Retro: AWA On ESPN Classics: April 16, 2008

AWA Championship Wrestling
On ESPN Classics
April 16, 2008
Doug Maynard

Back again with more of that good, good stuff - classic AWA from the folks at ESPN Classics. I'm Doug. How the heck are you? No time for the chit-chat. Let's get right to the action.

It's 1986 and from the world-famous Showboat Pavilion in Las Vegas, NV. The guys calling the action are Rod Trongard and Lord James Blears. And Larry Nelson, the face of the AWA, bushy beard and all, he's here too.

Steel Gladiator & Jesse Hernandez vs. "Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers w/ Sherri Martel

Rose, of course, claims that he's only a dainty 217lbs. Does anyone believe him? Not really, but he's always trying. Rose & Somers are accompanied by their "manageress" , Sherri Martel. And she's smokin' tonight! Rose does the one-arm push-ups to show off his physical attributes. Sherri is beaming and proud of her man. Gladiator and Rose lock up and Buddy scores with the arm-drag. He's proud and does the "Shades of Ric Flair" strut. Woooooo! Gladiator responds with an arm-drag of his own. Rose complains about the hair being pulled. Boo-hoo! Cry us a river, Buddy.

Somers tags in and Gladiator takes control with an arm-drag, an arm-bar and a hip-toss. Doug reverses and gains control of the arm and tags in Buddy Rose. Rose with kicks, stomps and chops. Illegal switch by Somers & Rose, but the referee is busy trying to keep control of Hernandez and misses the switch. Somers with chops and a back-breaker. Another tag to Rose who locks in the stretch. Gladiator does an ugly hip-toss to escape. Rose tags in Somers who levels Gadiator with a chop. Rose chokes from the outside of the ring as Somers argues with Hernandez and distracts the referee. Punch and headlock by Somers. He tags in Rose. Gladiator manages to escape and tags in Jesse Hernandez.

Jesse tags in and goes to town on Somers with punches and kicks. A series of arm-drags by Hernandez and Somers is begging off. Chop by Somers and Rose gets in a shot from the outside. Rose tags in and Jesse makes it over to tag Gladiator. Steel hits a hip-toss, but Rose plants a knee into Gladiator's gut. Somers tags in and hits a stiff suplex. Another tag out to Rose who plants Steel Gladiator with a big DDT for the easy pin.

Winners: "Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers w/ Sherri Martel

Larry Nelson talks to Sherri, Buddy and Doug. Rose talks about how the competition in the AWA is ferocious they (Rose & Somers) have teamed up and are undefeated. And with their beautiful manageress, Sherri by their side, how can they go wrong? Somers, who has a voice like a mouth full of jagged glass, wants to know where everyone is at? People need to put their names on the line. Sherri says that everyone is ducking her men. The champs are ducking her men and need to put the titles on the line. Rose closes by asking, "Where are Hennig & Hall? Where are the Midnight Rockers? Where are Windham & Rotundo?" They're great and will take on anyone anywhere.

We then cut to Larry Nelson & Greg Gagne in the studio. They preview the rest of the show. Col. DeBeers is coming up in the feature match. Nelson doesn't like DeBeers and Gagne says that he doesn't feel that politics should have any place in sports. Coming up also is Mike Rotundo teaming with Curt Hennig to take on Larry Zbyszko & Mr. Go. Hennig is taking the place of Barry Windham, who had to make an appearance somewhere. And coming up next is Nick Bockwinkle.

Nick Bockwinkle vs. Harley Davidson

It's Harley Davidson, so where's the Marlboro Man? Actually, I thought Harley Davidson was a lady from G.L.O.W.? This guy looks like a neon version of Dog the Bounty Hunter after being left in the dryer too long. Nick is channeling Dutch Mantel again and carrying a bullwhip to the ring. He cracks the whip and everyone gets nervous. Even Scott LeDoux doesn't look too anxious to get too close to Nick while he's snapping the leather. I don't blame him. Those things hurt.

Did you know that one of Scott LeDoux's titles is "Director of Fun at Jukebox Saturday Night". What a job to list on your resume. Why Nelson includes that into LeDoux's intro, I'll never know. But then again, why Larry Nelson does a lot of things, I'll never know.

Nick with an amateur style take down and Davidson quickly goes to the ropes. Nick comes back again with a headlock and then moves his attack to the arm. A big slam into the corner by Bockwinkle and he gets a two-count. Harley scores with a headbutt and some punches. Bockwinkle reverses a whip into the corner and Davidson hits hard. Backdrop and two big slams by Bockwinkle. A couple of knees and a big piledriver for an easy pin and win.

Winner: Nick Bockwinkle

Larry Nelson talks to Nick Bockwinkle. Nick speaks briefly about his match last week against Col. DeBeers. It was a draw and neither of them are happy about that. Nothing was settled. But Nick is looking for Stan Hansen. Stan has the belt that Nick held three times for 8 1/2 years and Nick wants that belt back. Nick explains about having the whip by mentioning that people are carrying lariats, cowbells, nunchukas, etc. It's his equalizer. As for Hansen, he just wants to pin his hide to the canvas. That's the only thing that will satisfy Nick.

After the commercial break, we go to our feature match. It's Verne Gagne & Larry Nelson on the commentary.

