AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic 07.15.09

AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic

It’s December 21, 1986 and we’re at the Showboat Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas, NV.

SUPER NINJA vs. TOM STONE
I’m not sure if Super Ninja is the same as Go the Ninja nor am I sure exactly who it is. Aside from the Mortal Kombat poses and the superkick toward the end, Ninja isn’t very Ninaj-like. He seems to like the nerve hold, and using simple straight punches instead of flashy kicks. He’s got a pretty swank finisher, a double arm suplex, complete with bridge.

Larry Nelsons standing by with Zybyszko and the Ninja. Larry does the talking, he says that there’s American Wrestler in America that’s as good as the Ninja. Nelson asks what he’s doing with him, and Zybyszko stumbles over his words for a bit and yells at the fans before getting on track. Bockwinkel has been ducking him and the Ninja is there to help Larry with his destiny.

GREG GAGNE vs.KEN GLOVER
Glover is about as stereotypical of a Memphis heel as you can get. Everytime Greg does anything, he bitches to the ref that Greg pulled his hair, pulled his tights, whatever he can, and it’s not like Greg is doing much, they’ll lock up and Greg will outwrestle him and catch him in a simple hammerlock hold. When Glover has control, he goes to the eyes, or takes a cheap shot to Greg’s throat. Finally Gagne has enough and he GREGS UP! he hits a couple of punches and then starts to ram Glover into the turnbuckle. Greg with a back body drop and then sort of does a hiptoss it looked like Glover didn’t seem to know what they were doing, so it was more like a hip roll. Greg with two dropkicks for the win.

We’ve apparently got some promo recycling going on. This is the same promo from a few shows back when Greg voiced regret over using the knee drop off the top, but didn’t think the second dropkick got him good enough, and then veering into talk about Snuka and Blackwell. Weird.

LORD LITTLEBROOK/LITTLE TOKYO vs. COWBOY LANGE/LITTLE Mr. T
From WrestleRock ’86 on 4/20 in Minneapolis. The comedy spots are a nice touch, like Littlebrook doing a jumping head scissors over the ropes to Lange, then T, and not realizing that he had Tokyo until it was too late. And then a bit later, Tokyo runs in to save Littlebrook when T is holding for Lange to hit, and T turns and Tokyo hits Littlebrook. Beyond that, there’s nothing special, it looks like any other match, only with Little People. T stuns Tokyo with an Airplane spin and they both tag, Lange with a rolling sunset flip that gets the pin on Littlebrook.

Larry Nelson informs us that the next match will involve Sherri Martel, the AWA Ladies Champion. She’s been wrestling literally all over the world. In Japan, and everywhere you could think of. I’ve thought of several other places. Was she in Iowa? Brazil? Hungry?

SHERRI MARTEL © vs. KILLER TOMATO (AWA Ladies Title)
Why hasn’t Chikara done a character named Killer Tomato yet? Better yet, a tag team, “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes!” Book it Quakenbush! Holy shit, this actually doesn’t suck! KT works the arm with a hammerlock and Sherri trips her. Sherri gloats about it and KT grabs her arm and takes her down to the mat and puts on a cross arm breaker. Then she picks her up for an airplane spin and winds up taking her all the way over and dropping her. She did a Death Valley Driver! Then she does the airplane spin and chucks her right off and Sherri almost lands face first, the F-5! Sherri comes back with a roll up with tights, and then tries to slow her down on the mat, but KT escapes and does the Jeff Hardy spot where she spreads Sherri’s legs and then leg drops her midsection. KT charges for something and Sherri drops her with a nice lariat, Sherri with a couple of kicks to the ribs and chest area, and finishes with a splash.

BRAD RHEINGANS vs. DON FARGO
Lord James Blears gave me the confirmation of what I was thinking the last time I saw Fargo. He is, in fact, the other half the Fabulous Fargos. According to Jim Cornette, he also once got shot by Ray Stevens. And lived with a motorcycle gang and was training them to wrestle by having them throw each other onto pavement, only he forgot to tell them that it was a work. This is about three minutes of wrestling crammed into what feels like aboutu three hundred. Fargo with LOOOOOOONG chinlock and sleeper segments. Brad makes a nice escape to one when he rolls through and throws off Fargo, but Don gets it back on and keeps it on. Brad finally escapes, hits a dropkick, shoulderblock, and finishes with the bullet.

COLONEL DeBEERS vs. MIKE RICHARDS
Nothing new here, it’s the usual DeBeers squash. He attacks at the bell and toys with Richards a bit. Richard comes back with a kicks, and then DeBeers puts him away with the front piledriver.

Larry Nelson standing by with Colonel DeBeers. Larry tells him that Jimmy Snuka is coming back and wants a match with DeBeers. DeBeers says that he put Jimmy “Underachiever” Snuka out of wrestling for good. He pushed Snuka off the top rope for one reason, because he despised his color. Well so much for trying to beat around the bush regarding DeBeers character being a racist. Nelson tells him that Jerry Blackwell also wants a match with him. DeBeers isn’t concerned with him either, he lacks the discipline to push away from a table and he’s from a southern state and they lost their war. Unlike South Africa. Nelson cuts him off and we’re done for this week.