411's AWA on ESPN Classic Report 08.21.08

Posted by Randy Harrison on 08.22.2008

Wait, we've actually got a decent show to review?? Did someone finally take pity on my suffering?? I'm not going to complain to look this gift horse in the mouth though...


411's AWA On ESPN Classic Report





AWA Championship Wrestling

After the horrible outings the past couple of nights, let's cross our fingers and hope for a good'un. The Two Stooges welcome us to the show and it sounds like a near-carbon copy of the last show, with The Destruction Crew, Tommy Jammer, Larry Zbyszko and The Texas Hangmen against The Tokyo Bullets on the card, with DJ Peterson opening things up when we get this card underway, right after the break!


Match One:
Tom Stone vs. DJ Peterson

Peterson shoves Stone on his ass when he gets all up in his grill, and the match is underway before Peterson's entrance music is done playing. He blocks a right hand from Stone and hits him with one of his own before avoiding a charge and rolling Stone up for a two-count. Side headlock from Peterson and Stone pushes him into the corner for the break. Stone cheats it up and hits a couple of shoulderblocks to the gut of Peterson before hip tossing him out of the corner. Stone tries for a headscissors takeover but Peterson just dumps him over the top rope to the floor. Drop toehold from Peterson into a front facelock as Stone gets back into the ring and Stone manages to slip out and reverse to a hammerlock. Peterson reverses that with a snap mare into a reverse chinlock and hits a nice snap suplex for a two-count before moving back to the front facelock. Marshall and Bischoff BOTH work on their skills at ignoring the match, instead talking about whether Peterson and The Trooper could knock off The Destruction Crew for the belts. Peterson still working the front facelock and Stone grabs the tights to throw Peterson over and break the hold. Elbow from Stone and a shot to the gut, followed by a kneelift, allows Stone to get to the second rope. Peterson catches him with a shot to the gut off of that and whips Stone into the ropes for a huge dropkick. Peterson tries it again and Stone holds onto the rope, allowing Peterson to crash to the mat. Shoulderblock from Stone and he comes off the ropes but Peterson catches him with a powerslam. Peterson knees Stone in the "lower abdomen" groinal sack region and then locks in the SCORPION DEATHLOCK!!! Stone submits and the bell rings, it's all over!!

Winner: DJ Peterson (submission, scorpion deathlock)

Match Analysis: This would usually not get much from me, since it's just a squash, but they actually did some good things and Stone is an old-school jobber and one of the best. He actually managed to make DJ Peterson look good and look entertaining, which is something that not many could do in the AWA in 1990. Better start than we've had to the program in a while.

Eric Bischoff is in the back and he's set to talk to The Destruction Crew, with Bischoff asking Mike Enos a question again. Doesn't he learn? Bloom cuts him off and says that they've sent a message to the AWA and that message is that if you step in the ring with The Destruction Crew, you're going to be going to the hospital or crying for your mommy. He says that that is exactly what's going to happen to Peterson and The Trooper, just not right now because they're heading to Japan for a huge tag team tournament. Bloom suggests that the Japanese are only good for small cars and transistor radios. He goes through the list of countries they'll be going to to look for competition since there's none to be had in the United States. Bloom closes out by telling Peterson and Trooper to train a little harder and wait a little longer.


Match Two: AWA World Tag Team Championship
Randy Gust and Steve Butler vs. The Destruction Crew w/Johnny Valiant (c)

No idea where Johnny V popped up from, but I suppose. The Crew attacks early on and Bloom gets a snap mare before dropping a knee on Gust's face. He follows that up with an Irish whip into a NASTY flying clothesline. Tag to Enos and he comes in and whips Gust into the ropes for a reverse elbow. Enos does a little mocking and sends Gust through the ropes to the floor, with Bloom picking up the scraps and beating on Gust a little before rolling him into the ring. Vertical suplex from Enos and he rams Gust into Bloom's knee before making the tag. Bloom picks Gust up and slams him in the corner, letting him tag in Butler. Knees from Bloom and he whips Butler in for a reverse elbow and tags in Mike Enos. Double-Irish whip into a double-elbow now and Enos stays in and whips Butler in for a HUGE POWERSLAM!!! Hot holy hell, that was vicious. The Crew gets the referee distracted with Gust and Enos picks Butler up on his shoulders for the WRECKING BALL FROM BLOOM!!! FUCK YES!! BUTLER FELL ON HIS HEAD!! Enos covers him and counts to three with his face in the camera.