Col. DeBeers vs. Mike Richards

It's DeBeers taking control from the very start with a headlock and a stomp. Punches, kicks, slams and some knees and DeBeers gets a two-count, pulling Richards up before the pin. Snap-mare and kick by DeBeers. Richards with some punches, but a headbutt to the gut ends that pretty quickly. DeBeers drops Richards throat-first across the top rope and clubs away before hitting a big suplex. Two-count and DeBeers pulls the guy up. Another cover, another two-count, and again, DeBeers pulls the guy up. Suplex and stomp and another two-count as DeBeers pulls Richards up again. Do you see a pattern developing here?

Lot of stomps and clubbing by DeBeers. Richards is tossed to the floor and stomped repeatedly before being slammed back into the ring. Another two and another pull-up by DeBeers. Richards has a brief flurry of offense and hits a hip-toss and a dropkick. DeBeers with the kick to the stomach and a facedriver for two. For the eighth time (maybe ninth) DeBeers pulls Richards up at the two-count. Another facedriver and this time, DeBeers allows the referee to make the three count.

Winner: Col. DeBeers

DeBeers walks over Richards three times as he gloats about his big win. DeBeers moves and stands over Richards, looking down at the fallen kid as if he's ready to do some more damage. Here comes Scott Hall from the back and he quickly gets into the ring to prevent DeBeers from doing any more damage. DeBeers glares at Hall and does that little spin and just walks away, leaving the ring, as Hall helps check on Richards.
And now, time for the main event...

Larry Zbyszko & The Ninja "Go" vs. Curt Hennig & Mike Rotundo

Larry is arguing with the referee before the match can even get started. Go and Rotundo start off. Go takes control with a headlock and shoulder blocks. Rotundo with a hip-toss. Go goes for the arm, but Rotundo switches and takes out the legs. Curt tags in and after a couple of kicks, goes after the legs of Go. Go with the headlock, but Curt reverses into a hammerlock. Go with the take down. Curt with an arm-drag and some knees to the arm. Mike tags in with kicks, an elbow and goes after the arm. Zbyszko tags in.

Rather than go after Rotundo, Zbyszko goes over to argue with the fans. Kick and fists by Zbyszko. Rotundo reverses a whip to the corner and Zbyszko crashes face-first hard into the corner. Zbyszko is livid and goes to the floor. He tells off the commentators and argues with the fans. He's stalling and complaining about anything and everything.

After finally getting back into the ring, Larry goes after the arm of Rotundo. Curt tags in and nails Zbyszko with some punches. Zbyszko is tangled in the ropes and is just dangling there like a puppet on broken strings. Funny! Larry drops to the floor and the fans love it. Larry is just crazed and PO'ed on the outside. Great stuff.

After some venting, Larry gets back in the ring and locks back up with Hennig. Curt with a headlock and a sunset flip for two. Larry claims that Hennig pulled the tights, but no one believes him. Another lock-up and Zbyszko scores with a spin-kick to the guts. Hennig to the floor and Larry tags out to Go.

As Go distracts the referee, Zbyszko works over Hennig on the floor. Hennig gets back in the ring and is chopped by Go. Larry gets some more shots in from the outside and Rotundo comes in to break it up. Go continues the attack on Hennig with kicks and ripping at the eyes. Hennig is trying to fight back. Rotundo is back in and Zbyszko comes back into the ring as well. It's OINGO BOINGO time as everyone is rolling around and brawling. The referee gets bumped and calls for the bell.

DOUBLE DISQUALIFICATION - NO CONTEST

Finally, Zbyszko and Go bail from the ring and things settle down. Rotundo and Hennig are challenging Zbyszko & Go to come back to the ring, but that just isn't going to happen. The referee explains to the announcers that it was out of control and there were no winners. Everyone was disqualified. We go to a commercial break.

We come back and Larry Nelson is with Larry Zbyszko & The Ninja, Go. Larry Z. is on a rant about "those two clowns" and says that they don't know how to wrestle. He were poking Go in the eyes. The referee had no reason to throw the match out. Nelson asks about Go and Zbyszko says that Go is the man he found to train, spar and wrestle with. Like himself, Go is an excellent wrestler. Go cuts a promo in Japanese and Nelson complains that he (Go) doesn't understand English. Zbyszko tells Nelson not to worry about that and goes back to talking about Rotundo & Hennig, referring to them as "those two fools". Nelson tries to end the segment and Zbyszko gets in one last gem of wisdom. "Mess with me, mess with him, mess with us - you lose!"

And that's that.

Another show in the books. The DeBeers match sucked badly and was just uncomfortable to watch. But then again, with that character, that was probably the point. Rose & Somers were good as always and it's always great to see Nick Bockwinkle in action as well. And any time we get to see Larry Z. actually wrestle, especially against someone like Mike Rotundo or Curt Hennig, it's always fun stuff. There wasn't much chemistry with Rotundo & Hennig as a team, but Larry Z. & Go were awesome as always.

And on that, I'm out of here. Questions and comments can be sent to Doug28352@yahoo. com. Come visit me at MySpace at www.myspace. com/salt_ palace. Add me as a friend. You know you want to.

Before I head out, I want to send out some get well wishes to "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton, who's currently in the hospital with heart problems. Bobby is a true legend of tag team wrestling and an awesome person as well outside of the ring. Get well soon, Bobby!

I'm Doug and I'm gone. Have a great day and always be a fan.

Ubuntu!