over with The Trooper, putting an arm around him and calling Enos a “stupid jerk”. I knew that my years of training in lip-reading would come to good use someday. This whole thing being viewed as an even remotely legitimate competition is a fucking joke.

Trooper moves to score again, but Enos hits him with a drop toehold and stomps on The Trooper, taking the ball away before coming off the ropes with a HEADBUTT TO TROOPER’S BACK WITH THE HELMET!! Hamstring pull from Enos and he picks up the ball and struts to score, adding a kick in afterwards just for fun. 3-1, Trooper. Trooper gets the ball again for some stupid reason though it should be Enos with possession, and Enos kicks him in the gut and goes to work on the leg again, grabbing a leglock before ramming Trooper’s knee into the mat a couple of times. Trooper gives up the ball, Enos casually scores again and it’s 3-2 now. I still can’t believe I’m having to recap this monstrosity. Enos drops another boot in on Trooper as he tries to get to his feet, leading to an argument between Zbyszko and Lurtsema. Yeah, can’t have the sanctity of fair play questioned, can we, BOB? Troopers gets the ball AGAIN amd Enos just grabs a single-leg into a toehold and he cranks on it, dropping a knee to the thigh before going back to the toehold. Enos drops down on the knee and stips the ball from The Trooper. He walks over to the goal and spins the ball on the canvas as he crosses the goal line to make it 3-3.

Strangis takes the time now to go over all of the fast-paced action and give us a recap, just in case we’ve missed the first ten minutes of this fucking disgrace. For the FOURTH TIME IN A ROW, THE TROOPER GETS THE BALL!! What the fuck are they even doing here? Trooper gets thrown out of the ring and Enos lays a boot to him to put him to the floor. Enos picks up the ball and throws it behind the back into the goal for a 4-3 lead. Enos, showing that at least HE knows the rules of football, shows the fans the proper technique for a punt by kicking Trooper as he tries to get back into the ring. Enos heads out for a big hug from Coach Larry and they talk a little strategy as Enos is one point away from showing more mercy than Kevorkian and ending it. Trooper gets the ball for the FIFTH FUCKING TIME in a row and he’s mad now, Trooper-ing up and headbutting Enos’ helmet. Trooper drives forward as Enos grabs a front facelock and Trooper manages to get through and score to tie the game at 4. Enos FINALLY GETS THE BALL BACK and whoever scores the next point wins. Enos throws Trooper out of the ring and Zbyszko tries to hold him on the floor, but off-camera Bob Lurtsema hits a clothesline on Enos and on-camera Trooper shoves off Zbyszko and climbs into the ring, picking up the fumble and scoring for the win. There’s a smattering of applause from the crowd as we get the replay. Lee Marshall puts this idiocy to bed by saying that Lurtsema said he was with The Trooper from the beginning, so at least he didn’t lie. Nope, no lying. Assload of cheating, but no lying.

Winner: The Trooper

Match Analysis: This was possibly the worst “match” in the history of professional wrestling. For an idea that was supposed to be the evolution of wrestling, this probably set the sport back twenty years. The crowd was dead, the match was hideous and pointless, the wrestlers looked like they could barely do even the simplest of moves with the football pads on, and the referee barely knew the rules and was biased on top of it. An absolute, 1000%, utter, complete fucking abortion.

**END WARNING** We now return to our regularly scheduled, PG-13 rated AWA Report.

Larry Zbyszko’s with Eric Bischoff now and Zbyszko tells him to shut up before going on a rant about Benchwarmer Bob. He says that Trooper cheated and Baron cheated and then talks about how Mr. Saito is running around thinking that it’s 1940. PEARL HARBOR!! Zbyszko then immediately says Pearl Harbor, ruining my witty repartee. Zbyszko is convinced that Sgt. Slaughter, Nikita Koloff and Saito are all in cahoots and that he’s not going to be outsmarted by anyone. He says that he’s proud of The Texas Hangmen and promises that they’re going to do some real damage and that The Destruction Crew and the rest of his team are going to get rid of all these outsiders in the AWA and that his entire team will be GOING TO LARRYLAND, BITCHES!! If there’s one thing Zbyszko had down pitch-perfect was the crazy, angry, coked-out promos where he was convinced the world was against him. This was another brilliant example and is the lone bright spot of this show so far, and we’re nearly 45 minutes in.