Winners: The Destruction Crew (pinfall, Wrecking Ball)

Match Analysis: Short and to the point, The Destruction Crew is out to hurt people. I have no idea why Johnny Valiant was even out there since it didn't even really add anything and he didn't even figure into the match in the slightest. If it hadn't been for seeing him real quick in the beginning, I wouldn't have even known he was out there.

That replay doesn't do that bump any favors as it looks like Butler fell right on his neck with all of his body weight. At the very least, he looked knocked out, though he's still in the ring, holding his neck.


After the break, Lee Marshall promises an update from Eric Bischoff on Butler's condition after the next bout.


Match Three:
WT Jones vs. Tommy Jammer

Bischoff gives us an update on Butler and apparently several vertebrae in Butler's neck are dislodged and he more than likely has a concussion. In the ring, Jammer gets a side headlock into a quick hammerlock and he forces Jones to head to the ropes for a break. Fireman's carry from Jammer out of a lockup and he moves to an armbar with Jones pushing to the ropes for another break. Go-behind into an amateur wrestling takedown and Jammer forces Jones to the ropes again for another clean break. Jammer picks Jones up for a big bodyslam, but misses the follow-up legdrop, dropping a double-axehandle on Jammer. Jones with a big headbutt that sends Jammer into the corner and he loads up a couple of punches to the gut before Jammer tries a mule kick. Jones pushes through it and hammers away, raking his nails across Jammer's back before whipping him into the corner. Jones charges in and eats a big boot to the face, with Jammer now going for the abdominal stretch. Jones is squealing like a pig and he finally submits!!

Winner: Tommy Jammer (submission, abdominal stretch)

Match Analysis: Jammer sucks. The end.


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

Zbyszko takes his sweet time getting into the ring and getting ready for action, yelling at the ringsiders before finally ducking under a lockup and taking Becker down with a gut wrench. Zbyszko pretzels Becker with an amateur pinning combination and gets a couple of two-counts before moving to an armbar. Becker gets to the ropes and Zbyszko offers up a clean break and a handshake with Becker turning it down. Drop down to a single-leg takedown from Zbyszko and he offers up the handshake again with Becker turning it down again. Knee to the gut and a big forearm from Zbyszko into a bodyslam and he rakes his bootsoles across Becker's eyes. Zbyszko with a backbreaker into another pin attempt for a two-count and Zbyszko pulls him up before the three. Vertical suplex from Zbyszko and it's another two-count with another pick up by Zbyszko. Snap mare from Larry Z and he knees Becker in the back before hitting THE PILEDRIVER!! There's the cover and THERE'S the three-count for Zbyszko!!

Winner: Larry Zbyszko (pinfall, piledriver)

Match Analysis: Zbyszko rules. The end.


Eric Bischoff welcomes us back to the show, and it's TEAM CHALLENGE SERIES REPORT TIME!!! Lee talks about Wendi Richter and her return to the AWA, with Candi Divine taking the AWA Women's Championship away from Richter in Winnipeg. We hear about the main event from last week with Richter and Divine locking it up and Richter learning the cobra clutch from her captain, Sgt. Slaughter, while Divine learned the clawhold from her captain, Baron Von Raschke. We see the ladies fighting until Divine gets a handful of cooch and throws Wendi Richter over the top rope for the DQ. That gave Sarge's Snipers a point and pulled them into second place, but they're still ten points behind the Baron and his Blitzers.

