AWA on ESPN Classic Report 03.05.08

411’s AWA On ESPN Classic Report

Back with the third regular installment of the reports on the Classic AWA shows and it looks like we’re gaining some steam as day two set a record for comments. That’s right, it got MORE than the first day. I know, I’m as shocked as you are, faithful readers. No time to waste as we get right into…

Fun With Comments

First to address the three comments at the beginning and the one at the end about Shawn Michaels and his voice sounding deeper later in his career as opposed to how it sounded in these AWA promos. I can’t rightly explain it, but it is something I’ve noticed with other wrestlers too, most notably Stone Cold Steve Austin. If you listen to him as Stunning Steve in early-90’s WCW his voice sounds clearer and a little higher, while at the end of his career, like just recently when he returned to deliver the Ass-Whip can to Santino Marella, his voice sounds deeper and a lot more raspy than it did then. Not quite sure what to chalk it up to other than age, I suppose.

From soulpower:
“I had forgotten just how good Zbysko was on the mic. He had me cracking up all
throughout his promo… And while I loved the cage match, the count by the ref
at the end looked a bit too fast. Still, another good show from AWA (For the
most part anyways).”

I agree about Zbyszko and his mike skills from back in the day. Before he hit the late-80’s and early-90’s and got lazy he was a plenty entertaining interview. Then he started relying too much on “fifteen glorious years”, “spudheads”, and “LarryLand”, and it all started to go downhill. In regards to the finish in the cage match, I agree completely that the pin was a little fast, but hey, I’m sure that no one will complain that for once the heels got a taste of their own medicine with the fast count. Plus, the crowd was so hot for it, I doubt they even heard the count.

From LatinoMeat:
“Just two comments… and one is in regards to the non-finish main events: The
shows are being shown out of order, so how do we know if when it origianlly
aired, that the AWA didn’t do the ‘schmozzes’ every show? They could have had a
clean main event on the very next show, but ESPN is airing them in whichever
order they prefer. So, yeah… isn’t the AWA’s fault about the finishes we are
getting. And the “I’m not a homophobe because I have gay friends”
argument sounds a lot like “I’m not racis because I have a black
friend” argument. You may want to stop using that one. Just FYI.”

Well, I agree that the way their showing the episodes makes it hard to guage whether all the shows were schmozzes or just the ones that have been shown by ESPN. However, if they show 5 shows and 4 of them end up with non-finishes, you can make a pretty good guesstimation on how that will project out for the rest of them. As to the second part of the comment, I wasn’t suggesting that I wasn’t a homophobe strictly because I have gay friends. I was merely saying that I wasn’t a homophobe, and that the friends that I have that happen to be gay would be willing to attest to that.

From G-Walla:
“I certainly enjoyed Zbysko’s jacking with the crowd throughout his match and
promo. Don’t have enough of that, nowadays.

And thanks for clearing up who the Barbarian was, I hadn’t gotten around to
looking it up for myself.”

Yeah, there aren’t a lot of heels that enjoy spending time learning the finer art of smack-talking the crowd while they do their thing in the ring. Zbyszko was a master at it, and he had that on full display in the last show. No need for thanking on The Barbarian part though, because honestly when I saw his name as the top contender for the AWA Championship the other night, I thought that they meant the Powers Of Pain version of The Barbarian too, so when I figured it out, I figured I’d clear up the confusion since I thought it might have tripped up some other folks too.

From Ted:
“wow…steroids was a hot topic even back then with the hall storyline. I loved
the finish of the cage match. It came out of no where and it looked very
smooth and natural. The rockers match was great, not great as in great
wrestling…but great entertainment.”

Yeah, it seems like even back then, pre-Vince McMahon trial, steroids was a bit of a red button issue. After the steroid trial, and the events of last summer, I highly doubt that they’d be able to get away with a storyline like this in any promotion, but back then was a more innocent time I suppose. The finish of the cage match was pretty cool, I agree. Usually something like that looks a little disjointed (see the finish of the Starrcade ’83 Flair/Race cage match for visual evidence there), but they pulled this one off rather smoothly, minus the fast count. And I agree about The Rockers match being entertaining, but for me it was in more of a Crow/Servo kind of way.

