Retro: AWA On ESPN Classics: April 19, 2008

AWA Championship Wrestling
On ESPN Classics
April 19, 2008
Doug "T.S." Maynard

Happy Sunday everyone. Yeah, I'm running a day or so behind with the recaps. This is Friday night's show. But to tell the truth, the AWA on ESPN Classics show on Friday night kind of sucked. And I've been dreading putting myself through it all once again to type up this recap. The matches weren't necessarily bad, but it just didn't do anything for me except drag. Watching this show was one very long hour. So this will be a cliff-note version of a recap. It's all I can do today. Maybe things will be better with the next batch of shows beginning on Monday night. Sure as hell can't be any worse.

I'm Doug and this is the AWA on ESPN Classics. The show comes from Omaha, NE and the announcers are (I think) Rod Trongard and Lord James Blears. Larry Nelson is the fuzzy-faced muppet of a man on the mic. Let's get this over with.

Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels - The Midnight Rockers vs. Tony Leone & Tom "Rocky" Stone

Marty and Leone start off with Marty scoring with an arm-drag and a slam. Tag to Shawn who hits a dropkick. Marty and Shawn switch again and Shawn hits an elbow drop on Leone, who tags out to Stone. Rocky with punches and a knee. Shawn locks up the arm and tags out to Marty who hits a big slam. Rockers with the double-dropkick on Stone. He decides he wants to shake hands with Jannetty. Marty with the atomic drop and Stone tags out to Leone. Tony in with knees and punches. Stone gets some shots in from the outside on Jannetty and Leone continues with the assault. The two heels work over Jannetty with punches, chokes, kicks and a big back breaker. Marty escapes and crawls to the corner to tag in Michaels.

Shawn with punches and a hip-toss. Backdrop and slam to Stone. Big elbow from the second rope by Shawn for a two-count. Stone rips at the eyes and tags out to Leone. Leone rips at the eyes and punches away at Michaels. A big choke by Leone, but Shawn fights back with a kick. Jannetty in with punches and knees. Shawn tags in with a big forearm smash and he picks up Leone for a suplex. Jannetty comes off the top to do the cross-body on Leone as Shawn suplexes him to the mat. Marty covers for the three-count and pin.

Winners: Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty - The Midnight Rockers

We go to Larry Nelson who is with Jerry Blackwell. Blackwell thanks the people for coming out and talks about how he likes Battle Royals. He's won his share of them. He runs down his upcoming schedule and then Jerry moves on to talk about the Sheik (Adnan El Kassey). He wants to get hold of the Sheik or any of Sheik's men. Sooner or later, it will Blackwell versus the Sheik. Jerry plugs an upcoming tag match between himself, Greg Gagne & Curt Hennig taking on Sheik's army (Zhukov, Barbarian, Khan). And Jerry vows that if Sheik interferes, Jerry will chop his nose off and he'll chase and beat up Sheik even if it means going out into the parking lot.

Jake "The Milkman" Milliman vs. Ali Khan (with Sheik Adnan El Kassey)

The first few moves are all Jake rolling around and crawling away to keep out of the clutches of the much bigger Ali Khan. Khan hits a big body slam and Jake rolls around the mat. "Sheik's A Freak" chants fill the arena. Jake grabs the beard of Khan. The referee breaks it up by knocking the arms of Jake away and he pulls out a handful of Khan's beard as a result. The fans like it. Khan doesn't.

Khan with a suplex and elbow. Bearhug by Khan. Some forearm shots to the back and another bearhug. Kicks and stomps by Khan and a big knee. We see a "Shades of Bruno Sammartino" back-breaker as Khan hoists Milliman up on his shoulders. Jake submits and it's quickly over.

Winner: Ali Khan (with Sheik Adnan El Kassey)

Larry Nelson gets to talk to Ali Khan and Sheik Adnan, who are quickly joined by Barbarian and Boris Zhukov. Sheik calls Jerry Blackwell a big, fat slob and says that Blackwell will never be able to put his hands on the Sheik. Barbarian speaks and says that Sheik is his manager. He'll do whatever the Sheik wants and Sheik wants him to take people out on stretchers. Barbarian says he's glad to do it.

We see a caption as we go to commercial that is supposedly from AWA President Stanley Blackburn. It has the top contenders for the AWA World Tag Team Titles and lists, in order from one to three, Curt Hennig & Scott Hall, Boris Zhukov & The Barbarian, and finally The Midnight Rockers.

Larry Nelson is in the studio and talks about the next match. He really likes Earthquake Ferris. He really doesn't like Col. DeBeers.

