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Frankensteiner

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Everything posted by Frankensteiner

  1. Curt Hennig vs. Stan Hansen, Las Vegas, 3/11/86 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWQ_J5AQiWo http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=a4zg0kDW0TA Yeah, this is it right here. What a war! I didn’t think there was single wasted second in this; just a tremendous match with a number of nice touches. I loved Hansen going back for another piece of Blackwell after knocking Hennig into the ringpost on the outside. Hansen also hits a brutal knee drop onto Hennig’s face. Then there’s Stan’s headbuts to break up a pin cover. Even Curt’s mule kick out of the corner which hit kind of sloppily was a cool looking spot. Match reminded me of a sped up version of Santana/Valentine. I probably liked Martel’s top 3-4 matches better than this but that shouldn’t take away from Curt/Hansen. I don’t know where I would rate this with Hennig’s WWF performances but he certainly looked more ready to fight here than he did through the majority of his WWF career. Do you think this is the best Hennig AWA match?
  2. It's the "weaker" match except it's from Oshkosh, WI and not the Showboat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7BwgiyxpoY It's only 10 minutes so anyone give it a watch without too much of a time investment.
  3. Since this is an AWA thread and not simply about Martel, I thought I’d take the opportunity to comment on another match: Curt Hennig vs. Stan Hansen, 2/14/86 I didn’t think this was very good, actually pretty disappointing since I seem to recall Dylan talking this one up. This certainly should not be used as an example to point to AWA Hennig being superior over WWF Hennig. Curt didn’t do here much move/punch-wise to make me think of Mr. Perfect as an inferior version. Henning sold well, Hansen was good in coming after him, they worked a good headlock sequence early, and had one or two decent punch/chop exchanges. As an overall match though this felt very flat.
  4. Rick Martel vs. Stan Hansen, Chicago, IL 9/28/85 (SuperClash) I think this is the most famous match of Martel’s title reign as it took place on probably the most widely seen AWA show ever. It wasn’t much of match, however, as Martel and Hansen brawled all around ringside leading to a double count out almost right after the opening bell. Can’t really “rate” this as a proper match but I will say it was a cool little moment in time and a way to maybe showcase Martel in a different light. You of course have to question the logic of a 2 minute DCOR world title match on your biggest show but that’s an entirely different conversation. Rick Martel vs. Stan Hansen, St. Paul, MN 12/25/85 This was an alright match but too short to be worth anything. There was kind of a hot opening and then they quickly took it down a notch. Stan managed to hit a running Martel with a nice back elbow. Nothing else of note took place. Match ended on a lame DQ when Hansen slammed Martel’s back into the ringpost. I also re-watched Martel/Bockwinkel from 3/27/85 (see first post). I guess my opinion of the match went up, if only a little. On the one hand, I liked some things more watching it in context of the earlier bouts. On the other hand, it was even more disappointing given the greatness of the previous two matches. I did appreciate them wrestling yet another type of a match, as there were more holds used here. Bockwinkel was also a little more vicious than he had been earlier, adding a new touch to the series. Still, this match wasn’t nearly as compelling as the other two and they could have done more before taking it home.
  5. I think '88 is the winner, easily. The real question is would you take '87 over '97?
  6. Even then it's a poor comparison since the point of TV now is different than it was back then. 80s promotions wouldn't want to give away stuff on free TV. On the other hand, WWE has no problems running through major matches on television (Cena/Rey).
  7. The latter. Their presentation of wrestling is horrible. With that said, Rey Mysterio and Christian are two guys that I can still somewhat enjoy despite the shortcomings of modern WWE style. And although I think Rey is great, I would not call him a GOAT candidate.
  8. Rick Martel vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Winnipeg, MB 9/20/84 The rematch from their previous month. I probably liked the earlier match slightly more but this was excellent in its own right. You have to give them credit for wrestling a completely different match. It was much slower but just as exciting. The focus here was body part work with Martel targeting Bock’s knee and Bock attacking Martel’s ribs. As such, both guys put in a masterful selling performance. There was a particularly terrific spot with Martel running the ropes and Bock using his injured knee to connect with Martel’s ribs leading to both guys collapsing on the mat in pain. They finished it up with a nice stretch run with some great near falls. Finish came when Mr. Saito (seconding Bockwinkel after Heenan was “suspended” = left for WWF) threw powder in Martel's eyes. Bockwinkel the pinned Martel to win the title but the decision was quickly reversed. Not really a good finish but it does set up those matches the following year (already reviewed earlier though I will rewatch that Bock match). On a side note, I have these last two matches from World Pro in Japan. Both appear slightly clipped. Does anyone know if the full matches ever aired in the US/Canada?