After the report, Lee Marshall says that it's time to see a Team Challenge Series match!!


Match Five: Team Challenge Series Match: Two out of Three Falls
The Tokyo Bullets vs. The Texas Hangmen

Essentially, this is two out of three falls, but the winner of the first fall gets to start the second fall at a two-on-one advantage. Well, we should be seeing Psycho and Killer waylaying some poor "Japanese" masked wrestler in about three minutes, give or take. The Bullets aren't wearing different colored shirts today, so I have no clue how I'll guess them apart, but we'll see.

Bullet #1 and Killer start things out and Killer hits a big bodyslam, followed by another. Bullet #1 tries to get a head of steam going and goes for a shoulderblock but he can't budge Killer and instead ducks under an elbow to hit a chop and a BODYSLAM!! Surprising power there, and #1 follows it up with a deep armdrag takedown into an armbar. Tag to Bullet #2 and he comes off the top rope right onto Killer's arm before going back to the armbar. Irish whip into a hip toss by #2 and he makes the tag right back to #1 and he comes off the second rope onto the arm, taking Killer down with an arm-wringer and legdropping the arm before going to an armbar. Tag to #1 and he kicks Killer's arm, working the armbar yet again until Killer shoots #1 into the ropes and Psycho low-bridges him. Psycho picks him up and rams him backfirst into the ringpost before throwing him back in and Killer slams #1, tagging in Psycho, who slingshots OVER THE TOP ROPE into a headbutt, though he nearly botched it so it's not quite as impressive as it was two seconds ago. Belly to belly suplex from Psycho and he whips #1 in for a huge reverse elbow before distracting the referee. The Hangmen do some double-teaming and an illegal switch as Killer drops a big elbow on #1 for a two-count. Irish whip by Killer and #1 gets a sunset flip but can't pull Killer over until #2 comes in and chops him down. The sunset flip gets a two-count but Killer is able to kick out, whipping #1 into the ropes for a press slam. #1 gets a go-behind into a roll-up and there's another two-count before Killer kicks him out, all the way to the floor. Psycho grabs Bullet #1 and rams him backfirst into the ringpost before hip tossing him on the concrete floor. Side slam from Killer and he goes for the pin with a handful of tights to get the 1-2-3!! The Hangmen are up one fall to nothing and get to take the second fall with a two-on-one advantage. I'm surprised they didn't try to call this one a "power play" match or something stupid like that.

The Hangmen celebrate with both men in the ring and it's now two-on-one time, so this doesn't seem like it's going to take much longer now. Bullet #1 gets ganged on in the corner and Killer and Psycho hammer away, whipping #1 in for a double-back bodydrop, following it with a double-clothesline. Killer distracts the referee to allow Psycho to choke #1 across the throat with his boot and as Killer continues to distract, Psycho headbutts #1 in the balls. They continue to work #1 over and Pyscho drops an elbow before they both Irish whip #1 in for another double-clothesline. #1 ducks it and tries for a double-flying bodypress but they catch him and just ram him into the corner. Big bodyslam and they set up for a double-headbutt spot, but #1 manages to roll out of the way and into his own corner to MAKE THE TAG!! Bullet #2 in and it's DROPKICKS FOR EVERYBODY!! Irish whip into the corner and a big back bodydrop on Killer!! Psycho rammed into the top turnbuckle!! Irish whip into a reverse elbow and the Bullets whip the Hangmen into each other in the middle of the ring!! Killer holds onto Bullet #2 as Psycho tries a clothesline, but #2 ducks and there's a MALFUNCTION AT THE JUNCTION!! Bullet #2 with a roll-up!! There's a dropkick from Bullet #1 on Psycho!! 1-2-3!!!! It's one fall apiece!! Texas Tornado rules for the third and final fall!!!! The Bullets celebrate on the floor as the Hangmen are PISSED in the ring.

