411's AWA on ESPN Classic Report 08.05.08

Posted by Randy Harrison on 08.06.2008

A one-armed bandit match and they DIDN'T have it in Las Vegas? Well, that just sums up the AWA right there...


411's AWA On ESPN Classic Report





AWA Championship Wrestling

We're right to the ring for the first match, with Donna Gagne in the ring to make the introductions


Match One: AWA World Heavyweight Championship
Todd Becker vs. Larry Zbyszko (c)

Crowd gets on Larry with a "Larry Sucks" chant right out of the gate. Marshall sounds like an ass calling Becker "Milwaukee's Finest", since I think there are about ten different kinds of beer, four different kinds of sausages and a football team that would disagree with him. Zbyszko jaws with the crowd again as Lee and Ralph go over the list of guys that want a shot at Zbyszko, including Junkyard Dog, Nikita Koloff, Paul Orndorff, Sgt. Slaughter, The Trooper and Mr. Saito, etc. etc. with Zbyszko/Saito being the one that Marshall wants to see. This is all going on while Zbyszko is putting on a HUGE stall-job, heading out to the apron and pissing around with the front row. Becker and his hideous mullet are pissed that Zbyszko is avoiding any kind of contact at all. Finally a locku..ZBYSZKO POKES HIM IN THE EYE!! TREMENDOUS!!! Snap mare from Zbyszko into another eyerake and he hooks Becker up for a big vertical suplex. Backbreaker from Zbyszko gets a two-count but he picks Becker up before the three-count. Zbyszko gets him set and spikes his ass with the PILEDRIVER!!! Becker might be dead and the referee counts to three. I have to say that the "slo-mo" audio that accompanies every replay is REALLY phony sounding and REALLY annoying.

Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver)

Match Analysis: Another short Zbyszko squash, which followed his usual template. It's entertaining as always, but it leaves me wanting a little more, to where the champ is actually defending his title once in a while.


Eric Bischoff and his newly-dyed black hair are back and it looks like they've at least gotten a little better at figuring out this green screen business and how to light everything. Bisch talks about the dissension on the Sarge's Snipers team and how Slaughter wants to trade Col. DeBeers for anyone or anything. He speculates that DeBeers will make any trade difficult and then throws it to a Col. DeBeers promo. DeBeers says that South Africa remained strong while other countries fell in the 80's and that South Africa will remain strong all the way through the 90's as well. He says that he's going to take the team away from Sgt. Slaughter and start his own army where he won't have to wrestle in matches with one arm tied behind his back. He brings up Nord's training and how he wrestles the whole logging camp with just one arm, saying that all it takes is the Col. coming after him, not a whole army. DeBeers promises to get the Sheik's money, money that was put up to put Yukon John out of professional wrestling for good. Yukon John gets some promo time now and says that they're going to tie one arm behind their backs and have at it. He calls himself "King of the Lumberjacks" and that he got his start training with some guy that smelled like whiskey and needed a shave. I guess that's where Larry Nelson went after he was fired from the interviews. Nord talks about how there are people who make things happen, people who watch things happen, and people who wonder "What happened?". He promises to make DeBeers and Sheik wonder what happened. He says that DeBeers is in for a long hard match and howls to the end of the promo. Bischoff is back in front of the green screen, holding a piece of paper which is allegedly from the desk of Joe Blanchard and it looks like he's barring a trade and that DeBeers is going to have to stay on Sarge's Snipers.

In the commercial break, they run an ad for an ESPN Classic show that will list the Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame Sports Illustrated For Having A Swimsuit Issue. Well, I would think that all five reasons would be "hot chicks", which will probably make that episode about two minutes long.


Match Two: Team Challenge Series Match: One-Armed Bandit Match
Col. DeBeers w/Sheik Adnan El-Kaissie vs. Yukon John Nord

Donna is still doing the ring announcing and you might not be able to tell from far away, but from up close, she's REALLY starting to look like a Gagne as she gets older. It's like Verne in a fright wig. Lee Marshall explains the rules of the match, which seem to be pretty self-explanatory. It seems silly for the referees to have rope for Nord since he could just use his rope belt to tie it down and save everyoen some time and aggravation. This is going to be awful. Both guys tie their left hands behind their backs and Nord howls as the referee finishes the job on his knots. Lee finally makes it back to commentary and says that fans kept stopping him, saying that they can't believe what they're seeing. I agree with them because that jacket Marshall's wearing is repulsive. The bell rings and this monstrosity is underway with both men trying shoulderblocks that go nowhere until Nord hits a big one and puts DeBeers onto his ass. Standing arm-wringer from DeBeers and Nord reverses it into a big chop and they're TRADING CHOPS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RING!!