  9. Rick Martel vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Winnipeg, MB 8/16/84 I could be wrong but I believe this is the earliest Martel title defense available on video. Maybe khawk can chime in here to say if that's correct (I'm speaking of defenses on AWA turf as I know there's an earlier Jumbo match from All Japan). It appears I was full of it earlier when saying these guys never had a great match together because this is truly excellent. I'm tempted to call it the best Martel match I've seen yet. Early on, there is this awesome sequence where they ran the ropes culminating in a Martel flying cross body that is simply phenomenal. Just one highlight out of many. These guys really cut an incredible pace but at the same time never lost the feeling of struggle which can sometimes happen in such quickly paced matches. Just a really exciting and excellent match. Because of how fast they went, it reminded me of Flair-Steamboat from Chi-Town Rumble, and I don't think it's a stretch to say Martel-Bock doesn't have to take a back seat to that match. It would be a good comparison regardless. Even the finish, which I didn't like earlier, worked well in this match. It was an amalgam of the top-turnbuckle sleeper reversal (think Bret/Piper) and a belly to back side suplex with a double pin. That is, Martel reversed the sleeper by kicking off of the top turnbuckle, Bock released the sleeper but still held on to Martel enough to get him in that double pin position. I think I didn't like the ending initially because it didn't make Martel look strong enough, but watching the match, Martel really outclassed Bock (in a kayfabe sense) so Bock getting kind of a fluky rematch out of this works just fine (I should note Martel did raise his arm and it was Bock who was clearly pinned).
  10. Rick Martel vs. Boris Zhukov, Winnipeg, MB 8/22/85 Rick Martel vs. Boris Zhukov, Winnipeg, MB 9/19/85 Rick Martel vs. Boris Zhukov (Cage), Winnipeg, MB 11/14/85 This is the aforementioned Zhukov series that only ran in Winnipeg. The first match was alright. They established Zhukov's hard head gimmick early on and kind of played off of it when it was time for Zhukov to control the match. That part wasn't very compelling as Zhukov worked over Martel's arm with arm-bars, slams, punches and head butts. Martel carried this portion with his selling. His comeback didn't make much sense because it was punch heavy and they spent the early part of the match getting over the idea that punching Zhukov would only hurt Martel's hand without doing any damage to Zhukov. For the finish Martel intercepted Markoff's brass knux and used them on Zhukov to earn a DQ. Second match was more of the same. Mad Dog Vachon was in Martel's corner to seemingly keep Markoff in check. Zhukov revisited his strategy to work over Martel's arm and Rick would make some periodic comebacks. They basically had kind of a listless match just waiting for the interference ending with Markoff throwing powder in Martel's eyes. The feud thankfully peaked with the Cage match. What made this match stand out was the feel of a more heated encounter with an intensity missing from their first two bouts. Both guys juiced. The was plenty of good looking standard cage match offense. On the flip side, they completely blew off Zhukov's indestructible head gimmick but whatever. All in all, a good way to end a feud that was pretty tepid through the first two matches.
  11. Well, although this Clash took place on 6/16 it didn't air until 6/22, two days after these teams already fought on PPV at Beach Blast.
  12. Rick Martel vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, St. Paul, MN 9/28/85 An excellent match. Don’t know if this is best of what I’ve seen so far, but it’s certainly the most satisfying. There was just a great progression to the match, from a good opening to a hot stretch run where they traded some excellent near falls. There was a brief point where I thought this might be bordering too much on my turn-your turn but then Jumbo went on an assault on Martel’s knee and Martel was selling it like a champ. Then Martel fought back like the great babyface that he is and I was back to loving the match again. Probably neither man’s best effort but that’s actually a compliment as they made having a great match look easy. On a side note, this has a great Rod Trongard call: “How about that for action ladies and gentlemen? Vintage wrestling! Championship wrestling! The very best that there is. It’s right here in the ABA! The AWA! The ABA was something else at another time, another place. This is where it’s at and this is where it’s all about.”
  13. Rick Martel vs. Kimala, St. Paul, MN 9/8/85 I was pretty excited for this mach as it was a chance to see Martel work against a monster challenger. I scanned the Martel match list and couldn’t find any other freak-show opponents. Wrestling against a technical babyface may not be Kimala’s best role but he does a good job here. The work in this match was simple but effective. They did well to establish the size difference and each wrestler’s strategy in the early going. Unfortunately the match ended rather abruptly after only 7 minutes with Kimala DQed for throwing Martel over the top. This looked as if it had a chance to be a solid match with more time and a better finish.
  14. Do you know who edited or cut up the matches?
  15. Rick Martel vs. Billy Robinson, St. Paul, MN 11/22/84 Another strong match. This, like Martel/Rheingans above, is raw footage shot with a single hard camera. And much like the previous match, there’s clipping at various points. In total about 12:30 of 17:30 is shown, so the majority of the match is preserved. However, because of the numerous cuts, the flow of the match suffers a little bit. Robinson was looking pretty old here but still managed to bring it fairly well. I thought Martel was his typical great self, straddling the line between wanting to wrestle a clean, scientific match and not being afraid to rough it up in response to Robinson’s tactics. One thing that hurt this was Robinson’s multiple trips to the outside which would reset the match and slow down the flow (much like the clipping). I didn’t mind it so much early on but he was doing it about 2 minutes before the finish.