Third fall underway and we've got all four men in the ring, which is going to make play by play fairly impossible, but I'll try my best. The Hangmen work over the Bullets and Killer sends one of them outside to the floor for some cheapshots, but the Bullet nails him right in the balls. All four men are back in the ring and all four men are in one corner with the Hangmen doing some cheating and choking to bully the Bullets around. Psycho gets taken down off of a shoulderblock and both men go down. A Bullet gets a flying bodypress on a Hangman and a Hangman gets a pinfall on the other bullet and Gary DeRusha counts them both down for the three-count. Are you shitting me? DeRusha heads over and raises the hands of the Tokyo Bullets and they've apparently won!!!

Winners: The Tokyo Bullets (pinfall, flying bodypress)

Match Analysis: This was actually pretty good. I was surprised at how much the Hangmen showed ass for the Bullets and the match was actually not as terrible as I expected. I get where they were trying to go with the finish, but they really needed to give that win to someone who could use it. I don't think that the Hangmen should have lost until they either got to the titles or at least were challenging for them, but I guess they wanted to go the surprise route.


Match Six:
Mike George vs. Nikita Koloff

This is looking like it's from an earlier taping as there are a lot more fans and the house lights are a lot higher than they are on the current shows we've been seeing lately. It could in fact be the match that we saw earlier with Nikita winning in about two minutes.Lockup and they struggle with Koloff pushing George into the corner and giving him a clean break. Side headlock from Koloff and George shoots him off into the ropes, eating a shoulderblock and then they fuck up some sort of spot, leading to George scrambling to the ropes to get a break. Side headlock again from Koloff, and as George tries to break out of it with a takeover, Koloff holds on and takes George over to the mat. George reverses to a headscissors and Koloff breaks free of that, leading to a bit of a stalemate. George takes over with a standing arm-wringer and shoots Koloff into the ropes, trying for a hip toss, but Koloff blocks it and gets a hip toss of his own. George pushes Koloff into the corner off of a lockup and gets a cheap shot behind the referee's back, but Koloff just shrugs it off and whips George into the corner. George ducks out of the way of a charge and kicks Koloff down to the mat, picking him up for a big bodyslam before grinding his knee into Koloff's back. He works Koloff over in the corner and goes to the eyes before picking Koloff up for a backbreaker. Reverse chinlock now from George, and this is indeed the match that we saw a few episodes back on the Team Challenge Series report. George drops a couple of knees to the small of the back and goes to a front facelock until Koloff reverses it to a standing arm-wringer. Koloff gets a couple of punches in but George goes to the eyes to break the momentum. Irish whip into the corner by George and he chokes Koloff with a knee against the turnbuckle for a moment before choking Koloff in the corner. Reverse elbows to the gut from Koloff and he rams Geroge's head into the top turnbuckle six or seven times before whipping George in for the flying shouldertackle!!! Knee to the midsection in the corner by Koloff and he tries an Irish whip into the corner but George reverses it. Another Irish whip from George and he tries a charge in but Koloff ducks out of the way, sending George crashing into the buckles. Koloff staggers around to clear his head and its RUSSIAN SICKLE TIME!! The ref can count to a hundred because it's all over. They do a little tangling after the match before George makes his way to the back.

Winner: Nikita Koloff (pinfall, Russian sickle)

Match Analysis: Eh, the match before REALLY should have been the main event because this was just a squasher. Koloff looked good, but that's probably more from his own talent than anything George did as he was well past his due date by this time. Rough way to end the show, that's for sure



Final Thoughts

We were chugging along pretty well until they inexplicably stuck the Koloff/George match at the end. That knocked it down a bit for me, but honestly this is one of the better AWA shows that has come down the pike in a few weeks. I was actually entertained through most of it and that Bullets/Hangmen match could have easily been a main event on one of the AWA shows in '86 or '87 and not looked out of place. I'm suprisingly lucid and suprisingly sober because it only took...