Nord drops DeBeers with a HUGE chop and DeBeers gets up to his feet, trying for a bodyslam on Nord, but Nord is too big. Nord gets a ONE-ARMED SLAM of his own and follows it up with boots and forearms to the back of DeBeers. Nord Irish whips DeBeers into the ropes by the hair and takes DeBeers down with a dropkick that just barely lands. Nord covers for two but DeBeers gets free of it with a knee to the head, getting to his feet and trying to ram Nord into the top turnbuckle. Nord blocks it and rams DeBeers into the buckle, kicking him in the gut a few times before ramming him into the buckles again, sending DeBeers crashing face-first into the mat. Nord with the cover and he gets a LONG two-count before DeBeers gets his foot on the ropes. Right hands and kicks from DeBeers and he's taking over until Nord kicks him in the gut a couple of times and Irish whips him into the ropes again for a HUGE flying shoulderblock. Another cover from Nord and another LONG two-count, but DeBeers comes on and rams Nord into the mat face-first.

Nord blocks the third and rams DeBeers into the mat, gettign to his feet and hammerign DeBeers with BEAVER SHOTS!! Off the ropes and DeBeers takes a kick to the gut that puts him out to the floor near Sheik Adnan. Sheik pulls and unties DeBeers arm before he gets back into the ring and DeBeers is smart enough to try to hide it. Referee Gary DeRusha is down in the corner for some reason and Nord catches DeBeers with a shot and DeBeers falls backwards, tying himself up in the ropes!! Nord hammers away and the referee sees that DeBeers has both arms free. Nord tries for a big boot as DeBeers is tied in the ropes, but DeBeers ducks and NORD GOES OVER THE TOP TO THE FLOOR!! Sheik starts hammering away and here comes DeBeers for some cheapshots and the referee is calling for the bell!! DeBeers works over Nord with both arms free and all three men are back in the ring. DeBeers and Sheik are pounding away at him as DeRusha tries to free Nord's arm. The arm is unties and Nord is WOLFING UP!! HE'S WOLFING UP!!!! HOWWWWWWWWWWLLLLLL!!!! Forearms to both men!!! DOUBLE NOGGIN KNOCKER!!! Sheik and DeBeers scramble to the floor!!

Winner: Yukon John Nord (disqualification, Sheik-ference)

Match Analysis: Within the constraints of having one arm tied behind your back, there's not a lot that can be done to have a good match, and this was a perfect example. Two limited workers with an even more limited style and they had a bad match? I'm absolutely shocked

Bischoff has DeBeers and Sheik at ringside now and they're arguing about whether DeBeers gets the money or not. DeBeers says he finished him and he deserves the money, but Sheik tells him that he's not done yet. Sgt. Slaughter comes in and says that DeBeers has been letting him and the team down. He brings up the Turkey Hunt again and says that on top of losing, he's taking money from Sheik Slime. If there's something Slaughter can do to get rid of DeBeers, he's going to do it!! Slaughter storms off and DeBeers WAFFLES HIM WITH THE BRIEFCASE!!! THEY'RE BEATING SLAUGHTER ON THE FLOOR!!! Slaughter comes back with a couple of shots and sends the heels scurrying to the back. Slaughter reiterates his demand and says that if there's anything he can do, Col. DeBeers will never be on his team AGAIN!! Bischoff makes a promise he could NEVER be able to keep and swears that everything will get figured out when we come back from the break. You could spend hours and never come close to unraveling all of this nonsense.