Earthquake Ferris vs. Col. DeBeers

I think this match aired before, but I don't feel like tracking it down and doing the cut & paste thing. So I'll just recap from the notes instead. *Sighs* The things I do for you people. I must really like ya or something. : )

DeBeers starts off with a headlock and tries for the shoulder-block on Ferris, but 'Quake no-sells it, so DeBeers goes after the arm. Ferris with a shoulder and a big slam to get a two-count. DeBeers rolls out to the floor to regroup and plan his next move. Ferris with the headlock. DeBeers with knees and fists. Ferris reverses a whip into the corner and hits DeBeers with a weak-looking splash. Hip-toss, slam and flying elbow by Ferris for a one-count. DeBeers slaps the legs together to escape and uses punches, kicks and a headbutt to take control. Ferris fights back with an atomic drop and a slam for two. A big power-slam by Ferris, but DeBeers gets his foot on the ropes to break the count at two. Small package by DeBeers and he holds on to get a three-count and the win.

Winner: Col. DeBeers

And now, to the main event...

AWA World Tag Team Championship Match
"Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers w/ Sherri Martel vs. Curt Hennig & Scott Hall

Rose does the usual complaining about his weight. He's not 271lbs. He's only a sweet & petite 217lbs. Yeah, we believe you Buddy. And to prove that he's a sexy beast, Buddy starts the match off by doing the one-armed push-ups and flexing. Scott Hall decides to do some push-ups and flexing of his own. The fans like Scott more than they do "The Playboy". And I have to admit... hey yo! Rose gets disgusted and tags out to Somers before even doing the first lock-up of the match.

Scott starts off with a forearm and a headlock. Hennig tags in with punches and a backdrop. Hall tags back in with punches and an elbow. Somers finally has enough of being the whipping-boy and tags out to Rose. Hall & Rose lock up in a test of strength and it's all Hall despite the comedic antics of Rose. Buddy quickly retreats to the ropes to get away from Hall and tags in Somers again.

Scott works over Somers with punches, forearms, elbows and a backdrop as Curt Hennig chases Buddy Rose around the ring for a bit. Hall with the "Shades of Bob Backlund" atomic drop on Somers and a tag out to Hennig. Curt with the chops and then Hennig moves to the leg of Somers with a spinning toehold (or a variation of it anyhow!) Punches by Curt and he tags Hall back in.

Scott and Hennig each grab a leg of Somers and make a wish. Scott hits a leg-drop and a big fist. Hennig tags back in with chops and a "Shades of Jake Roberts" kneelift. Somers fights back with a headbutt to the gut and tags in Rose. Buddy with some kicks and he tosses Hennig to the floor. Rose quickly follows and whips Curt into the steel fan barrier at ringside. Buddy rolls Curt back into the ring and hits the flying elbow for two before Hall is in to break it up. Somers tags in with a suplex before tagging back out to Rose again. Buddy with a chin-lock, but Curt fights free with elbows and a tag out to Scott Hall.

Scott with an elbow and a leg-drop to get a two-count. A big dropkick and then Scott whips Rose into Somers on the ring apron. Big power-slam by Hall. And here comes Col. DeBeers walking out to ringside from the back. Scott goes immediately out of the ring and starts chasing after DeBeers and the two end up brawling on the floor. The referee is counting and hits the ten-count. Scott has been counted out of the ring. Scott continues to beat on DeBeers and chases him off towards the back as the referee calls for the bell.

Winners by Count-Out: "Playboy" Buddy Rose & "Pretty Boy" Doug Somers w/ Sherri Martel

We come back from commercial and Larry Nelson is with Curt Hennig and Scott Hall. Hennig is at a loss for words about Scott being counted out. The "Doughboys" have their belts because of a count-out. Scott wonders what the connection is between DeBeers and the "Doughboys". But that's not the issue. If Col. DeBeers wants Scott, he's easy to find. Just sign a contract for a match.

Hennig kind of rags on Scott a bit that they had Rose & Somers beat and it was a title match. Why couldn't Scott just leave DeBeers alone? Scott mumbles something that I couldn't understand and he and Curt shake hands to put over their partnership. Curt closes by saying that sooner or later, Rose & Somers will have to face them again and on some given night, those two clowns are going down.

And there you have it as the show ends. Another edition of AWA on ESPN Classics in the books. It wasn't as bad as I thought the second time around when I did this recap. Maybe I was just having a bad night on Friday night? Yeah, that must be it.

Questions and comments can be sent to Doug28352@yahoo. com. Come visit me at MySpace at www.myspace. com/salt_ palace.

And that's it for me. I'll see you again on Monday night / Tuesday morning with more classic AWA goodness from the fine folks at ESPN. Have a great weekend and always be a fan.

I'm Doug and I'm gone.

Ubuntu!