ONE JUG? That's can't be right can it?? Wow, I'm shocked. Let's get to the comments before I decide to have another one just for fun.



Fun With Comments


From Guest. :
"You got to love Mimi performing stripper motions with mostly kids in the crowd, and doing stuff that wouldn't be seen on TV for many years to come. Again, Verne Gagne: Most Progressive Booker Ever.

I personally enjoyed the Destruction Crew's antics tonight, and thought that the backbreaker elbow was just brutal, although the flip dive on the Doomsday Device was pretty swank too. And they finally began to call attention to Bloom consistently cutting Enos off.

I think everyone had a What the hell was that? reaction to the Mimi/Devine spot. I didn't even know it was coming and I was wondering what happened. I thought that all the botched spots afterwards were much much worse though. I'd say this is the last time Verne put the women in the main event, but he probably didn't have much else to put in there. "

The botches on the suplexes were bad, but that was mainly because they both looked blown up to hell. The whiff on the clothesline is even excusable because it can happen from time to time, but for Divine to sell it like she was shot was just baffling. I agree with you about your assessment of Verne being the Most Progressive Booker ever, but I will explain my agreement further in your next comment.


From piperfan01:
"Ya know its a strange thing, I don't think I have ever seen a Larry Zybysko vs Sgt Slaughter match. It's a match I always wanted to see as a kid, although back then it was because I thought Slaughter was the only one that could shut that guy up for good. But I never have seen an actual match between them. Did they have many encounters? This episode they said Slaughetr lost 2 matches recently to him, but I really do think it would be a cool match to watch. That Mimi match was a trainwreck thats for sure, couldn't look away though, could have been the Mimi's thong, Divines face or all the screwed up moves, but damn that was fun to watch. The thing that really stood out for me this week is that really odd Stew-Rat promo. I was in awe of just the pure stupidity of it all, and all I could think about, was actually what your opinion of it would be, I couldn't wait to read your report and it didn't disappoint. If that wasn't Wrestlecrap worthy, I dont know what is.... "

Sadly, it's all pretty much WrestleCrap worthy at this point.


Here's piperfan01's answer, from the Fresh:
"Piperfan01 Zbyszko and slaughter met many times including 2 championship matches on ESPN in the spring of 89.
and also there are some battles from 1985 over the Americas title with one match released on each man's Kid's Classics AWA wrestling tapes."

I actually bought the Sgt. Slaughter Kid's Classic tape, but have yet to see if it works or not. I can't decide if I want to risk my VCR or not, but I might just chance it one day.


From 411's own Mike Campbell:
"I wonder if the guy Sarge squashed is the same Tom Burton who wrestled over in UWFI?"


And the answer to that one, from Random Guy:
"I wonder if the guy Sarge squashed is the same Tom Burton who wrestled over in UWFI?

Posted By: Mike Campbell (Registered) on August 21, 2008 at 03:39 PM

Indeed it was. "


From Archive:
"Just wanted to say I'm glad that these programs are being covered in the 411 network. And the archiving system here is great to search old reports/matches. I guess the "pink room" era of the AWA wasn't as long as I thought.

However, I'm not thrilled about the fighting going on between commenters. Even those bashing the "critics" are being unreasonable. "

I enjoy doing the AWA shows as well, and I think that the "pink room" era just seemed longer in hindsight because it was thought that they almost went all the way to the end with no crowd. As for the fighting in the comments, it's mainly one rabble-rouser that incites the masses, but for the most part it's pretty civil. I thank those who came to my defense again, and am glad to have such loyal readers.


From jj:
"It's still better booked than TNA. "

Not too far off actually. By the way, when are you finally going to appear on TV again instead of just teasing everyone with your entrance music?