  16. Rick Martel vs. Brad Rheingans, St. Paul, MN 9/9/84 Going into this I sort of wished Dylan hadn’t talked it up earlier because, as with anything, high praise raises expectations and increases scrutiny. But I am happy to say even with the bar raised this match seemed even better now than the first time I saw it a few years back. I loved the classy way in which they worked a World Title match between two faces; the way in which a match between two faces should always be worked (if you listen to the crowd you can understand why that’s not the case). They worked holds and exchanges befitting the occasion. Even when tempers flared neither Martel nor Rheingans resorted to throwing punches or brawling, choosing instead to up the intensity of their grappling. Many of the holds were basic but the counters in and out of them were the highlight, some of which I’ve rarely seen. Even the ending, shitty as it may be, works well in the context of the match. Like the match had to stop once the hopes for a clean encounter were ruined. This is the best match in this series that I’ve seen so far. It’s a real feather in Martel’s cap. The clipping does suck because the focus seems to be the “all-action” parts as opposed to their work in holds, which I thought was the best part. Still a great match, however.
  17. I don't think 1992 is Bret's best year but I think he does have a case for US WOTY. To me it's a toss-up between Bret, Steamboat, and Windham (I think Sting, Rude, Vader, and Savage could also be in the conversation). Bret doesn't have the quantity of Steamer and Barry but I don't know if you can hold that against him because he didn't have the same number of opportunities. Plus his opponents weren't nearly as good.
  18. Yes, I plan to get to those at some point.
  19. Rick Martel vs. King Tonga, Meadowlands, 4/19/85 I thought this was a match from the joint NWA/AWA Star Wars but it looks like it was an AWA-only event. I didn't even realize the AWA ran the Meadowlands by themselves (doesn't look like they did too bad either drawing 10,000). My version of this is from World Pro in Japan and runs about 7:30; it's possible there might have been some cuts. As far as the match, I don't have too much to comment here as this was rather nondescript in every way imaginable. Match was OK when Martel was fired up but Tonga wasn't interesting at any point. Some crappy strikes, a nerve hold, and a gutwrench suplex is the extent of Tonga's output here. The layout and flow were pretty poor also. I'm noticing a pattern as you can kind of make a similar comment about some of the previous matches.
  20. Only thing that hurts this match slightly to me is there are too many falls. How many times has Steamboat been pinned after 7 minutes, much less after taking only one move? This is the opposite of Bret/Shawn Iron Man, but where that match had too few falls, this has too many. I think they should have made this 2-1 or 3-2 instead. I said in another thread that for the US, I have this right below War Games and Sting/Vader and on equal footing with about 8 other matches.
  21. I generally love this match but the ending was such a rip-off that I didn't want to watch any WCW for a month. I can't believe they went 30 minutes only to end on a run-in. I also have to disagree with Barry and Arn not being a good singles match up. Next to Tully, I think Arn is Barry's best opponent. I like all of their matches, and they have really strong matches in 4 different years. My personal favorite is the '91 match from Pro. This is one is really good too and builds on the '91 match.
  22. I remember how excited I was at the time of this show, eventually getting my parents to order it after Thanksgiving dinner. In the build up there was a clear focus on this being a "techinal" match-up with Bret in his promos specifically mentioning the importance of technical wrestling, speed and skill. This was pretty novel for the WWF at the time coming off years with Warrior and Hogan headlining and this match-up really hooked me on getting the show. I realize Savage/Flair main evented WrestleMania earlier in the year but that was built up more around the issue with Liz than the promise of an excellent match, Anyway, I hope this match doesn't get slept on. I guess it was a pretty standard layout to the match, with Bret outwrestling Shawn early at every turn until Shawn got lucky with a stun-gun maneuver and then with Bret too aggressive ramming his own shoulder into the corner post. I liked how it took two major moves to transition to Shawn's control segment. I guess Shawn in control would then be the only weak spot of the match. Shawn really slowed this down with two chinlocks and two front facelocks and it's not as if he a lot of time to fill either. But Bret picked it up again and they took it home well enough. I should note Hart's offensive execution in this match was awesome just hitting everything so crisply. I particularly loved the flying forearm that sent Shawn into the ropes. In general I thought this might have been an even bigger one-man show than the Bulldog match at Wembley, as everything here is mostly Bret's stock offense and bumps (shoulder to the post, sternum turnbuckle, missed 2nd rope elbow, missed cross body into the ropes, etc.). Shawn really doesn't do anything notable except his excellent bumping and a pretty sweet superkick. In comparing this to other US matches from 1992, I would say only War Games and Sting/Vader at Starrcade are outright better. Bret/Shawn to me is on the next rung down with about 8 other matches (Flair/Savage from WM, Rude/Steamboat Iron Man, Sting/Vader I, Bret/Bulldog, Bret/Flair, Liger/Pillman, Sting/Cactus, and Barry/Arn). Man, '92 was a great year.
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