khawk20

As far as AWA matches go, I can think of a couple that stand out in the spirit of this thread. Nick Bockwinkel beating Verne Gagne for the AWA title in November of 1975 is one. For the AWA itself, it transitioned it's main star, Verne Gagne, into a part-time mode and marked an almost completely different philosophy in booking the Champion since he was a heel and was going to be in place for a long time. It was a huge and welcome switch from the lengthy reign of Verne, who at that point had exhausted all the angles and challengers that the fans were willing to see. It also gave the world Nick Bockwinkel as a singles star and a much larger platform for Bobby Heenan to perform on. The 1983 Super Sunday match between Bockwinkel and Hulk Hogan may also merit inclusion here. It is a devisive point in discussion of the career trajectory of both the AWA and of Hulk Hogan. Would he have propelled the AWA forward to new heights? Would Vince have grabbed him anyway? What was the actual planned finish vs. the result of the match? Was it the final catalyst in Vince deciding that Hogan was the one to carry his vision forward? It's a serious watermark in AWA history, and given the prominence of the promotion it's value cannot be overlooked. There may be more but those came to mind immediately.

Watched some WWC TV from 1988 over the weekend. Tony Falk winning the Jr. Heavyweight title using the Stan Hansen Boston crab/head-on-the-turnbuckles maneuver was kind of cool. Pogo and Nagasaki getting some love as tag champs was nice to see as well.

Sorry to hear this and condolences to his family. Good guy.

He also had a tour with IWE in Jan/Feb 1975 as well as "Bobby Slaughter". A few clips exist.

Got a link to the private code or channel hookup? I can't seem to find one right now. Thanks

Lots of AWA matches that weren't taped or were but are lost to time. Some Hennig/Race, Bock winning the title from Gagne in 1975, the Mad Dog-Verne feud, the Kalmikoffs, stuff like that.

The AWA would do this from time to Time as well and it usually morphed into an angle of some sort for the dominant face. A twist to it was sometimes a young not-quite-established star would team with a true jobber and get in a lot of offense, and wouldn't have to take a pin fall. Put a little bit of intrigue into the new guy matching up with a more established guy on the arena cards and,win or lose, it set the tone that that bout would be at least competitive.

Sounds excellent!

Fabs vs. LOD was a very good draw, and their program vs. Jesse Ventura when they first arrived was I think going to be a good draw had Jesse not left for the WWF just as it was picking up steam. Heenan as a foil was ok and helped, but six-mans with Heenan and his Army vs. The Fabs and Lanza didn't draw well.

Not really, IMO. He was an excellent face but honestly more portrayed as the "junior member" of his teams as a face (Hall, Papa Larry), which were more his thing until he got into it with Bock in 86-87.

Martel (84) and Slaughter (85-86) would be the only candidates, right? Were the Fabs more of a draw in 84 than Martel? Yeah 84 for the Fabs, they weren't around very long in 1985, if at all. Martel and Slaughter are the two that spring to mind for sure. His reviews of the AWA suggest that (a) he is trying to be funny and edgy and has no clue how to do that, and ( he hates fat guys. I would also suggest that it's a testament to how good the Mad Dog coffin interview is that he actually liked it.

I am of the opinion that the Alburquerque title change did happen, based on my readings from the KM site a few years back and discussions with other AWA guys of the time frame. That it wasn't filmed at all is also a possibility. Raschke-Crusher's title win apparently wasn't either. Both would have been done "on the fyl" so to speak with people leaving the area holding the belts. It's not like Verne wouldn't make snap decisions or anything... I'd think if it was filmed it would have been to have clips for TV available. So yeah on the change happening for real, no on the filming of it IMO.

I'd be curious to who he thought the AWA's top face was in that time frame if he doesn't think it was Blackwell. My guess is that he watched a lot of AWA from 87-90, when Blackwell wasn't around much. Did he offer an alternative as the top face from that time frame?

Yeah for sure.

Glove was a good guy. Used to chat with him online and on some boards a fair bit. Was sad when I found out and yeah, 49...that hits home these days.