From Bill_tx:
"Holy fucking hell, that was an atrocious show. And describing AWA's editing team as "crack" is very much correct, as they must've been high off their asses to put together the train wrecks we've seen the last few nights. Speaking of crack, the promo with the "rat-stew" was the most ridiculous thing I've seen in wrestling after the Gobbledygooker. "

I don't think that it was quite into Gobbledygooker territory, but it was pretty damn close. Especially when Zumhoffe started wringing out the sock rat. The only thing that could have pushed it beyond even The Gooker would have been if Baron would have started dancing to Buck's boombox again.


From Robert Tivari:
"As if you needed more proof that the AWA editing team was on crack, notice the Tommy Jammer match that took place last night featured him with a mullet while the shows from a few weeks prior show him with short hair. Unless Jammer has some sort of superhuman ability to grow hair really fast, this is just terrible on the AWA's part to just tape a bunch of matches, and show them out of order as if we wouldn't notice.

Also, the Benchwarmer Bob jersey is still there. I must of screwed up when posting the link. Just type in Bob Lurtsema jersey on ebay, and you'll see that its still up there, and as of right now, one person has bid on it.

And count me in as another who loved Mimi's stripper moves. I really find her appealing in a trashy, 80's hair metal chick sort of way "

She seemed like the kind of chick that would make out with you in the back of a club, and then when you woke up the next morning, you'd wonder how many other guys you'd kissed by proxy. As for Jammer and the hair, they taped two or three batches of shows at the same arena, so I guess they were just hoping we wouldn't notice. Either that or Jammer got extensions. By the way, as a fun little game, try to piece together which matches happened when by looking at the mat in the ring. You can tell which matches were from the taping with that football abomination because you can see the tape marks all the way across the canvas afterwards.


From Scrotum Pole:
"Fuck moonshine jugs, I think I might need to start rating this show with bongs, because that was honestly the most insane promo I've ever seen without the aid of halucinatory chemicals. Bat. Shit. Crazy.

I don't think I have ever watched one of these shows without the use of the wacky tobaccy. This show(especially the womens match) deserves at least a 4 foot bong.

And where is the troll? I guess his mom hasn't picked him up from the sitters yet.

Keep strokin Randy. And if you want to join my fantasy football league its on cbssportsline under the name of 411 is Epic Fail, draft is on the 31th. "

Thanks for the offer man, I will more than likely look you up on it, though I'm terrible at keeping track of fantasy teams most times. If I can get my shit together with Nokaut, I'll be on board, just promise not to hate me if it slips my mind.


Another observation from Guest. :
"Posting again because something occured to me for no reason whatsoever: In the insane Raschke/Zumoffe promo, why are they together? The Battle Royal established Buck on Sarge's team, yet he's here hanging out with The Baron making Stew-Rat Stew (which is almost as bad as Bart Whimpson), with the Baron talking about cannibalizing the Texas Hangmen. You know, I don't think even Russo's done that. Now Verne's doing stuff that no one has even thought of in 08. Again, Most Progressive Booker Ever. "

Again, I agree, but the sad part is that he's booking the CRAP so far ahead of its time. If he had been booking good ideas ten years before everyone else we could have had Verne be the new ECW or something (Could you imagine Sabu working for Verne? That would be the best reality show EVER!). Sadly, Verne just took the worst ideas that everyone has come up with and applied them to the way he booked the 1990 AWA run. Just a shame.


From T-Money:
"When you said the worst spot in the history of the business, I thought for sure you meant the stew-rat promo. Seriously, I would watch Ultimate Warrior promos for 12 straight hours before I'd ever watch that again. It was so bad I felt embarrassed, It was so bad I had to take a walk outside to get over the douche-chills. "

Oh, it's easily the worst promo I think I've ever seen, including this Ken Patera one.

Best promo ever? Well that one is from the AWA too. Enjoy.



I WANTED A WUH-MUN BAY-BEH!!!! Tremendous. You've got to love seeing Mean Gene cracking up on camera like that in both instances.


