khawk20

This is a good choice.

Had they stopped airing the Philly cards by this point? I don’t remember seeing this and actually this is the first time I have heard of it, period. 8500 for THAT? Hole-ee…..

I suspect it may have aired in some form but I can't figure out what context it would have aired in. Lawler came in for some bouts in 1983 to the AWA-proper, so perhaps they aired a video package based on clips of this bout. I doubt whatever form it aired in was more than clips because full arena matches were pretty rare on AWA TV back then.

Ok, thanks. I will want this next time we trade (or with that other thing). Sometime, anyways. 14:30 of silent film is exceptional, really.

They did this angle on the 8/8/82 card in St. Paul. Hogan didn't wrestle again until the 10/17/82 St. paul Battleroyal card. So, anyone know if he took time off to let the lat tear heal (if it wasn't a work), or if this was a Japan tour? Also, the whole angle is very strange because Jesse and Ken work on the arm for some time after Hogan wins an arm wrestling match with Patera and Jesse attacks Hogan. then, Patera and Jesse just basically leave the ring when they are done. No hot comeback/anger from Hogan, no other faces running in for the save, and the ref for it, Ray Stevens, never recovers to help Hogan either. hogan is leftin the ring stumbling around holding his arm. Very, very odd. Hogan vs. Jesse in the return grudge match wasn't held until Christmas Day in St. Paul, either. Anyways that is the date of the angle Dave is talking about here.

That'll be an interesting read. I think Dave will try to recognize some of the better things they did before the Expansion years, but if he doesn't have the material to work with on that, I suspect it will end up heavier on the downfall years. understandable as there is plenty of opinion, video and his own writings to look at during that time frame.

I can help you out with those. If you get serious about making this I can research all my Luce stuff and see how much of their material is available. What is the Detroit footage of them you mentioned? New? Who are they against? I don't remember seeing that before.

This is partially true. They did work an angle in Winnipeg and possibly other stops in the circuit where Hogan ran in and saved Brad Rheingans from Jerry Blackwell, which set up Blackwell vs. Hogan around the horn. Johnny V leading chants for Hogan through the mic is quite the site to see (they tried to turn Johnny too and keep him with Hogan). My belief on that, however, is that Verne could not reconcile the idea that he could be a face without a proper, old-school turn. It was obvious he was the fan's choice long before the Rheingans thing. I think they did the official turn more to reconcile it with themselves and possibly some of the fans that wanted specific reasons and incidents to point at as markers for turns and whatnot. Dave was never a big fan of the AWA. Of course, the AWA had begun a downward turn shortly after he began his newsletter, so he may have felt differently if he had to comment on it before that time. Some of his 84 writings on the AWA absolutely destroy the area. I mention this because the absence of Verne and Wally Karbo as great bookers from the piece on that is really, really noticable to me (and honestly I am assuming they booked the AWA at least up until 1984, I could be wrong). The AWA was very good at closing the circle on a story or feud, and remembering little things that long-time fans would recognize as a big deal. that had to be Verne's doing. The AWA being so bad in the later 80's unfortunately overshadows a lot of the early stuff and the lack of video pre-1981 makes it tough to point to examples for the average old-school viewer. It's also why showing AWA TV on WWE 24/7 without specific interview spots is useless. I'm happy that Dave recognizes how much of a star Verne was, though. Small victory, but it's something.

I don't see the draw with Bockwinkel making the set. Too long, taking up too much space. The Hennig win from Super Clash II might make it, though. Other than that, a title defense against someone (Gagne, Wahoo maybe) and clips of the title loss to Lawler are probably going to be as much as we can hope for in terms of AWA content. Just a guess but I don't see them cracking the vault open to get AWA stuff for this one. I hope I am wrong.

Jerry Blackwell's face turn at the June 1984 St. Paul Battleroyal was nicely built over a few months, and even with the fans behind him in the months after that, they kept it so he wasn't completely accepted until after his lights-out match with Brody when long-time mortal enemy Greg Gagne came to his aid.

I like him, but his selling is kinda goofy.

That sums it up quite nicely. I'd add the word "most" to start the sentiment expressed, but that's it.

FWIW, evilclown also hangs out at Crush Kill Crush.

Does Frank even write about wrestling anywhere these days?

I was gonna go there, but for some reason thought better of it.