Match Three:
Todd Becker and Jake Milliman vs. The Texas Hangmen

This should be quick and painful. At least I hope so. Marshall and Strangis continue their convoluted argument about what top rope moves are legal and which are illegal, in regards to the Hangman's Elbow finisher (which we should be seeing shortly). Psycho hammers away on Becker in the early going and picks him up for a HUGE bodyslam, throwing him into the corner and Becker tags in Milliman. Milliman crawls through Psycho's legs and mocks his cattle call, which is probably not a very good idea I'd imagine. Milliman shows his death wish and ducks under another lockup, mocking the call again. He ducks under it a third time and gets a POWERSLAM!! What in the hell happened to Jake Milliman?? Here comes Killer to make the save and MILLIMAN ROLLS OUT OF THE WAY!! Roll-up on Psycho by Milliman gets a one-count but Killer kicks him in the back of the head. Armdrag takeover by Milliman and he puts Psycho down with an armbar, AGAIN mocking their yell before he tags in Becker. Becker comes off the second rop with a double-axehandle to the arm of Psycho. He moves to an armbar and Pscyho shoots him into the ropes for the reversal, dropping down and letting Killer hit a knee to the back. Psycho scrubs Becker's face into the mat and tags in Killer for some hard shots to the ribs. POWERSLAM BY KILLER!! Tag to Psycho and they hit a double-team neckbreaker with Psycho coming off the second rope with a double-axehandle. Psycho distracts Milliman and the referee and Killer chokes Becker in the corner with their noose. They make a phantom tag and switch off, with Killer in charge now, hitting a HUGE DDT. Tag to Psycho and they hit another double-team move with Psycho getting a belly-to-belly suplex before he picks Becker up for Killer to hit the HANGMAN'S ELBOW OFF THE SECOND ROPE!! 1-2-3!!! That was beautiful.

Winners: The Texas Hangmen (pinfall, Hangman's Elbow)

Match Analysis: Milliman had a death wish and the Hangmen tried their best to fulfill it. I really wish it would have been him that had taken the finish, just to pay off all of his mouthing from earlier in the match, but it is what it is. Again, I hope to see the Hangmen in with an actual team soon because they've been wrestling the same squash for like five shows in a row.

The Hangmen are ringside with The Bisch, and he tries to figure out who is who. He congratulates them on the success in the TCS and he asks if there's a chance that they could be trading teams in the near future. The Hangmen say that there's no chance because they're undefeated and then wonders why The Destruction Crew won't get in the ring with them. They threaten the champs and swear that they'll take the titles from them and that no one can stop them.


It's Team Challenge Series Report time and Lee Marshall joins us to talk about Baron's Blitzers being in the lead, on the strength of The Trooper's undefeated record. Apparently, Trooper has 11 points and is at the top of the heap when it comes to the talk for the Most Valuable Wrestler award. Larry's Legends and Sarge's Snipers are lagging behind, despite their talent. Marshall talks about the dissension on Sarge's team and the Legends team being unable to keep from being disqualified. He says that it takes a team to win the Team Challenge Series. I don't know if it's the hair dye or something, but Bischoff looks WAY more confident on the microphone now and is starting to show very small signs of what he would become down the road.


Back from the break with pre-match comments from Paul Diamond and The Trooper. Diamond thanks the fans that called the AWA hotline and pushed for them to get a rematch and says that the titles are theirs. Trooper agrees, saying that they've beaten The Destruction Crew once, they'll beat them again. He adds that Bob Lurtsema is going to be the referee and that there will be law and order in the main event. The Destruction Crew is next to speak and Bloom is already yelling about having to do an interview so close to a title match. Great little touch from him there. He says that the AWA Championship Committee is doing everything they can to make The Crew lose the belts. He says that they've already beaten Diamond and Trooper and that there was no need for a rematch. He talks about how Lurtsema robbed Mike Enos in the football match and then threatens him, saying that if Lurtsema doesn't watch his back, he'll be going down.


Match Four: AWA Tag Team Championship
Paul Diamond and The Trooper vs. The Destruction Crew w/Larry Zbyszko (c)

Former NFL player Bob Lurtsema is the referee for this one, as mentioned earlier, and if it's the same match from the Team Challenge Series report, we've already seen the finish of this one. As I've said before, it's nice to see Captain Larry out there with pretty much everyone on his team. Lurtsema goes through a VERY contrived explanation of the rules, using Enos as an example when he shows what the illegal moves are.

The Crew jump on Diamond and Trooper from behind, hammering away and hitting a BIG pair of slams on the face team. Double-irish whip from The Crew as they try to ram the faces together and there's a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION!! The Crew get reversed into each other and there's a double-atomic drop that sends them crashing into each other again!! Trooper and Diamond put on the Destruction Crew vests and pick up the sledgehammers!! Zbyszko gets up on the apron and complains about the hammers that Diamond and Trooper have a hold of now. Diamond, for his part, looks more like a construction worker than either Bloom or Enos do with his huge mullet and the faces stomp and smear their boots on the vests for good measure. They fire the crowd up as the Crew finally make their way back into the ring and Diamond and Enos start things out for real.