Match Three: Team Challenge Series: Six-Man Tag Team Battle Royal Main Event Challenge Special Attraction Match
Paul Diamond and Tommy Jammer vs. The Texas Hangmen vs. Johnnie Stewart and The Unknown Soldier

Lee Marshall’s in the ring again, explaining the rules for this one and who is representing which team, saying that there will only be one man remaining and that the winner will earn the points for his team. Stewart heads out to the floor to jaw with some woman at ringside as Lee Marshall clears out and the bell rings to get this one underway. The action starts and it’s wild brawling with the Hangmen double-teaming Jammer, and Stewart chicken-shitting his way through the ropes to the apron to think things through. I’m sure the biggest one is why he’s stuck in the AWA to begin with. Jammer gets a double-noggin knocker on the Hangmen as Diamond hits a reverse atomic drop on Diamond. Stewart is staggering around and swinging at air before he lays a stiff one in on Diamond. More brawling as Jammer comes close to eliminating one of the Hangmen, getting him to the apron but not to the floor. Stewart begs off from Jammer and gets rammed into the top turnbuckle a few times before Stewart goes to the eyes and hits the top rope. Stewart’s rich balls get shoved all the way up to the roof of his rich mouth as Jammer shakes the ropes and crotches him on the turnbuckle. The Hagnmen start double-teaming on Stewart and The Unknown Soldier takes a shot at Jammer, charging him but missing and sending himself over the top rope. This verison of The Unknown Soldier is most certainly NOT Mr. Saito, because this one sucks. Jammer comes close to eliminating another Hangman, but Stewart sneaks up from behind and shoves Jammer out over the top to the floor. Stewart tries to convince Diamond that they need to team up against the Hangmen. I’m not sure why he needs convincing, that’s just practical really. Stewart offers the olive branch of a handshake and begs for a chance and Diamond agrees. All four men do more punchy-kicky stuff and Stewart hits one of the Hangmen with a knee off the ropes and he TURNS ON DIAMOND!! I’M SHOCKED!! DIAMOND GETS THROWN OVER THE TOP BUT SKINS THE CAT AND GETS BACK INTO THE RING!! DROPKICK TO THE BACK OF STEWART!!! THERE GOES STEWART OVER THE TOP AND OUT!! We’re down to the Texas Hangmen vs. Paul Diamond. They try to double-team Diamond, but he keeps them at bay for a bit with some kicks and punches, ducking under a double-clothesline attempt to hit a double-cross bodyblock. The Hangmen take over though with big shots and nail rakes sending Diamond into the corner but he EXPLODES out with a double-clothesline. The Hangmen try to double-team Diamond again, but there’s a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION and one of them is clotheslined out over the top by the other. Diamond and a Hangman, one-on-one!! Kicks and punches in the ring and Diamond whips the Hangman into the ropes, following with a charge but he misses and crotches himself on the middle turnbuckle. Stewart, still at ringside, distracts the referee as the Hangmen double-team Diamond and choke him across the ropes. Irish whip by the Hangman but Diamond gets a BIG kneelift off of the ropes, hitting some kicks before he Irish whips the Hangman into the corner for a baaaaack bodydrop. Diamond goes for another Irish whip into the ropes and moves to shoot himself off the ropes but the Hangman on the outside low-bridges him and Diamond goes over the ropes to the floor!! Johnnie Stewart immediately attacks, ramming Diamond into the ringside barricade, but Diamond fights back.. INTO THE RINGPOST GOES STEWART!! INTO THE TABLE GOES STEWART!! RIGHT HANDS FROM DIAMOND AND A SUPERKICK SENDS STEWART INTO THE CROWD!!

