Retro: AWA On ESPN Classics: March 27, 2008

AWA Championship Wrestling
On ESPN Classics
March 27, 2008
Doug Maynard

Howdy neighbors. I'm Doug and I'm back again with more classic wrestling goodness from the AWA on ESPN Classics. Let me tell you, last night was a good night to be a wrestling fan. Not only was the AWA on ESPN Classics at its regular time of 1am Eastern, but Vince McMahon, Triple H, Big Show, Chris Jericho, John Cena and Floyd Mayweather were on Larry King Live on CNN. And on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien", this repeat from 2007 featured Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. You know what? I think this here rasslin' stuff just might end up being a big thing one day. They just need to figure out how to get some TV exposure.

I was looking forward to last night's show. The ESPN website had the following matches listed for last night's edition of the AWA. They said we'd see Marty Jannetty versus Nick Kiniski. We were supposed to see Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo against Cowboy Lang & Little Mr. T. And in the main event, we were supposed to have Stan "The Lariat" Hansen taking on Rick Martel. That would have been an awesome show.

But we didn't get any of that! No Rockers. No midgets! No Hansen versus Martel! Needless to say, I wasn't happy. But we got Dennis Stamp and another Zhukov in the main event match. So it wasn't all bad. Let's get to the recap.

It's from Las Vegas, Nevada at the world famous Showboat Sports Pavilion. The men calling the action are Lord James Blears and Rod Trongard. Except for the first match. For some reason, that's Trongard and AWA World Champion Nick Bockwinkle. I guess Blears must have missed the bus or something and was running late? And Larry Nelson is the man doing the interviews.

Is that everyone? Announcers? Check! Nelson? Check! Location? Check! Date of original airing? I knew I was forgetting something. This show originally aired on July 15, 1986.

And now, after more stalling than Larry Zbyszko in a main-event, I'm Doug and let's get things started. Ring the bell...

Look! It's Larry Nelson. He tells us that we're going to see Buddy Rose & Doug Somers, who won their titles in a very controversial manner, taking on Jake "The Milkman" Millman & Chad Bordeaux. And then we go to...

Larry Nelson with the ring introductions for the first match.

"Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers (with Sherri Martel) vs. Jake "The Milkman" Millman & Chad Bordeaux

Rose quickly corrects Nelson on the intro. He's NOT 271lbs. He's only 217lbs. I don't think Nelson believes him. Rose goes to the corner to pray. Damn, this Jake Millman is short. I remember him barely from TV when I was a teenager, but I didn't realize how short he actually is. He could be Hornswaggle' s real father. Just dress him in green.

Millman is moving around and chases Rose out of the ring. Umm... OK! Millman gets the arm-drag on Rose, but the "Playboy" counters with a big knee and a chin lock. "The Milkman" tags out to Bordeaux.

Chad comes in and Rose quickly locks him in a full nelson. A hand full of hair by Rose to keep the advantage. Chad pulls Rose's hair and gets the bigger Rose down to the mat. Somers tags in and takes control with tags and stomps. Rose comes back with some kicks and clubbering. Somers comes in long enough to pick Chad up and tags Rose who nails Bordeaux with a clothesline off the second rope. Kind of a "Shades of the Road Warriors" Doomsday device, but not quite. Maybe the mini-me version. Somers is back in with a suplex. Another tag to Rose who hits the big DDT to get an easy win.

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

Nelson talks to Rose, Somers and Sherri. Rose says that they're very proud of the belts and they don't think the Midnight Rockers deserve any more shots at the titles. Rose mentions that The Rockers have only been together 4 years while he, Sherri and Somers have over 32 years experience between the three of them. Having the titles is a dream come true for them and a nightmare for Scott Hall & Curt Hennig. Rose talks about how the people make excuses for Hall & Hennig, but it's not their fault that Scott Hall was injured by DeBeers earlier and wrestled against the doctor's advice.