Enos attacks Diamond with a kick in the gut into a headbutt and he whips him into the ropes, but Diamond ducks under a forearm and answers with a right hand and a HUGE forearm uppercut. Another forearm uppercut sends Enos flipping ass over teakettle and there's a tag to the Trooper for a huge double-backdrop. Trooper goes to work with left hands, whipping Enos into the ropes and missing an elbow before catching Enos with a big powerslam that gets a two-count. Trooper tags in Diamond and he hits some punches on Enos before he snap mares him over for even more punching. More punches from Diamond and Enos ends up caught between Trooper and Diamond for some punches before Diamond gets a two-count. Irish whip on Enos and Enos reverses into a trainwreck where both men go down. Enos makes the tag to Bloom and he comes in with some stomps into a BIG bodyslam.

Bloom on the second rope and he jumps off with a double-axehandle but Diamond reverses and catches Bloom in the gut. Diamond with an Irish whip and another punch to the gut, followed up by a kneelift. Tag to Trooper and he catches Bloom with a HUGE powerslam that only gets a two-count because referee Lurtsema was out of position. Trooper moves to a reverse chinlock and cranks away on it as Bloom backs Trooper into the corner with Enos. The Crew take turns distracting the referee while the other works over Trooper in the corner with punches and choking. Bloom tries a back bodydrop off an Irish whip and Trooper kicks him in the face to reverse. Bloom tags in Enos and he takes over on Trooper with some punches before trying a vertical suplex. Trooper goes dead-weight to block it and then takes Enos over for a suplex of his own before he tags in Diamond. Diamond with right hands into an Irish whip and he hits Enos with a FLYING CLOTHESLINE!! He covers Enos and gets a two-count, but Bloom comes in to break up the pinfall.

Tag to Trooper and he hits a beautiful dropkick off of a Diamond Irish whip and tries for another pin that only gets two. Enos tries for the suplex again but Trooper ends up getting a small package for another two-count. Tag to Diamond and he hits a SUPERKICK ON ENOS!! Zbyszko gets up on the apron and distracts the referee and in the commotion, Bloom comes in and wallops Diamond in the back of the head. Enos picks Diamond up for the Wrecking Ball and Bloom's on the top rope and just as they're ready to hit the move, Lurtsema turns around and shoves Enos to save Diamond from getting clipped. Zbyszko is in the ring and he's PUTTING THE BOOTS to Lurtsema!!! The Crew join in and it's an absolute brawl with the tag teams squaring off and Lurtsema trying to hold his own with Zbyszko. LURTSEMA CLOTHESLINES ENOS OVER THE TOP ROPE!! DIAMOND SENDS BLOOM FLYING! DOUBLE-IRISH WHIP ON ZBYZKO BUT HE BAILS OUT!!! Lurtsema raises the hands of Trooper and Diamond and declares them the winners. We get a replay of the nonsense that caused the finish and it was indeed the finish we saw at the end of the Team Challenge Series Report.

Winners: Paul Diamond and The Trooper (disqualification)

Match Analysis: Four somewhat limited workers that basically kicked and punched their way through the match to the finish. You could tell that Lurtsema being there was going to be an impetus for him to screw The Destruction Crew again and that's what ended up happening. A whole lot of nothing to get to a finish that we had already seen earlier in the show, and saw coming a mile away anyhow. Not the best way to end a show.

Bischoff has Lurtsema with him, along with Diamond and Trooper and he asks Trooper and Diamond what it's going to take to get things done against The Destruction Crew. Lurtsema says that they keep getting themselves disqualified to save their titles and that he needs for there to be a match where it The Crew get disqualified they lose the belts. He feels like Diamond and Trooper deserve the titles and that he wants to make that match. Diamond says he's sick of people interfering with the matches between them and The Crew and he wants to get them in a cage match where no one can meddle. Trooper goes a little overboard talking about a cage match with brass knucks and explosives, but his message is essentially the same. Diamond and Trooper soak up some cheers and that's it for show!!



Final Thoughts

Not a very good show overall. It's starting to seem really repetitive and really bland and where in the past shows, they would at least have two name guys in the main event or two guys that could work pretty well together, these shows don't even have that. It's just bad wrestling, heaped on top of bad wrestling, with shitty gimmick matches thrown in for good measure. In honor of one of the comments below, I have instituted a new rating system for these shows. Instead of the time-honored hot pokers in the ass, I'm starting a system where I will show you how much booze it should have (or in fact did) take me to sit through the show. One jug will be the best a show can do, where I would have been able to remain lucid and enjoy the action. Four jugs will be me nearly passing out in a puddle of my own Hendrix as I suffer through the last few agonizing moments of the hour. To debut, with this show, I give it two jugs. Nothing terribly offensive, just boring, so I would probably drink to pass the time.