Winners: The Texas Hangmen

Match Analysis: It was the usual kind of battle royal with some brawling, a double-cross or two, a guy eliminating himself and a screwy ending. There seems to be a formula for these kinds of things and this one pretty much followed it the entire way. Bleh.

Eric Bischoff has the Hangmen at ringside and they say that they’ve proved to the AWA that they’re the greatest tag team in all of professional wrestling. He says that not only that, they got two points for Larry’s Legends. Talk turns to The Destruction Crew and they say that if you step into the war zone with the Texas Hangmen, be ready for pain, agony and LOTS of defeat!!

We get a commercial break and then Bischoff comes back for the rundown, lying and saying that writers around the country have named the Team Challenge Series the number one wrestling attraction anywhere in the world. He talks about the next show coming up three weeks away, which either means they got bumped for other stuff, or they were running out of material and had to stretch it to make shows.

Final Thoughts

If anyone ever talks to you and doubts that the Team Challenge Series is what killed the AWA, sit them down in front of the television, make them watch this particular hour of “action” and force them to not move until they begin weeping uncontrollably and screaming for their Mommy. This was easily the worst AWA show that I have seen in this entire run, and probably the worst AWA show in the history of the promotion. My thumb is so far down, I think I feel the flames from Hell burning the tip of it. Let’s hit the comments.

Fun With Comments

From piperfan01:
“The Texas Hangmen were Mike Moran & or good pal jobber Rick Ganter. They would move on to become Disorderly Conduct in WCW. I kept thinking that they were like the Machines in WWF, so maybe it were possible that theye were the same people just under a different guise, but no, nothing that fun. I spent this whole episode waiting for Kokina. I never saw him in the AWA, he would of course go on to become Yokuzuna. Sadly I had to sit through a shiek Adnan match, but Larry made it better. Its funny you briing up the announcer, my wife, who isnt a fan of even good wrestling walked through and said why was she hired for that job? I stopped watching AWA before all of this, so it was cool to see Saito and Larry feud, made the title seem important bringing it that international flare. I think I will enjoy these shows quite a bit, go team Larry! “

Funny to hear about your wife wondering why the announcer was hired. He was terrible. Actually, nearly everything about the AWA at this point was pretty awful. The Saito/Zbyszko deal was their last gasp at respectability and I think that it could have been a situation where they tried to get themselves over in Japan since the business was dying here in the US.

From LatinoMeat:
“It’s still weird to me to watch the AWA shows, as you see future WWF “stars” already in their full gimmick. It really shows that Verne had it all right in front of him, and just let it get away.

This episode had the Berzerker, and I used to be a fan of his. When Bischoff announced that Yukon John would be facing… someone? after the commercial break, I thought it was pure awesome. Then again, I’m a huge supporter of the Mike Adamle angle, loved the Ultimate Warrior’s return match, and could do without Chris Jericho on my TV.”

That’s the most succinct way to put it. Verne had all of it at his fingertips and let it all slip through them and off to make tons of money elsewhere. As for your last statement about Jericho, I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear it.

From Bryan:
“You know what this episode was missing? Larry Nelson and Soldat Ustinov. I know they were both gone by this time, but it does not feel like the same without them. Sure Soldat was a horrible wrestler, but you could always count on him for a good laugh whether it was his awful interviews, Seth Rogan like perm from 1987 or his tandem with Teijo Kahn.

As for this episode, when was the last time you saw someone win a match with the abdominal stretch? Boy that Verne sure knew how to book talent with exciting finishers. Makes me miss the Greg Gagne triple dropkick finisher.”

Yeah, oddly enough, for how much I bagged on him, I kind of miss Larry Nelson already too. As for Soldat, I’ve said repeatedly that I was a big fan of his promo work and there was something there. If his ring work hadn’t been so godawful, we might have seen him catch on somewhere else after the AWA run was done. In terms of an abdominal stretch winning a match, I’m pretty sure that it was back in the 50’s that I saw that last. I could be wrong, but I’d bet that it was probably back then at least.