Nelson wants to know if it was a conspiracy between DeBeers and the Rose/Somers team. Rose insists that there was no conspiracy. DeBeers is from South Africa and they're from the USA. Rose closes by saying that they (him, Somers and Martel) are a team and will remain the AWA World Tag Team Champions longer than any team in the history of the AWA.

Dennis Stamp vs. Jimmy "The Superfly" Snuka

Stamp immediately goes after the arm. Snuka reverses. They shampoo, rinse and repeat a couple of times and then Snuka explodes with a flurry of moves including a hip-toss, an arm-drag and an arm-bar. Stamp fights back with the knee and a shoulder-block. Snuka with the big chop and a back-breaker. It's to the top and time for the big "Shades of Jimmy Snuka" super-fly splash. The referee counts three and Snuka picks up an easy win.

Winner: "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka

Nelson has the mic and Jimmy Snuka is going to talk. He loves the fans and understands about starting from the bottom and working his way towards the top. He wants a shot at Bockwinkle and the World Championship. He makes fun of Col. DeBeers and his rank. And then Nelson asks him about his teaming with Greg Gagne. Snuka says that if it's meant to be, they're looking for a shot at the tag titles. Snuka closes by talking about how competition is tough and the most important thing to have is patience.

OK, that was boring. Snuka should never be allowed to speak and cut a promo. That's why they have managers. But he didn't need much help from Nelson to wander off track and jump around from subject to subject. He did quite well on his own. Someone give that man a coconut!

We see a caption as we go to commercial: Rumor has it that Greg Gagne and "Superfly" Snuka are in training for a chance at the tag team belts.

Didn't they just mention that in Snuka's promo? *Sighs* Gotta love the attention to details in the AWA.

Jesse Hernandez vs. Col. DeBeers

I don't get this about DeBeers. He won't wrestle Snuka because he's "not Caucasian". He's a bigot and a racist. But every time he wrestles, it's usually against a non-white anyhow and he doesn't complain. It was Pete Sanchez a few days ago and now it's Hernandez. What's the difference between these guys and Snuka? Except for the size of their paychecks and marketability, that is? So I guess DeBeers was just a nit picky bigot., He'll wrestle SOME non-whites, but just not Snuka. I don't blame him. Snuka's crazy! Enough commentary by me. As for the match...

DeBeers dominates with a knee, a back-breaker, lots of stomps and punches. A rake at the eyes and some ripping at the face. It's all DeBeers. Hernandez makes a brief comeback and nails DeBeers with punches and knees. Jesse whips DeBeers from corner to corner. But finally, DeBeers decides to end it and after a knee to the guts, it's a few stomps and face-driver time for the easy pin.

Winner: Col. DeBeers

And now it's time for the main event. It's a re-match from last night. Oh Lord, why me? Why do we have to watch this again? Who did I piss off in my previous life? Well, last night's match wasn't that bad, so maybe this one will be OK too. Nick Bockwinkle is a ring general who can make almost anyone look good, so I'll keep an open mind. It's Bockwinkle defending the AWA title against the challenge of Boris Zhukov. Yeah, the champ is here! Choke on that, Cena!

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

Big chants of "Sheik's a freak" fill the arena. Nick does a couple of quick dives towards Zhukov's legs just to keep Zhukov on his toes as the ref starts the match. A couple of go-behinds and switches by Bockwinkle and Zhukov to start. Zhukov goes after the arm. Nick flips him away and Zhukov complains that Nick used the tights. Zhukov locks Nick in a full-nelson. Nick slides free and lands a big kick to Zhukov's face. There's a big "USA" chant as Zhukov bails to the floor and to the Sheik for some advice and regrouping.

After Zhukov climbs back into the ring, he wants a test of strength. Zhukov has the advantage until Nick lands several kicks to the belly. Nick goes for a big headlock. Zhukov throws some punches and tries to sling Bockwinkle across the ring. Nick reverses the whip and Zhukov flies into the corner. Nick charges, but Zhukov moves and Nick goes shoulder-first into the ring post. Zhukov goes after the arm and shoulder with stomps and repeatedly tossing Bockwinkle into the corner on the shoulder. A big "Shades of the Anderson Brothers" hammerlock slam.