From Tiger Mask 69:
“Silo Sam(Jon Harris) also played ANDY!? in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure.”

and ted:
“wow, tiger mask..i thought you were joking at first about silo sam in the peewee
movie…but nope, haha..thats awesome”

Huh, I had no idea he was in that movie, mainly because I think the last time I watched Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure I was like seven. An interesting little factoid though, and I will add it to the list of things that I know, that will probably never serve me in a conversation outside of with people who work for or read this site.

From Guest# 6573:
“you’re in your mid-20’s and you spend all your time watching professional
wrestling??? This is way more pathetic than I originally thought……..”

and Harry:
“On behalf of the people who actually read the column for content, and not
idiotic banter by un-named guest, #6573 is cordially invited to shut the fuck
up.”

I get the feeling that the numbered guest would probably be the same numbered guest that started taking personal shots at me in the first report that I responded to yesterday. It is what it is, and you can’t please everyone, so I assume that he’ll just continue to hate, irregardless of what I say. I will say that I don’t get how watching a one-hour show, five nights a week, means I’m spending all of my time watching professional wrestling, but I digress. Harry, thanks for the support and I hope that as a reader for content, that you’re enjoying the content so far.

From Patt erson:
“hrere’s the upcoming schedule if anyone is interested or if you want to post it
in a future column. My source was the ESPN Media zone website

So here is the match listings for the AWA show for the next few weeks, it airs
at 1am (Eastern time).”

He then listed the match listings for about the next three weeks of shows. This is good and bad. Good because I can probably pre-format some columns off of it, which will help immensely considering my work load. Bad, because it lets me see in advance which shows I will be dreading. Much when a doctor’s appointment is in the afternoon and you dread it for the whole day before it, I see shows a week or two from now that look like they’ll be absolutel chores, but thanks for the help and the listings Patt, they’re going to be a big help.

From Guest# 4439:
” “Barbarian” = John Nord = The Beserker”

HUSS HUSS HUSS HUSS HUSS HUSS HUSS

From Andres:
“Finally got a chance to stay up and watch this and it happened to be this show.
Grew up watching the AWA in syndication in the mid 80’s. Didn’t had cable
until ’90 so it’s nice to be able to see these old ESPN matches. That Rockers
finish was totally botched. But hearing Nord doing his “Huss Huss”
before his Berzerker days–classic. If anybody cares, the bumper music being
used for that show was “Lover Come Back To Me” by Dead Or Alive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPMn__VKWPI”

I agree about it being great to see the old ESPN matches again, since as I said in the beginning of these reports, I was too young to really remember a lot about them, but now I can watch them and remember both how I felt watching these shows when I was a kid, and see just what I think of them now, through the eyes of a jaded, smarky, adult. As for the bumper music, I didn’t click the link for fear of being Rick-rolled, but I will add this to the info about Silo Sam, and if it comes up in conversation, you will get a citation Andres, so thanks for the information!

Whrew, that was a lot of fun, but now let’s get to what you all came for, some RASSLIN’!!

AWA Championship Wrestling (Originally aired on October, 12 1986)

Ron Trongard and Lord James Blears are your commentators for tonight’s action.

Larry Nelson’s already in the ring with tonight’s first victim and I note that for the first time I’m getting consecutive episodes instead of the mish-mash of the first few nights. That rules.