From t-money:
“The production value of this 1990 show was so terrible. You mentioned Bisch and the terrible green screen, but did you also notice that they also piped random crowd noise during the match segments… It sounds awful and it’s only like on a 10 second or so loop.

Why did they do the green screen? It looks so much more bush league than the studio segments with Nelson. I might be in the minority here but I liked Bischoff last night better than Nelson. Actually I think I even liked Eric when he was in WCW (until the NWO happened), I just couldn’t stand Tony Schiavone…

Look at the production values of the 1990 AWA vs WWF (or even WCW)… it’s laughable that they constantly called themselves the “big leagues”. AWA had some of the worst production of the bigger promotions, worse than WCCW/USWA and even dare I say Herb Abrams’ UWF. “

I wouldn’t say that the AWA production values were UWF bad because they still had the in-ring action looking really good. The rest of it though was TOTAL minor league fare and showed just how far behind the times the AWA was. The crowd noise loop, interestingly enough, was even looped over the opening and closing music for the show on Wednesday. Not sure about this episode and I’m not going to go back and look. This one is dead and buried forever in my eyes.

From MarryMeDonna:
“You gotta love the technical enhancements that the AWA got for the new decade — especially the artificial crowd noise that was overdubbed in the credits and in the Tommy Jammer match. It must have been so quiet in the arena that you could here a pin drop, so they had to add something for the TV audience.

Also, and more importantly, after watching the show I think I am in love with Donna Gagne. I never saw a full body shot of her before, and seeing her in those skin tight pants I almost couldn’t contain myself! Hopefully, they will zoom in closer in future shows and maybe we can catch some moose knuckle. Wouldn’t that be a fitting end to the AWA..”

As good as she may have looked, that voice would have killed it for me every time. I touched on the tech specs for the show in the last comment and I stand by it. In-ring action = good. Everything else = utter failure to compete.

From Scrotum Pole:
“I wonder if they’re just sponsoring him like he’s a Little League team or something.”

He should have had Chico’s Bail Bonds as a sponsor.

No HUSS=No grunt for Seles…BAD

Magnum looked a little like a “special” kind of wrestler.

Special like Eugene/George the Animal, or more My name is Bill(Mickey Rooney)/Riding the Bus with my Sister(Rosie).

I do have a question: Why didn’t Larry Zbyszko ever go to the WWF after the AWA went bust? I know he was in NWA/WCW, but did Vince just not give a rats ass about him or did Zbyszko get a better offer? “

I’m not sure why Zbyszko never went back to the WWF after the AWA folded. It was probably something as simple as Zbyszko just getting a better offer from the NWA/WCW and them giving him a bit more room to move up the card.

From PMullin1987:
“No, God no. We get the return of the Midight Rockers for ONE FREAKIN SHOW?! Then of all things they switch to, they go to the TEAM FREAKIN’ CHALLENGE SERIES?! This is a conspiracy to ruin my AWA viewing, orchestrated by Stanley Blackburn, and that never was Scott LeDoux! I’m calling my attorneys, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you were in on it Harrison! And the rest of you can shut up, because Randy can’t go, Randy never could go! Randy Harrison is nothing, he never was anything, Randy Harrison…is a baarrrrtenderrrr! “

Well played, sir. I would cut a promo on you, but I’m fairly certain that the internet connection would be coursing with such awesomeness that it would end up exploding your computer. It did make me laugh though, so thank you for that.

From Guest#5300:
“I’m actually a huge Larry Z fan, one of my favorites. It’s just a shame he got the most tv time when the company made it look bush league.

Larry/Arn Anderson is a really underrated tag team and Larry won the 1990 War Games but he was never given a fair chance. Even in Dangerous Alliance he was the one to take the falls. “

The Enforcers were one of my favorite all-time tag teams. Arn, the great technical wrestler and Larry, the heat machine. In honor of how awesome Larry Z was in his run as a heel, which was essentially his entire career after 1980, here’s the moment that started it all.