Fun With Comments


From JLAJRC:
"Just how were the teams chosen for this thing, since both teams seem to be a mixture of both faces and heels?

Is Bischoff wearing a toupee or something? I know later on during WCW we would learn that he turned grey early when he got shaved, but right now it looks like a giant, grey, mutant mouse is sitting on his head."


The answer to part of that question comes from Guest. :
"IIRC: It was a random draft of all the available AWA talent roster to one of the three teams.

Bad show this week, but you at least had an active crowd. They were into the Colonel being teased for losing to Milliman, and Ox Baker at least had a cool mustache. At least the squash matches all featured decent guys."

Yes indeed, it was a random draft, with guys from all three rosters being chosen from a bingo ball hopper. There's a few seconds of footage from that draft on the AWA DVD that was put out by the WWE a couple of years back. Nick Bockwinkel and Eric Bischoff were in charge of the thing. Touching on the crowd, for whatever reason they had perked up during this particular portion of the taping, but it didn't last as they sat on their hands during all of this show.


From James:
"Refresh my memory...wasn't there a point when they were teasing a future face turn for the Brute? Basically because Ox kept treating him like a retard. And if you think Yukon John Nord is bad, wait till you see who joins him later on (another familiar face and a former NWO member to boot!)

Some trivia: did you know Ox Baker was also a contestant on The Price Is Right? Never saw his episode though. I did, however, see Nick Bockwinkel on a '70s episode of Hollywood Squares as a contestant, where he kicked all kinds of ass.

Yes, you'd think GWF would be a natural for this channel, it being best known for its ESPN run. Wonder how you'd survive once they hit mid-1992 (the BUNGEE CORD MATCH~!) though. It's funny, as I was just thinking about 1991 in wrestling for some reason, and how much I enjoyed it back in the day (in the WWF, you had things like Flair's debut, the rise of Bret Hart; WCW wasn't so hot, yes, but I didn't know better back then; and then there was the debut of the GWF on ESPN, which was great...I mean, more wrestling and it tried to be more "serious")

Regarding your Corky reference a while back...just go on YouTube or wherever and look Chris Burke up to see what he's been up to today. (Hint: it involves two dorky brothers and music...if you can download songs, look for "Eating Is Fun, Eating Is Serious") "

I won't look up that Corky deal because I would seriously end up going to Hell. As for the wrestling-related portions of your comment, I think it would be fun to see the GWF stuff, including that awful bungee cord match. I did know about the Bockwinkel Hollywood Squares show, but not the Ox Baker TPIR appearance, so thank you for that. I don't know if there was an angle with Ox and The Brute, because as I say, I was starting to phase out of the AWA at this point, but I'll keep my eyes open for it, just in case.


From Scrotum Pole:
"Nord throws up a kick....and a stretch....HE'S FIFTY!! FIFTY YEARS OLD!!!

JESUS CHRIST, a Sally O'Malley line. That's why you rule 411. "I call this outfit my desert rose cause it features the camel toe."

My 10 year old neice went as her last Halloween. And I even let her read your column with me, but sometimes I make her wear eyemuffs, especially lately with this shit. "

Well, I'm glad for any fans of the column, and thank you for using the eyemuffs so I'm not corrupting her and sending her off into the world all foul-mouthed. Thanks again for your praise of my work, I'm glad that I can make people laugh a little, despite being saddled with covering the worst wrestling show out of any of them on TV at the moment.


From TonySmark:
"I apologize if this was mentioned before, but I think Bull Pain was one of the Texas Hangmen. I read that somewhere. Also, weren't the Hangmen jobbers on WCW in the late 90's? They were on WCW Saturday Night a few times.

Also, is it wrong I am looking forward to Tommy Jammer's next appearance? I think he's the greenest non-jobber I've seen on these shows so far. "


From Frozen:
"I believe the Hangmen were Rick "Bull Pain" Gantner and Mike Richards. "

The Hangmen have been a hot topic of discussion the past few days, and I think it's time to set the record straight. They were indeed former AWA jobber Rick Gantner, and "Mean" Mike Moran. They donned the hoods and had a strong run in Puerto Rico before coming to the AWA and then once their AWA run was done, ended up working in Memphis before splitting up. Gantner went to the GWF as Bull Pain and did some work in WCW and ECW as well before ending up in IWA-MS, where he currently resides and works, while also doing some spot work for Chikara.