Match One:
Scott Hall vs. Tom Stone

Stone, is indeed, THAT Tom Stone, that most everyone remembers as enhancement talent from the early to mid 80’s in a myriad of promotions. They lock up and Hall pushes Stone into the ropes and gives a clean break. Stone complains about a hairpull and the crowd boo’s him big times. Ron Trongard ends up calling Scott Hall “a big hunk of man” on commentary, but since I don’t want to get attacked anymore, I’ll just walk away from that one. Stone pushes Hall into the ropes on a lockup and forearms him in the chest. Hall takes offense and levels Stone with a right hand, sending him flying across the ring. Stone already begs off in the corner and leans outside the ropes. They lock up again in the middle and Stone takes a headlock but Hall powers out of it, turning it into a top wristlock and slamming Stone to the mat. Stone complains about the hairpull again, and as the referee goes to check, Stone grabs the hair and puts Hall down to the canvas. Stone takes some shots to the gut as he holds the chinlock, but he grabs the hair again to maintain the advantage. Knee across the throat from Stone and he rams Hall into the top turnbuckle, but it has no effect. Hall turns it around and slams Stone into the buckle and hits a reverse elbow off the ropes, sending Stone to the floor to think it all over. Lord James Blears accidentally calls Stone by Scott Hall’s name, and how he confused those two I have no idea. Maybe he was hanging out with The Rockers before the show. Stone back in the ring as Trongard calls Hall a hunk again and it takes every fiber of my being to not crack on it. Stone goes to the eyes to take the advantage and snapmares Hall over, into a reverse chinlock. Stone takes the strap of his singlet and starts to choke Hall out with it, practically announcing to the referee he was going to do it before he did. Seriously, it was that obvious. Stone back to the chinlock as Hall starts to spit up and he starts to choke Hall against the top rope. Stone with forearms in the corner and Hall comes back with a BIG right hand. Hall with the Irish whip into a back bodydrop and he follows that up with a HUGE bodyslam. Hall with forearm smashes to the chest now, and he hits DA BULLDOG!! One three-count later and it’s all over, IT IS ALL OVER!!!

Winner: Scott Hall (pinfall, bulldog)

Match Analysis: Stone is one of my ALL-TIME favorite jobbers, and he did a great job here. There are times when squashes can be entertaining, and it all depends on the talent of the underneath guy. If he’s a scrub then it’s not going to be worth giving it a second glance, but if it’s someone like Stone, it makes the match a lot more entertaining. Hall hit his spots, did some decent selling when Stone took over, and then finished it off with a HUGE bulldog. Great opening match for the show.

According to the AWA Notebook, Scott Hall was voted Most Popular Wrestler in April, 1986. What happened to his Most Eligible Wrestler crown? Did he lose that to someone else? Did he finally get married to someone? Serious girlfriend? Domestic partnership? Inquiring minds want to know, so get on it, AWA Notebook!!

Back from commercial with Scott Hall in the ring with Larry Nelson, and he’s cutting essentially a variant on the same promo that he did on their last show, putting over his bulldog and Tom Stone as a quality opponent. Nelson brings up the series of battle royals that will be coming to the AWA soon, and Hall talks about the previous battle royals that he’s won and that he’s hoping to win one to get a shot at Nick Bockwinkel. Hall lists off Somers, Rose, and DeBeers as men that he’ll be targeting in any battle royal and says that the battle royals will be exciting and a chance to settle some old scores. Nelson wishes him luck and says that the battle royal is one of the most dangerous matches in wrestling. I think that the cage match would beg to differ on that one, Larry.

After the break, we’re in the ring and ready for the second match of the evening, so Larry Nelson, take it away with the introductions!

Match Two:
Mike Richards and Frankie DeFalko vs. Yuri Gordyenko and Alexis Smirnoff

Richards is not the current Philadelphia Flyers star, but he is wearing a ring robe that would make Evel Knievel want to come back from the dead to steal it. Only when the show was taped he wouldn’t have been dead so he wouldn’t have had to come back from the dead to steal it, but then one would have to wonder about if he could go back in time after he was dead if he wasn’t able to see this show on the first go-round so that he could steal the jacket, and then there’s the matter of…..oh right, wrestling show. Anyhow, DeFalco is a jobber I remember from watching the shows when I was a kid and brings a touch of class to the show with his tuxedo t-shirt. I almost wish I was kidding, but sadly I’m not. This show certainly dates itself on a nightly basis. The crowd boos, merely at the mention of the heels hometown of Leningrad. I guess that Cold War thing is still a bit of a big deal at this point. Smirnoff looks to be channeling Mad Dog Vachon with his look, which is cool because Mad Dog had a great look, but bad for Smirnoff because Vachon was an ugly, ugly man.