Quick note here: For a very short time - just a couple of weeks - Zhukov, in his previous identity of Jim Nelson, was managed by Gene Anderson in the Mid-Atlantic region. It didn't last long, but there is a historical connection here and makes the use of a patented "Anderson move" even more awesome.

Zhukov stays on the arm and keeps kicking and stomping away at it. Zhukov wraps Nick's arm in the ropes and lands the big headbutts to the arm and shoulder. It's all Zhukov and he's showing some great psychology in this match. It's Wrestling 101 - grab one part of the body and stay on it. Who would have thought that Boris Zhukov was such a good student? Zhukov has Nick down and is still working on the arm by stretching it out. Bockwinkle manages to escape and in a slick maneuver, just rolls out of the hold and locks Zhukov back into a headlock. Zhukov escapes and starts clubbering away at Bockwinkle.

Nick is fighting back with punches and kicks. Backdrop by Bockwinkle. Zhukov goes to the eyes. Zhukov rolls up Bockwinkle and puts his feet on the ropes in the corner for extra-leverage. The referee is counting, but sees the feet on the ropes and stops the count at two. Zhukov is up and Sheik is in the ring to raise his arm in victory. They think they're won the match and the title. The referee goes over and says "nope". Nick comes from behind and hits Zhukov with a dropkick to the back. A quick roll and the referee counts three.

Winner and Still AWA World Champion: Nick Bockwinkle

Another good match. I think their match on Tuesday night was better, but this was still decent. Zhukov and Bockwinkle have good chemistry and work well together. I don't know if it's Nick bringing out the best in Zhukov or what, but these past two nights against Bockwinkle are the two best Zhukov matches I ever remember seeing. He's been using sound-wrestling and logic - two things not usually found in Zhukov matches. Did I mention that he (Boris Zhukov) still wrestles regularly on the NC Indy scene? Oh yeah, I did yesterday. Well, now I've done it twice.

Larry Nelson talks to Sheik Adnan El Kassey and Boris Zhukov after the match. Adnan is PO'ed about the match and says that Bockwinkle didn't win. Zhukov had him pinned for the count of three. Adnan claims that it's a conspiracy and everyone knows it. Adnan issues a challenge to Bockwinkle. Nelson wants him to clarify because it sounds like Adnan wants to wrestle Nick. Sheik Adnan says that both Zhukov and Barbarian have beaten Bockwinkle and he wants Nick to put the title up against either Barbarian or Zhukov, but Adnan gets to pick the referee. Zhukov chimes in and says that he wants to fight Bockwinkle in a Russian Chain Match. Nelson cuts off the interview at this point and the show comes to an end.

Well, it wasn't the show that was advertised, but it was still a good show. Bockwinkle was a fantastic champ who had the art of keeping the title by a thread down to a science. And he got two good matches out of Zhukov as well. The other three matches were pretty much squash-city fiasco's, but the main event more than made up for them. And we got to see Dennis Stamp. So that's the extra bonus as well.

Let's see what ESPN says will be on the agenda for tonight's show. Steve Regal vs. Brad Rheingans. Little Mr. T vs. Little Tokyo. The Long Riders & Harley Race vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu. Stan Hansen vs. Rick Martel. Damn, I hope they can come through on the matches tonight with what is advertised. Just the six-man tag alone sounds awesome and then when you add midgets and a Hansen - Martel match. If it all happens, it'll be great. And if they show something else, well, we can never have enough of Bockwinkle - Zhukov matches. I guess we'll find out tonight.

I guess that does it for me. Questions and comments - send them to Doug28352@yahoo. com. Come visit me at MySpace at www.myspace. com/salt_ palace. Add me as a friend.

I'm Doug and "dat is all de' people need to know!" I'm out of here! Have a great day and always be a fan.

Ubuntu!