From I miss the ol' dayz:
"Was it just me, but didn't Lee Marshall say over and over that Sarge was bleeding from the head? I saw NO blood at all. Maybe a botched blade job that didn't happen perhaps? He said it over and over. Look when Eric interviews Sarge...see any blood? "

Nope, no blood. I'm thinking it was probably supposed to be a blade job, but all of Sarge's lustrous locks got in the way and kept the blade from touching his forehead skin.


From Boomerang:
"Last week's segue from New Year's Eve '88 at the bar to "Welcome to 1990" was a bit surreal, especially when we last see Brother Nelson in a pool of water, flanked by Bischoff, and then ol' Eric's on the show. Hmmm!! (Maybe ths is what WWE should have done with Vince, and they could dig out the blown-up-limo schtick.)

And what about the outfit Marshall was sporting as he explained those screwball matches -- it isn't only his "coif" that's significantly shorter from the last time Classic graced us with his mug. Between that and Donna Gagne's cock-a-mamie announcer's garb, Verne's wardrobe deal must have been with Goodwill.

And finally, the most frightening guys from my youthful fandom were Crazy Luke Graham and Bulldog Brower. They both seemed like they'd come right over the barriers and after the crowd."

Those are two good choices for scary wrestlers. As for the outfits, they were REALLY really on a budget at this point, so it wouldn't surprise me for them to be using clothes that they had in their closets at home, instead of going with an actual wardrobe department. Imagine Donna Gagne heading out to Jukebox Saturday Night in that get-up and tell me you wouldn't laugh.


From Joe K. :
"Anyone else notice the little kids being blurred out for flipping off the heels? Being a regular fan of local indy events, I'm kind of disheartened when I see stuff like that.

And yes, Bischoff's hair at this point is like a big, gray baseball helmet with fur on it. "

I have been noticing lots of blurs. I guess the AWA in the 1990's is probably where the kids started to take the turn for the worse that sees them banging each other and doing the meth before they hit high school.


From RandomGuy:
"On the issue of the Clawhold: Did the Iron Claw almost assuardly mean a win for The Baron or Fritz Von Erich? "

99 times out of 100, it meant they were going to pick up the win.


From Dave:
"I guess it's the OCD in me but wouldn't you know it, I had to check the numbers on the team challenge series. There were a total of 21 wins for all 3 teams and 14 losses. Wait, if they're competing against each other how do they have 7 more wins than losses?

You know it might be time to rating everything with Rick Scaia's hot poker rating system. (Those of you from rec.sport.pro-wrestling will get that. For the rest of you just do a search on groups.google.com for "Rick Scaia poker" without the quotes.) "

As you can see above, I'm not going to have the hot poker system, I'm just going to have the booze jugs. As for the counting, I did it in this episode's rankings and sure enough, they added up properly this time. I guess they either didn't care or got lucky.


From Jasper:
"Col. Debeers is god "

He was good..but not that good. I'll always think of him more as a gimmick than a worker, since it could have been anyone in his get-up that was getting that heat. But I will give you that he was good at doing what he did.


From t-money:
"What's worse Sarge's combover or Bichoff's salt and pepper hair helmet?

Also next time they show the Team Challenge Series update graphic look closely and you'll see a little TM symbol for trademark... yeah they needed to trademark it b/c other promotions were chomping at the bit to steal it. "

This was at the point where wrestling got really commercial and was all about trademarks and royalties and what-not. I'm sure Verne thought it was going to be the wave of the future and wanted to make sure the only place that you could see TCS action was in the AWA. Unfortunately for him, it didn't and no one else wanted to see it in the AWA, let alone elsewhere. In terms of the hairstyles, I would say that Sarge's combover was WAY worse, but that's just me.


Finally, from BILL_TX:
""Nord throws up a kick....and a stretch....HE'S FIFTY!! FIFTY YEARS OLD!!!"

I was reading this at the office, and this made me bust out laughing like
an idiot. Thanks!"

Again, glad to be of service and thanks for being a fan of the column.


That does it for me for today. Sorry for being late with it, but things tend to come up with running things over at Nokaut.com, so I had to do a couple of extra things there. Hopefully you'll all forgive me and be back tomorrow for another AWA report. See you then, everybody!!