Retro: AWA On ESPN Classics: March 26, 2008

AWA Championship Wrestling
On ESPN Classics
March 26, 2008
Doug Maynard

Well, here I am. What was supposed to be a night out with friends, consuming mass quantities of adult beverages and singing karaoke turned out to be a night in the woods with one friend, a bonfire and just a few adult beverages instead. But we still butchered some old country songs by George Jones, Waylon & Willie, Coe and Big & Rich, so it all turned out well anyhow. But I ended up home far earlier than expected... and my VCR worked. So here you go... Classic AWA goodness from the fine folks at ESPN Classics. Are you ready to do this? I know I sure am.

The announcers are Rod Trongard and Lord James Blears. And Larry Nelson does the interviews. And I'm Doug. I just recap and write about this stuff. My head is kind of fuzzy right now. I'm somewhat hung-over and I'm seeing double. This should be fun.

It's from the world famous Showboat Sports Pavilion in Las Vegas, NV. This show originally aired on September 16, 1986...

Greg Gagne vs. Ken Glover

Greg is a decent wrestler, but he still reminds me more of an accountant than a wrestler. Glover starts out with shoves, but Greg responds with an arm-drag and Glover bails quickly to the floor. After a bit of complaining, Glover and Gagne lock up again and Greg goes after the arm. Glover cries "Hair!" Glover clubs away and nails Gagne with some wicked headbutts. Some punches and elbows and Glover gets a big two-count. Greg takes the beating for a while and then makes the big comeback with fists, a backdrop and a head-scissors. Another backdrop and the former "High-Flyer" hits two big dropkicks. An easy pin and win for Gagne.

Winner: Greg Gagne

We come back from the commercial break and Donna Gagne has joined Blears and Trongard on commentary. It's time for tag team action.

"Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers (with Sherri Martel) vs. Clement Fields & Pablo Crenshaw

Larry Nelson invents a new word to describe Sherri. She's a "manageress" . Not too sexist! Rose corrects Nelson during the intro and says that he's not 271lbs. He's only a dainty 217lbs. I don't think Nelson believes him. Rose starts off by doing some jumping-jacks and some one-armed push-ups. Impressive. So Pablo Crenshaw decides to do some push-ups of his own. Crenshaw flexes and the guy has a great body. The fans love it. Buddy doesn't. Buddy flexes and makes his pecs jump. Nothing like man-boobs flapping in the wind. Funny segment. Rose is disgusted by the lack of appreciation of the fans and tags out to let Somers start the match against Crenshaw.

Somers quickly takes the advantage with an arm-drag, a big slam and the "Shades of Randy Orton" chin-lock of doom. Rose tags in and goes for a full-nelson. Crenshaw slips out easily and takes Rose down, dumping him to the mat. Pablo goes after the leg and Rose bails to the floor for some advice and consolation from Sherri Martel. Rose gets back in the ring and Pablo locks in a headlock before tagging out to Fields. Rose tags out to Somers and Somers nails Fields with a brutal suplex. Rose tags in and hits a backdrop on Fields. Rose spits over at Crenshaw as he rakes the back of Fields. Somers comes in and with another suplex, gets the pin on Fields.

Winners: Buddy Rose & Doug Somers (with Sherri Martel)

Larry Nelson has the mic and talks to the tag team champs. Rose talks about the Midnight Rockers. They're through with them. Nelson mentions that the Rockers were in the back of the arena watching the match. Rose wants to know why? It's over and settled between the Rockers and them. They had a brutal match a few weeks earlier and everyone was injured. Rose mentions that his weight even dropped to 209lbs. The fans chant for the Rockers and Rose mentions that they're in his home town of Vegas. He continues that the last thing the Rockers want to do is get into the ring again with them. Rose brags about how they (himself, Somers and Sherri) have all the belts as the segment ends.

"The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko (with Mr. Go - The Ninja) vs. Eddie Sweat

Larry interrupts the introduction by Nelson to tell the fans, "Hello spud-heads!" And then he goes into stalling mode. Argues with the referee, the fans, the guys at ringside, the pool guy, the man at the local c-store, etc. Larry is just being Zbyszko at his very best. Huge "Larry sucks" chants fill the arena. After about four minutes or so of stalling, Larry goes to work. Punches, stomps and a front face-lock for Sweat. Larry with a small-package for two. And another for good measure. Two small packages? So many sick thoughts come to mind, but I've got to keep it clean. *Sighs* A big piledriver and an easy win for Larry Zbyszko.

Winner: Larry Zbyszko

Larry Nelson has the mic and talks to Zbyszko. Zbyszko tells the fans to shut up and quit screaming obscenities. He complains about the usual conspiracy stuff about how Greg Gagne is out to get him, the AWA protects Nick Bockwinkle, etc. He wants a shot at the title and Nick Bockwinkle. He deserves it and will get the shot by hook or by crook and if the spud-heads don't like it, he doesn't give a damn. They can throw anyone they want at him. He wants Bockwinkle and if he has to start breaking knees, he'll do it. He wants his shot at his destiny.