To the match now, and this is the debut of the Russian team according to Ron Trongard. Smirnoof and Richards lock up and they break clean off the ropes. Another lock up and Smirnoff hits a big armdrag takeover into an armbar. He cranks the armbar and Richards pushes him back into the corner, whipping him across, but he misses the charge in when Smirnoff just steps to the side. Smirnoff mocks him and yells at him to get up, then takes him back down with another armdrag as soon as he does. Tremendous. Smirnoff pounds on the arm and makes the tag to Gordyenko and he goes right back to the armbar that Smirnoff was working. More stomps to the arm by Gordyenko and the tag goes back to Smirnoff and he hits a BIG back bodydrop off the ropes. Another armdrag takedown and the armbar is back in effect. Richards tries to power out of it, but he missed the tag the Russians made, and Gordyenko lays the boots to him from behind. Gordyenko goes back to working the arm, drops an elbow then makes another tag to Smirnoff. Great tag work by the Russians to keep the fresh man in and continue the beating. Smirnoff starts YANKING on the arm, causing Richards to scream in pain and Richards tries to bull over to make the tag and he does. DeFalko is a house of fire, laying the right hands in on Smirnoff and he Irish whips him into the ropes and uh…oops. DeFalko drops his head and eats a big boot, and Smirnoff hits a huge bodyslam and a leg drop before making the tag. Gordyenko moves to work the arm on DeFalko now and we’re back to where we began. Gordyenko takes him into their corner and works him over before hitting a HUGE hip toss that sends DeFalko all the way into his corner to make the tag. Gordyenko with a big shoulderblock off of an Irish whip and he gets two off of it. Gordyenko hits a snapmare and they tag again, with Smirnoff stomping away at DeFalko. A USA chant comes up from the crowd but eh, that’s not going to do much. Gordyenko holds a hammerlock and Smirnoff comes off the top with a big stomp to the elbow, doing some serious damage to the arm while Richards whimpers and screams on the mat. Another tag and Gordyenko drops another stomp from the top rope and works the hammerlock again and Richards gives it up.

Winners: Alexis Smirnoff and Yuri Gordyenko (submission, hammerlock)

Match Analysis: There was lots of heat on the Russians before the match, but they seemed a little too bland to sustain it once the action got underway. I guess that they were different in that they went after the arm and stayed on it until they got the submission. I can’t tell if they’re trying to do that because they’re Russian and bloodthirsty, or just to make them seem different from the other teams, but it worked. It’s just too bad they didn’t have a little more charisma in the ring.

Another commercial brings us to our next match, another tag-team encounter, with Larry Nelson again introducing us to the team of jobbers to start out.

Match Three:
The Midnight Rockers vs. Tony Leone and Dennis Stamp

As mentioned in the comments section yesterday with all the show listings, Dennis Stamp is probably more famous for his appearance in the movie “Beyond The Mat”, as one of Terry Funk’s oldest friends, and the guy that referee’s Funk’s bout with Bret Hart. His partner, Leone, looks like a literature professor, so I think that these two might be in some trouble. Michaels and Stamp start out and Stamp takes over with a hammerlock, putting Micaels down to one knee. Michaels reverses it to a drop toehold into a front-facelock, but Stamp retakes the hammerlock advantage. Stamp starts hammering away with pucnhes to the shoulder and moves to an armbar on the future Heartbreak Kid. Michaels whips Stamp in, leapfrogs over him and hits a BIG armdrag into an armbar of his own. That was a big crowd pop for an armdrag. The people really loved the Rockers back in the day. Michaels drops the knee on Stamp’s arm and again, and goes back to the armbar. Stamp gets out of it, but ends up back on his back, care of another Michaels armdrag. Stamp goes to the gut with a punch as Ron Trongard is talking about the bloodbath between Somers and Rose and The Rockers from a couple of months back, which is one of the best matches of the Showboat Era of the AWA. Stamp stomps and drops a knee to the back of Michaels’ head for a two count. Michaels with a right hand to the gut back but Stamp continues the advantage with a big bodyslam but he misses an elbowdrop, allowing Michaels to make the tag. A double suplex into a double kip-up and a double elbowdrop. They look SO much crisper in the ring here than they did in the last episode, it’s like night and day. Jannetty with a snapmare into a reverse chinlock and he holds it for a minutes before Stamp pushes Jannetty into the heel corner and makes the tag to Tony Leone. Jannetty rams Leone into the top turnbuckle and tags Michaels before an Irish whip in, and Michaels hits a big dropkick. Reverse chinlock from Michaels and it ends up with him in the heel corner, getting double-teamed and choked with the tag rope. A tag to Stamp and he whips Michaels into the turnbuckles before holding him from behind to let Leone come off the top rope. Leone drops a big fist and then whips Michaels into the ropes, but Michaels catches him with a kneelift and gets the tag to Jannetty. Jannetty with a HUGE reverse elbow and a big bodyslam for a two count. The Rockers hit a double savate kick off the Irish whip in and then Michaels front-suplexes Jannetty onto Leone for the 1-2-3.