From Guest. :
“Few things before the show comments:

Guest Booker: Greg Gagne Trailer

Explains Vince’s vendetta against the Gagne’s, they wouldn’t let him buy them out in 83. I’m going to get this cause I’m kinda interested in how Gagne books the AWA during Pro Wrestling USA circa 1984.

http://www.armpitwrestling.com/Backstage-Fights/Backstage-Fights-7.htm

Scroll down to Vader/Ledoux. After this, I now agree with Curt Hennig: Greatest Ribber Ever.

Onto the show: It’s better than most of the 87 stuff. Baron Von Raschke in Nord’s raccoon hat was hilarious. Although, unfortunately, probably due to being conditioned by Russo’s booking, I was expecting the full time for Kokina to come out and screw Nord, and allow the Shiek to win on a fluke or something. The only thing I’m afraid of though, is that we’ve missed the Great American Turkey Hunt, since apparently that took place in 89. Still a perversely fun show. Small note: One of the Texas Hangmen currently works with IWA-MS I believe as Bull Pain today, so even more of a pedigree from people who came through the AWA. “

For those that don’t want to go to the link for the second story, here it is in full.

“At the time, Vader was wrestling as Bull Power. Former heavyweight boxer, Scott LeDoux, was also part of the AWA locker room, challenging future AWA World Champion, Larry Zybsko around the country in some painfully average boxer vs. wrestler bouts. An argument pursued after a card, where Vader refused to sign autographs. Scott demanded he sign for the kids, and Vader made some comment about Scott getting beaten up in boxing all the time. Scott responded by knocking Vader’s NFL career. Marty Jannetty tried to diffuse the situation as Vader and Scott were getting ready to go at it. Finally Shawn Michaels was able to calm them down. The next day, the AWA stars had a flight to catch; Vader and LeDoux were jawing at each other again. That night in the dressing room, Scott was screaming, as his and Vader’s Gucci bags had been locked together perfectly, and the two had to walk through the airport resembling a couple. Real Winner: Curt Hennig”

That is tremendous, and I think that greatest ribber ever would be a tie between Hennig and Owen Hart. As for the show, I too was fully expecting to see Kokina attack from behind, but he might have actually been wedged into that metal detector. Good to know about the Hangman still working in IWA-MS. The less I say about that promotion the better or I’ll go off into pages of how much I can’t stand garbage wrestling and how I’m glad it didn’t kill the sport. When it comes to the Greg Gagne Guest Booker DVD, feel free to pick me up a copy of that one too if you feel like it, cause I too would love to get to see that.

From Tiger Mask 69:
“It usually bugs me when guys mark out over pop culture references like it’s something arcane that only they know about, but Chico’s Bail Bonds is too choice to ignore. Original Bad News Bears, FTW! “

Agreed. That was awesome, and the movie was awesome too. I might have to check that one out again soon.

From Rob:
“Randy, I’m watching the Thursday night episode as I’m typing this, and let me tell you, you HAVE to comment at length on Lee Marshall explaining the rules of Greco-Roman wrestling in your next article. If ANYTHING sums up just how absolutely retarded the Team Challenge Series was, that’s it. “

Watching Lee explain anything is funny because I’m pretty sure that most times he probably wouldn’t even know how to explain tying his own shoes. I would have gone into it in more detail, but I wanted to save all of my wrath for the football match.

Finally, from Kayfaber:
“When I first saw the Texas Hangmen, I thought they were “The Machines” under another name. (Well, Eadie worked the AWA regularly, though he was in Demolition by this point.)

Funny how the announcers tried to put Nord over in almost Born Again language.

Hey, I missed a bunch of shows recently — thanks for keeping me updated, my man. If anyone actually reads this, give this guy every wrestling review spot you have! “

Glad to keep you updated and I’m flattered that you think so highly of the reports. It was kind of fitting that they tried to put Nord over with the Born Again talk because I believe at that point in time, he went through a stage in his life where he was doing that. I thought that the Hangmen looked a lot like The Machines too, just with less cool-looking masks.

That’s it for the comments and the show, I’ll be back tomorrow to close out the week! See you then, peeps!

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