khawk20

Awesome!

It's more about the things they think will sell that they can make a bit of money on. The ideas are still there. I suggested an AWA 1984 recap with Jim Brunzell, for example. Great year in the AWA with so much talent leaving and debuting, tons going on, lots of potential backstories about Brody, Abby, Patera, the LOD and the Fabs, Pro Wrestling USA the established guys moving back in the card a bit. And Brunzell was there through it, albeit hurt for part of it (surgery recovery), and he can tell good stories and would have a good chance to share inside knowledge in a lot of cases. (plus he's way more believable than Greg Gagne is, by far. Jim just tells you what he remembers how he remembers it). That was shot down pretty quickly. They seem to feel the market for AWA things isn't really there anymore. Can't blame them really, they may be right, but I am sure there are a lot of specialty years from many areas like that which will never get done with that mindset. That would be why "Back to the Territories" does smaller areas in whole as opposed to individual years. Too bad. But again, it's the market.

Express-Bulldogs is a good match but would have been much better if there was some context or backstory around it, as opposed to a one-off.

My first exposure to Buddy Rose was when he came into the AWA and became tag champ with Doug Somers. I HATED that such an obese low-rent wrestler was a tag team champ. To me it highlighted the plight of the AWA in terms of the significant downturn of talent in the area. As such, I disliked everything he and Somers did and loathed that they weren't short-term tag champs. Could not wait for the Rockers to beat them and hated them even more when it took six months plus (program overkill, probably out of necessity since the talent was thin but still...) After that Buddy in the WWF did nothing to make me want to watch more of him. Fast forward to collecting and watching footage and reading about Rose here and in other places, and seeing him in Portland and California. Better shape,quick talker, very smooth on offense and defense. Getting a fuller picture of Rose as a wrestler helped me appreciate how good he really was. He isn't my favourite by any stretch, but I have gone from loathing his presence on my screen to paying attention when he is on it.

Yeah, from memory of the AJPW TV show taped that day, which showed at least the tag title change and Bulldogs vs Rock'n'Roll, the matches were super underwhelming. Pretty much sucked to be honest. A few more matches aired like the Mask-Sharpe bout and possibly Tenryu-Irwin. Sparse crowd too which didn't help.

There is a non-title match from Winnipeg that is relatively intact (JIP though), and 35 minutes of a 60 minute draw also from Winnipeg. In the last year the entire 60 minute draw has surfaced which is a huge bonus, so look for that one instead of the clipped version if you can find it.

Greg got this shot by beating Nick on TV in a non-title match in June, FWIW. The image of Wally Karbo holding Bobby Duncum back from helping Nick while Greg put Nick to sleep with the sleeper is one that has always stuck with me and was one of the defining moments of making my interest in the pro graps a lifelong thing.

I'd just start a new one when the 30 for 30 drops. "Ric Flair: 'Sigh', Part 2: The 30 for 30 Thread"

Love love love that mag cover.

One of the ways I try to think of announcers in a comparative light is to imagine one calling matches in other areas outside of their home or most familar territories. Lance Russell is one of the few that would I think enhance a match in any area he was in and making the call. RIP to him and codolences to his family.

Hopefully someone can grab the Bockwinkel matches before they disappear.

It was more of a thing before 1984, yes. Ken Patera, for example, won the IC title in MSG and then two days later won the Missouri title, the "Steppingstone" to the NWA belt. Also Ventura and Adonis were doing shots in the WWF while still in the AWA to set them up as challengers for Backlund. The pair was suspended from the AWA after a TV match in December of 1981. Adonis had his first MSG title shot on January 18th, barely a month later. So it happened, sometimes as a segue into the wrestler's next stop, other times just an agreement to somewhat share the talent (like the Patera case). ...and I have no recollection of Bobby managing Pat at all in the AWA. Not to say it didn't happen when Pat made his shots here and there. I just don't remember it.

If it's on youtube, Bobby vs. Buck Zumhofe in a Weasel Suit challenge in Winnipeg is worth watching to get an idea of how smooth a wrestler Bobby could be on the offensive. The idea was Bobby had to beat Buck before the time limit expired or he would have to wear the suit. As such, Bobby is on offense a lot trying to finish off Buck and avoid the suit. He really was as good a wrestler as anyone, and that's one match that showed it...rare was the Bobby wrestling match where he was given so much offense. But it fit the story perfectly and could be no other way.

Agreed 100 percent. Tough one here...most of the guys I grew up watching have passed now. Guys like Bock, Verne, Vachon, and especially Heenan are a big part of what made me a life long fan. RIP and thanks for the memories.

I've been watching Brick Hithouse's NWA 1985 set. A very fun year. Plus you get those oddball matches that really pique your interest, Like Starship Eagle and Coyote vs. Superstar Graham and The Barbarian, or Highlights of Dusty Rhodes and Dick Slater vs. The Russians. Love little oddities like that.

I also have the fight network here. Same deal, the wrestling content used to be out of this world. Classic Memphis even...they ran the vault show episodes way back for a while (St Louis too if I remember right?) Fun stuff on Sunday mornings. Now? As described above. They just got an HD channel on Bell (not sure if they ahd been HD on other services previously) and that is nice, but the wrestling itself...again same described previously and that doesn't compel me to tune in regularly. I'm keeping it just because but that's just me.

Could have been a PWI Press Conference on Pro Wrestling Plus (Whalen) or Pro Wrestling This Week (Pedicino) that you saw Apter on, yeah.

He was so raw when he debuted in the AWA I honestly didn't know what he would do long-term as a wrestler. The 1989-90 AWA put a lot of people in a spotlight situation that they were not ready for. Norton was sooooo strong, they played up his arm wrestling background right out of the gate and it was pretty effective in making you notice him. And he handled his place on the card pretty well. I did not expect him to continue to get better and get to the place in wrestling he ended up getting to. He was sort of like Leon White that way, someone that had "something" going when they started in the business, but seemed more fad-ish than something that they could grow and develop and make a career out of.

Possibly a 2/3 fall match and they showed the fall X and Andre won. Verne speaking of the result on the tape I wouldn't read too much into. Also a belated F-U to JVK for his AWA sucked comment during one of his match reviews.

More Gems! Sweet. Can't wait to see what they've uncovered this time.

First memory of wrestling regardless of what it was.