khawk20

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.

Holy shit, this was a fun show: WCCW Labor Day Star Wars 1986 (part 1) Local broadcast with commercials included. World Tag Team Tournament matches include: Batten Twins vs. Kevin Sullivan/Purple Haze Rick Rude/Jos Leduc vs. Mark/Chris Youngblood Killer Brooks/The Grappler vs.Dingo Warrior/Sako Matt Borne/Buzz Sawyer vs. Kevin/Mike Von Erich Ted & Jerry Oates vs. Youngbloods Sullivan/Haze vs. Borne/Sawyer plus Bruiser Brody vs. Abdullah the Butcher Bad news is that I don't have the second part of the show! I need to find it.

When workers start talking about getting stiffed on paydays, that often crosses into "grain of salt" territory in my mind. Just sayin'.

He did.

so many jokes...so little time...

AWA Wrestling. All Matches from the Twin Cities, 1982. Matches listed from opener to "Main Event": Adrian Adonis vs. Larry Hennig (9/19/82, St. Paul): Adonis stopped back in the AWA briefly before disappearing again. he was a little bigger, but nothing like he would eventually become. Hennig is obviously older and slower but he's still an effective powerhouse. It's nice to see the signature Adonis bumps in an AWA ring again. Mad Dog Vachon & Steve O vs. Sheiks Blackwell & Kaissie (11/7/82, St. Paul). Vachon is back in the AWA after beign injured "for two years" due to Blackwell. Steve O is wrestling with a wrapped, surgically repaired wrist, which the heels do their best to exploit. Vachon eventually snaps and destroys both the Sheiks. Did I mention Vachon is awesome when he snaps? Hulk Hogan/Baron Von Raschke/Buck Zumhofe vs. Ken Patera/Bobby Duncum/Bobby Heenan (2/28/82, Minneapolis). This one was born out of Patera and Duncum attacking Zumhofe and Tito Santana on TV a few weeks earlier, where hOgan made the save and Buck had his boom-box smashed up by Heenan. The match is predictably violent and wild with good action throughout, and is perhaps most notable by Hogan snapping at the end and laying an all-star beating on Heenan. Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell (AWA Tag Champs) vs. Tito Santana & Rick Martel (8/29/82, St. Paul). I'm listing their rematch as the one I want to see on this card, although the 8-minute end clip of their 30-minute battle a month earlier is arguable more compelling given the frantic pace that the end of that bout took on. Nick Bockwinkel (AWA Champion) vs. Otto Wanz (8/29/82, St. Paul). I'd love to have been at this one live. Possibly the most surprising World Title change of the 1980's. 20-Man, $50,000 Battleroyal (10/17/82, St. Paul). This one has all the main players including Andre the Giant, who came in regularly for the fall battleroyal series. This match set up the uniqure 4-on-2 match on the Thanksgiving St. Paul card featuring Hogan and Andre vs. Bockwinkel/Patera/Duncum/Heenan. Funny as it sounds, a 4-on-2 match was pretty big news back in 1982, and certainly something different in the AWA. I suspect my whole card runs 2.5 - 3 hours, with a short intermission built in. I may do some more AWA cards for other years.

It seems like it was more bad timing than anything else. Hogan's big-scary-monster feuds with Taker and Sid were probably already planned by the time Flair showed up, and then Hogan was out on vacation until after Flair had left the company. They flirted with the idea of a Hulk/Ric feud on the house show circuit and in tag matches, but apparently the drawing numbers were rather disappointing for those matchups. The Flair-Hulk matchups were usually over two or three shows in most locations, which qualifies as a WWF "feud" for that time frame, IMO. I don't think the numbers were that bad, either, in terms of attendance. The "bad Timing" Argument I can live with, although part of me has always thought that Vince just didn't want to legitimize Flair's "real world champion" claim any further than they were already doing. maybe in his head putting a Flair-Hogan matchup as a PPV centerpiece (in a "first time meeting" sort of scenario) was going to far in recognizing that someone coming in from another company might have had real success and superstardom outside of the WWF. I mean, I was incredibly stunned that Vince allowed the "Real World Champion" gimmick to debut Flair. I wonder if Vince et al had to be talked into recognizing Flair's past even that much. It was pretty much unheard of from 1984 through then. Just speculation on my part. A Hogan-Flair PPV debut match never happening seems like such an obvious ball-drop that there must have been some sort of stupid underlying reason in place, no matter how convoluted it may have been.

As I remember they only had two singles matches at MSG, November and December of 1991. If there was a third bout where they faced each other but it was in a tag match...Hogan/Piper vs. Flair/Sid in March 1992.

Wasn't Gagne establishing the AWA in 1960 key in preventing some anti-trust action against the NWA?

Only at the very end. I think the deal was Verne sent Enos and Bloom over as Minnesota Wrecking Crew II to provide a decent challenger to the Steiners for a few months (for whatever reason), while in return Verne got to book Flair vs. Pillman on Twin Wars 90 in St. Paul as his main event...a very-last-grasp at getting the AWA going in the Twin Cities again. Super Clash 4 in St. Paul drew abysmally, so the thought was bringing Flair in would draw a halfway decent house. I think it did get a decent house (4,000 was an attendance figure I thought I saw for that show a while back, but I've never verified if it was anywhere near accurate). It was the last attempt at a serious AWA show, and with the AWA being literally dead in the water I don't think the braintrust at WCW saw any harm in it. I suspect they were looking to cherry-pick the DC after the AWA officially folded and this was a way to sell them on the area, to be honest. Of course, the DC ended up in the WWF as The Beverly Brothers (**sigh**).... Also keep in mind that the AWA, by the time the DC went to WCW as Crew II, was only running maybe once a month in Rochester for their TV tapings, so it gave Enos and Bloom a chance to work.

...and in the AWA. He feuded with Jesse Ventura. He was a big guy back then...totally believable as a "strong man".

The problem with Ellering's role in the AWA early on was that he was expected to play the cowardly heel manager, and his personality and vocal stylings on the mic said otherwise. He didn't come across in interviews as a guy being a pseudo-badass hiding behind his monsters and doing all his talking. He sounded like he could back his shit up in the ring or at ringside. Then, you see him cowering at the feet of Crusher or Raschke during a schmozzle before, during, or after a match, and you'd say to yourself "that just doesn't fit". The exact same interview style was far more effective when the Roadies were in "face" mode, or at least facing heel teams. I always thought Hawk was better in the ring than Animal personally.

I don't think there is one and I looked. I can send you match lists for the first two volumes (still working on the 3rd) when I get home tonight. Would be much appreciated, thanks.

Can anyone point me to a site that has the match lists for all the Quest Puro dvds? I'm struggling with the 90's Tenryu set I just got that they put out. I need to put some names with the faces for my own sake.

He is vastly underrated as a manager and he generated a ton of heat in the AWA. His book is a fun read if you ever get your hands on it, too/

No correlation between Vince getting Hayes and his departure from the AWA. Hayes was out of the AWA by mid 1980, and it wouldn't surprise me if Hayes didn't start for Vince in early 1984 but not earlier.

I always had the impression that Andre was pretty much a full time WWF guy after 1983, with the exception of his trips to Japan, no?