khawk20

The matches came from all over, Arena matches from MSG, Philly, Toronto, and Boston (most frequent), to some other odd arena matches here and there, to some matches that were clearly filmed during a tv taping but not broadcast on regular WWF TV. You got some bouts of PPVs after the fact sometimes, and lots of PPV promo "update" segments in and around those events. With there only being 4 PPVs back then, there were stretches without PPV promotion interwoven into the show...pretty weird to think about compared to how things progressed with PPV later on. How many arena bouts vs. Squash matches changed over the years. The last few years of the show in the early 90's are almost unwatchable, imo. The 80's shows are the way to go.

Out of interest, was he the one getting squashed or was he squashing? (considering he was main eventing the the Mid-South Coliseum in 86) He was squashing. I think he was only in for one taping and lord only know what happened after that. This was a real problem the AWA had at the time, I don't think they always exactly knew who was going to be there from taping-to-taping themselves, but it made for some interesting TV at times. True on all counts. The AWA often stretched a single taping someone made in Vegas into a month or two worth of TV, makign it seem like the guy was there for a longer period. Nikita Koloff's AWA appearance in 1989 was only one or two tapings worth, but it seemed like he was a regular the way the presented it on TV, for example. Landell was presented like he was going to be a player in the AWA, but never came back after that one taping. ....off-topic: "RodTrongard'sHair" = great username.

I always found it amazing that a guy who was such a highly regarded powerlifter/weightlifter was able to morph into such a different kind of wrestler than others with a similar background before getting into the business. His dropkick was a thing of beauty. RIP.

Montreal Bravo was a very different wrestler than WWF Bravo, and in my opinion a whole lot better in Montreal. I can't comment on whether Montreal Bravo is better than HHH. I dislike watching HHH matches and pretty much always have, so my opinion isn't unbiased. ..but Montreal Bravo >>>> WWF Strongman Bravo. No question.

Mad Dog Vachon doing a segment on WWF TV in Canada in or around 1984-85 called "Brunch with Mad Dog". The segment aired for several weeks and basically consisted of Vachon asking different WWF stars what they liked to each for Brunch. Really, really odd. Buddy Landell's 1 or 2 squash matches in the AWA in 1987-88-ish. He seemed very out of place to me there, even in squash situations.

Will this mean that the Classics On Demand service will not be disappearing in a few months, as has been previoulsy speculated/reported?

I don't think so.

Do you have a link for this? I saw El-P mention it a few days ago as well and wanted to check it out. The preview I watched on youtube was good for what it was, but I can't find anything other than that. Check your PMs.

There is a preview up on youtube for it Dated November 2011, so it appears that it was released in late October-Early November.

This is why it always surprises me that Verne Gagne saved tape from as far back as he did (at least 1966, hopefully earlier). Must've cost him a fortune not re-using tape...unless the format he was using couldn't be used twice. Even then, the foresight to try and save the footage is unusual in wrestling from that time frame, I think, at least in North America. Now I have heard that his storage methods were sub-standard and a lot of what he had is no longer usable, which sucks. But again, at least he tried to hold onto it.

Watching the Jim Brunzell shoot on youtube...Jim mentions that he understood Rick Steamboat was in ill health. Anyone know what that is or was about?

Would WWE have enough foresight to have a backup date booked, just in case?

Did this ever lead to any Crusher vs Freebird matches, singles or tags? I'd dig seeing Crusher vs Gordy atleast. There was this one from Winnipeg: 14 AWA The Freebirds vs. Larry Hennig, Baron Von Raschke and Crusher I don't remember thinking much of it, and I'd have to watch it again to see if Gordy and Crusher actually hooked up during the bout.

I think of it along the lines of Raschke being hired by Vachon to help him get revenge on Blackwell and Studd. Since Vachon was already out, he had to contend with both guys for a while. Something like that.

I'm imagining Bruiser Brody working today as I read that.

Zurkoff and his Manager, Chris Markoff, were pretty effective in Winnipeg even after the cage blowoff. They ahd that great little tag match against Bockwinkel and Vachon, a quick singles bout between Mad Dog and Markoff, and even the Road Warriors were brought in to take them down. By contrast, Zurkov and Markoff were fed to Sgt. Slaughter in a two-on-one match in St. Paul since Zurkov wasn't deemed an effective enough draw to have a singles match with the Sarge there. Booking those guys so differently in two different major cities in the territory was still somewhat plausible at the time since TV wasn't completely all-encompassing. Still interesting to see happen, though.