Just a thought here while watching Zbyszko do his thing. He went to WCW a couple of years later and they totally neutered his character. But just imagine a Zbyszko from this era wrestling Ric Flair from the same era... Flair vs. Zbyszko in 1990 while both were prime-quality heels and at the top of their game. We'd still be talking about it today if it had ever happened. Throw in J.J. Dillon (Flair's manager at the time) and Gary Hart (Zbyszko's manager during his early WCW run) and the Horseman factor - it would have been big money and definitely have put butts in the seats. Too bad that WCW was more concerned with the crappy characters (Big Josh, El Gigante, Black Scorpion, Shockmaster) at the time. It would have been good stuff.

Another commercial break and back to another match.

Curt Hennig vs. Bill Tabb

After a test of strength that goes nowhere, Curt quickly goes after the arm of Tabb. A big take down and Curt rides Tabb like a Navy Seal on shore-leave with a ten-dollar hooker. Tabb comes back with elbows, a hip-toss, a big slam and a shades of "One Man Gang" knee-lift. (I never actually saw Gang do a knee-lift, but I wanted to fit in a OMG reference and if he ever did hit a knee-lift, I'd expect it to look something like this. Brutal!)

Curt fights back with some kicks and some "Shades of Wahoo McDaniel" chops to the chest. Tabb reverses a whip to the corner and takes back over with a back-breaker and a "Watch this - Hulk Hogan" leg drop. Curt fights back again with a knee to the gut and then a "Shades of Wrestling II" knee-lift. Curt goes to the top and hits a big missile-dropkick to get the pin.

Winner: Curt Hennig

We see a caption that says "Scott Hall has given Curt Hennig the nickname of 'Curtis Mayhem' because of his aggressive ring-style.
And now time for the main event...

AWA World Championship Match
Nick Bockwinkle (c) vs. Boris Zhukov (with Sheik Adnan El Kaissie)

I just found out yesterday that Zhukov is still wrestling on a regular basis here in the Carolinas. And he's still doing the whole "Russian" gimmick as well. That's pretty cool. Zhukov starts off by stalling and arguing with the fans as a loud "USA" chant fills the arena. This continues for a little while and then finally, Zhukov climbs into the ring and is ready to go. He charges at Bockwinkle and Nick simply steps aside, allowing Zhukov to charge into the corner. He does this three times. Zhukov looks like an idiot and the fans are happy. Nick hits an arm-drag and a hip-toss. Zhukov bails to the floor.

After more stalling, Zhukov climbs back into the ring. Nick with a headlock and a hip-toss. Zhukov bails to the floor again. After some stalling, Zhukov grabs Nick's leg as he wanders too close to the ropes. Zhukov slams Nick's leg into the ring apron and then drags Bockwinkle over to the corner, where he slams Nick's leg against the steel ring post. Zhukov is in control now and works on the leg of the fallen Bockwinkle. Step-over toehold by Zhukov. Nick fights back with fists, but ends up hurting his hand on the huge head of Zhukov. Zhukov goes back after the leg and locks in a "Shades of Paul 'Number One' Jones" Indian death lock.

Nick punches his way out to escape and hits a big knee on Zhukov. Stomps and a big choke by Bockwinkle. He tries to slam Zhukov, but the knee buckles and Zhukov gets a two-count. Zhukov locks in the full-nelson on Bockwinkle. Nick makes it to the ropes to escape once, but Zhukov quickly locks it right back in again. Zhukov goes nuts, repeatedly slamming Bockwinkle into the corner before taking Nick down a one-way trip to "Headbutt City". Seven or eight headbutts by Zhukov. Zhukov locks Nick up in another full-nelson. They move towards the corner and Nick kicks off the turnbuckle with his feet. Both men are down with their shoulders to the mat. The referee is in position and makes a three-count. Zhukov and Sheik Adnan think they've won the match, but the referee goes to the corner and raises Bockwinkle's arm.

Winner and still Champion: Nick Bockwinkle

I don't agree with the referee on this one. It looked to me like Bockwinkle's shoulders were more down than Zhukov's, but Bockwinkle is the champ and in a situation where both men are pinned, the champ gets the decision. At least they do when they're as well protected as Bockwinkle was by the AWA. But looking at the other side of it, who would want Boris Zhukov as the World Champion? Maybe the referee did make the right call?

Anyhow, that's the show for last night. It was a lot of squashes and short matches, but it was still a fun watch. Coming up tonight, according to the ESPN website, will be two huge matches with Stan Hansen taking on Rick Martel for the AWA World Title and a midget tag team event. Yep! Midgets! Plus Marty Jannetty & Nick Kiniski too. It should be good so if you get the chance to tune in, do so.

And that's it for me today. Send questions and comments to Doug28352@yahoo. com. Have a great day and always be a fan. I'm Doug and I'm going back to bed. And dat' is all de' people need to know! See ya!

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