From Brian:
"Stew-Rat!!!!!!!!!! I was laughing out loud as I watched that promo...not because it was any good, but because I had a friend many years ago named Stuart, who we all called Stu-Rat. He once rear ended someone at a red light because he was checking out a girl walking down the side of the road in a bikini. STU-RAT!!!!!!!!!!

WHY did the AWA make the Candi Divine/Magnificent Mimi match the main event for this show????? It's not as if this was live...they had plenty of time to edit. Did they not WATCH these matches before televising them??? (Mimi DID look grrrrreat though!!!)

The Trooper...PROOF that anyone can either suck, or be good depending on their gimmick. (aka: The Patriot)

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that some children seem to have been posting comments recently. Other than lately, the comments and conversation on the AWA reports have been on an adult and intelligent level. Suddenly there seems to be a few people who only post comments intended to insult whoever actually takes them seriously. Wish I also had nothing better to do.

Lee Marshall was the voice of Tony the Tiger??? Cool!!!

To Robet Tivari...(Benchwarmer) Bob Lurtsema was once HUGE here in Minnesota and has MANY fans. (He had gained the fame well before working with the AWA) He remains pretty much a household name within the state. The fact that he somehow managed that as a second string NFL player is to his credit. I'd imagine that many people would bid on ebay for that jersey. (IF they even know it's there.)

As always, I'm happy that you keep doing the J.O.B. Randy...and the only JUGS I prefer to yours are those with big nipples on 'em!!!!! :) "

Thanks for the support. As for the comments, I've said from the beginning that I wasn't going to pick and choose comments, I was going to post them all when I posted the column. That means I have to take the good with the bad, but thankfully there's been far more good than bad.


From Shiska With Chutzpah:
""Also, with the amount of feathers in the ring before the match, either Candi's robe was shedding, or The Chicken Lady had an orgasm."

Randy, my opinion of you jumped up a few more notches for the KIds in the Hall reference. You rule ;).

Also, which match do you think is worse? Mimi and Candi or "That Jackie Gayda Match" with Trish Stratus from RAW a few years ago? "

Thank you for that. I wasn't sure if anyone would pick that one up or not, since they were never really terribly popular down here in the United States (a true crime if there ever was one), but when I saw those feathers flying around all I could think of was Chicken Lady at the strip club. I would be torn on saying which is worse because the infamous "Gayda match" was terrible because she didn't know what she was doing. I would probably give the nod to Mimi and Divine, just because they should have known better.


From Tony Smark:
"I managed to fall asleep during the Tommy Jammer squash and wake up to the fucking insane Stu-Rat promo. The Baron's barking at the camera about god knows what was able to wake me up from my AWA-wrestling induced coma.

I hope somebody wrote that promo and was paid in Greg Gagne autographs or something. "

I have to laugh that you assume that people in the AWA at that point got paid period. Good times.


Finally, from rdfox:
"Lee Marshall still *is* the voice of Tony the Tiger. He took over the job after the death of Tony's original voice, Thurl Ravenscroft (who you may also remember as singing the songs in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"). Chosen because of his background in radio(!) making him good behind the mic in a technical sense (no excessive sibilance, no P-popping, etc.) and his exceptionally deep voice. I was rather surprised when I first heard about it, but listening to him on the AWA shows, I can definitely hear it.

Is it just me, or did we see horribly blown bumps by jobbers on consecutive nights? The guy taking the Wrecking Ball on Thursday night damn near killed himself by trying to do the 270 sell and only getting about 200 degrees out of it... "

Yeah, the thing with that move is that if the jobber hesitates even a little, they're going to come up short. You could see Butler hold up a bit and it cost him unfortunately. I would assume he came out of it alright, but still scary whenever you see someone bump on their neck like that.


Another huge section of comments, and one of the better AWA shows in a while has steeled my resolve so stay tuned later today for the first of last weekend's UWF shows. Tomorrow will be a double-shot as well, so be sure to be ready for two more hours of crappy wrestling to kick your weekend off with a real bang!!