My AWA card from 1981. Matches go from opener to Main Event: Brad Rheingans vs. Steve Regal (2/20/81, Mpls)--I believe this is the pro debut of Brad Rheingans, or very close to it. Ray Stevens vs. Billy Robinson (9/13/81, Minneapolis): Both are a little long in the tooth but not long enough that this isn't fun to watch. John Studd vs. Baron Von Raschke (early 1981, Minneapolis): Baron's re-debut as the paid assassin of Mad Dog Vachon, hurt a month before by Studd and Blackwell. Baron's re-debut promo might be the second or third best non-Bock/Heenan interview of the 80's in the AWA...I bet people ran down to the box office to get tickets after seeing it on TV. Seriously. Jerry Blackwell vs. Hulk Hogan (Minneapolis 10/4/1981, Bodyslam challenge): Hogan cemented his face turn by saving Brad Rheingans from Blackwell a month earlier. Heat is off the charts here. High Flyers (champs) vs. Adrian Adonis/Jesse Ventura (non-title cage match, Fall 1981,St. Paul). the AWA titles were never allowed to be defended in the cage back then, so this being a non-title bout was all about bloodlust and revenge. Adrian Adonis cage dive = must see. Nick Bockwinkel (AWA Champion) vs. Sheik Kaissie (NO DQ- Raschke Ref, 9/13/81 Minneapolis): Another non-title match, all about pure hatred and revenge. Heenan gets bloodied by Kaissie before the match and has to leave ringside. AWA $50,000 Battleroyal (October 25, 1981, Mpls.): The annual fall battleroyal is always fun, and AWA battleroyals often went fifteen minutes before anyone got eliminated, which allowed for some great pairings and fun little spots. All the big guns are in this one, too.

Zurkov was a Winnipeg-only thing, and in that one specific market I think it worked great. If they had run it anywhere else, probably not so much. Larry Z had been effectively buried in the mid-card since his arrival in early 1984. He was beaten soundly by Dusty Rhodes on the June 84 St. Paul card in a match that aired in all the tv markets after the fact. that he even got a title shot in Winnipeg was done strictly to have a one-and-done type of challenger to segue to Zurkov's push. Superstar I agree with, although that may have actually been booked: In an interview before the Saito match in Winnipeg, it is noted that Saito is a late sub for Superstar who did not show up. So who knows? A better plan might have been in the offing but a no-show curtailed it. One of Garvin or Hayes would have worked fine...Garvin moreso. Both was overkill, but again I often wonder if the original plan was to have Gordy get the extended program with Rick, only to surmise that he was too unreliable to run a two or three match program in their major markets. Gordy did no-show a lot in the AWA, which is why we ended up with more Hayes-blackell matches. Garvin-to Gordy would have been considered good booking if it had happened; garvin-to-Hayes is rightly considered poor booking. Maybe it was a forced situation more than a planned one.

I agree but "throughout AWA history" is stretching it. How many babyface singles champs of any length were there, ever? Martel...and Verne Gagne. MAYBE you could count Jerry Lawler but he wasn't an all-the-time face champ by any stretch of it. That's it. I'll give you that it was overdone with Martel (Garvin and Hayes happened almost back-to-back), but he did have some successful AWA title defenses that were "clean wins". Robinson, Saito, Zbyszko, King Tonga and Bockwinkel come to mind that made film.

It might be easier to make the comparison in terms of pro sports franchises. Take a small-market contender in, say, MLB, a team always in contention for a playoff spot, sometimes getting in, but always drawing well and keeping fan interest. Said team makes two or three off-season acquisitions designed to continue the momentum that the team has built over the years, and possibly push them over the top. None of those pickups work out...they hit a little, field a little, but perform average compared to what they are supposed to do. Team chemistry goes down the toilet, and suddenly the team is near the bottom of the standings. The fans stop coming out, and a team that once contended is now a cellar-dweller. They can't attract good players because they are limited in their spending ability, partially because they are drawing so poorly since the team started to suck. Mid-range and past-their-prime guys are brought in but given too much of a load to carry. Result: The team stays in the same place. Next year, wash, rinse, repeat...the vicious circle has begun. Eventually nobody remembers that this team used to be good...all they can see is the current failures. This is how I saw the AWA from 1985-onward, except personnel moves were only part of the problem. Where he tried to fight his battles (as noted by Dylan) was almost a bigger part of the problem. To baseball it up again, he spent so much time trying to win games against the American League that he could no longer beat anyone in the National League, especially at home. And if you can't win at home...

And Saito.

He was "Sugar Bear" Harris at one time too, IIRC.

I don't remember Kamala getting jobbed out in his 1980's WWF time. Not sure about his other stints, but it sounds like he's referring to his run in the 80's (just the way I'm reading it), and if he is, he didn't get pinned much if at all besides Hogan.