Winners: The Midnight Rockers (pinfall, front suplex doubleteam)

Match Analysis: This was like watching a totally different team than the last time I saw The Rockers. They were spot-on perfect here, with great doubleteams, innovative offense, and everything I expected from them in the previous match. A great extended squash that let them sell a little and get in a lot of their offense.

According to the handy, dandy AWA Notebook, The Rockers may consider recruiting a lady manager of their own if Sherri Martel continues to interfere on behalf of Rose and Somers in the Rockers’ quest to become AWA Tag Team Champions. I don’t know how that turned out or if they did, but I don’t recall it ever happening.

Nelson in the ring with Jannetty and Michaels and he asks Jannetty about the battle royal series, and the $100,000 that goes with it and the AWA Title shot. Jannetty talks about how it’s a lot of money but the only thing on their minds are Rose and Somers. They want to hurt Rose and Somers the way that they hurt The Rockers, and Jannetty promises that they’ll catch up with Rose and Somers soon. Michaels talks about their small size and that they don’t care about battle royals or AWA championship matches. He tells Rose and Somers they can keep the damn belts, because the Rockers have already proven that they’re the best team in the AWA. Michaels says that they don’t want anything to do with their title belts anymore, now they just want Rose and Somers’ asses. That’s a money promo, and a great glimpse into just how good on the mike that Michaels would become one day.

By the way, that commerical for Guinness, where they’re petitioning to make St. Patrick’s Day a holiday, and Abe Lincoln smacks the clipboard out of the interviewer’s hand might be one of the best things I’ve seen in a long, long time. That was hilarious. Abe Lincoln ain’t no bitch.

Back from commercial, and Larry Nelson is in the interview area, talking about a recent TV taping that was done and that Larry Zbyszko did a live version of his “In This Corner” interview segment at said taping. Nelson thinks we’re going to enjoy this and tells us that Zbyszko has decided that he needs an attorney to deal with all of the trouble being caused by Stanley Blackburn and the AWA in Zbyszko’s pursuit of an AWA Title shot. We see the attorney standing next to Nelson and Zbyszko and Zbyszko starts to ask some questions, mocking the clothes the attorney’s wearing (tacky white sweater and white cargo pants, by the way). Just so you know Mr. Zbyszko, when you’re wearing a pair of, what looks to be, silver lame karate pajamas, you might not want to rag on someone else’s clothes. He then mocks Wisconsin, calling it boring and nothing but “wall-to-wall farms”. The attorney thinks that it’s pretty exciting to come to these here wrestling matches, don’tcha know. Zbyszko talks about how the AWA handed the title over to Bockwinkel without him making his opponent submit or by pinning his opponent and he asks about the legality of that situation. The attorney talks about the ratings system and how Zbyszko hasn’t qualified for it just yet, which Zbyszko rebuffs with his “nearly thirteen glorious years”. Uh oh, I think we lost Zbyszko to LarryLand, folks. The attorney finishes his answer, saying that once Zybszko qualifies, he’ll get his title match. Zbyszko accuses the attorney of being a stooge for AWA President, Stanley Blackburn and browbeats the little stringbean attorney, who fires back, claiming that Zbyszko is making libelous statements and that he could be sued. Zybszko goes on and on about suing the AWA and when is he going to get his title match and the lawyer repeats his assertion about Zbyszko having to qualify. Larry mocks his clothes again and Larry Nelson says that we’re out of time. An entertaining segment, if only to get to see Zbyszko lose his cool yet again, but not quite the mind-blower that Nelson teased it to be in the intro. Oh well, win some, lose some I suppose.

Match Four: Main Event
Larry Zbyszko w/ Ninja Go vs. Curt Hennig

Zbyszko is already in the ring and still ranting away to anyone that will listen as Hennig makes his way to the ring and we’re set to get this main event underway! Not quite, though as Zbyszko stalls and yells at the ringside announcers, the front row, a cameraman, the referee, a popcorn vendor, the owner of the arena, the parking attendant outside, etc. etc. before finally getting into the ring to take off his karate pajamas. They finally lock up after more stalling from Zbyszko and some posing from Ninja Go on the outside and by more stalling, I mean about four minutes or more of stalling from Zbyszko. Zbyszko gets a fireman’s carry as the action finally begins, and he gloats to Hennig a little about it. Zbyszko circles and stalls a little more and they lock up for real with Hennig pushing Zbyszko out through the ropes and down to the floor. Zbyszko’s strategy is working because Hennig is all fired up and could seemingly make a mistake because he’s not thinking clearly. Just because it’s effective doesn’t make it any less boring though, in terms of in-ring action.

They lock up and Zbyszko gets a hammerlock and Hennig reverses it, putting Zbyszko through the ropes again. Larry stops to confer with Ninja Go for a moment then sloooooooowly makes his way back into the ring. He argues with the referee some more, and Ninja Go makes his way up to the apron. Hennig slugs him off with a right hand, and Zbyszko takes that as his cue, running across the ring to try and attack, but Hennig cuts him off with another right hand. Hennig hits a couple of running shoulderblocks and scoops Zbyszko up for a BIG bodyslam after Zybszko ducked his head early for a back bodydrop. A big right hand puts Zbyszko on his ass in the corner and Hennig whips him across, catching him coming out of the corner with a back bodydrop of his own. Hennig with a head-cracker between his knees on Zbyszko and he takes him over with a headlock. Go gets back up on the apron but nothing comes of it and Hennig keeps working away at that headlock. Zbyszko with a hairpull but he can’t get out of that headlock and Zbyszko resorts to pulling Hennig’s trunks to get a two count off of the reversal. Another handful of trunks and another two count, but this time the referee sees it and pushes Hennig back to the headlock position.

Back to their feet and Hennig keeps cranking on the side headlock, putting Zbyszko down to a knee. Zbyszko whips Hennig in off the ropes and tries for a hip toss, but gets reversed into a hip toss of his own, and Hennig takes him back over with another headlock. Hennig gets whipped in again and off of a rope-running sequence, he ends up getting back suplexed by Zbyszko. Hennig sells it like he’s being electrocuted, then gets a big kick to the chest off of an Irish whip by Zbyszko, who ducked too early for a backdrop. Right hand and an Irish whip into a dropkick from Hennig and Zybszko pulls Hennig out of the ring. They fight back and forth outside the ring, dragging each other out to try to beat the ten count, but they can’t make it and referee Gary DeRusha counts them both out of the ring.

Winner: No Contest (double countout)

Match Analysis: This was Southern heel heat 101, with Zbyszko working the stall to perfection to annoy Hennig and the crowd, working them both up into a lather. It reminded me a lot of Jerry Lawler in his prime, and was tremendously entertaining. It didn’t make for a great match in terms of workrate, but it definitely entertained me, which is enough for me. I won’t harp on the non-finish because they couldn’t have a number-one contender, then do the battle royal series to determine ANOTHER number-one contender, so all in all this was a good way to end the show.

Post-match, Hennig is disappointed in the result and he feels like the winner could have been the number-one contender for the AWA Title. He tells Zybszko that a match with Curt Hennig is no day off, and that the next time they’re in the ring, Zbyszko better look twice. Nelson brings up the battle royal series again and Hennig talks about how he’s been training with Scott Hall and watching films, and he brings up the new tag teams and the competition in the AWA and that he’s going to be ready for all comers. That does it for this episode of AWA Championship Wrestling.

Final Thoughts

A really, REALLY good show from top to bottom in this episode. The matches were entertaining for the most part, the promo work was really good, and they did a great job of having the main storyline being the battle royal series, with tons of other interwoven stories simmering just under that surface. The Rockers looked like The Rockers again, and Larry Zbyszko entertained in both segments he was in. The only slow spot was the Russians, but that’s excuseable because they were a debuting team and they at least got some reaction, rather than total crickets. Thumbs rather high up for this one, as it was easily the best episode I’ve seen of the show yet in this run.