Stephen-

Fun! We are missing around 5 minutes of it, and we join in progress with Brunzell in control. Brunzell spends a large portion of the match posing obstacles for Bockwinkel on the mat, a sight you do not see often. Bockwinkel’s struggle and frustration becomes apparent over time, and he starts to become desperate. Eventually, Bock is able to find his way to the ropes and, being the slimy bastard he is, uses this to his advantage and after breaking, drives his knee directly into Brunzell’s leg multiple times. This starts a long stretch of Bockwinkel making Brunzell pay for his actions. Brunzell’s selling of Bockwinkel’s offense is remarkable here, and contrary to expectations, it was Bockwinkel to really up the pace in the encounter from Brunzell’s more methodical work. Bockwinkel, though, gets overzealous and allows Brunzell to find a way into the match. Here, we get four beautiful dropkicks from Brunzell and a figure four nearly applied before Bockwinkel’s second, Ray Stevens, climbs onto the apron. Brunzell engages with Stevens, Bockwinkel looks to attack Brunzell from behind but misses and hits Stevens, Brunzell capitalizes with two more dropkicks and a three count to beat the world champion in a non title bout. It’s a solid match. I think it’s worth watching. *** 1/4

Wow. This blew me away with how good it was. It lasts less than 5 minutes and they go at it from the opening bell. The first few sequences are Jarrett and Embry with reversal after reversal, mirroring one another. Embry finally gets the better of Jarrett and then lays him out with a vicious clothesline. Jarrett gets up, lands his own, and Embry is down. Embry finds his way to his feet, and Jarrett attempts another, but Embry falls out of harm's way just in time, sending Jarrett spilling over the top rope onto the concrete exterior of the Pavilion. Jarrett lands on his shoulder here and I do not know if his injury was legitimate or not. That’s how well Jarrett sells it. Jarrett finds his way back in the ring just before ten and Embry immediately starts working that shoulder. Embry whips Jarrett into the corner and charges Jarrett, Jarrett gets his foot up and goes aerial. Jarrett lands a huge dropkick from the turnbuckle and lands directly on the shoulder. Jarrett lands a smooth sunset flip into a pin, Embry kicks out. Backslide, Embry kicks out. Roll up, Embry kicks out. Jarrett is determined and fighting. Sunset flip again, Embry reverses into a small package of his own and Jarrett is unable to beat the three count. God, this match is so great. Eric Embry promises Jarrett a rematch when he is healthy and then cuts the interview short to check on Jarrett. Must watch. Go check it out. *** 1/2

This is a really good opener. It only runs for about 6 or so minutes but the Guerreros make the most of their run time. A really chaotic trio constantly tagging in and out and sustaining a hectic pace. I think this is one of the more fun matches in late stage AWA, and worth checking out. ***

This match is good fun. DeBeers is pretty mediocre, and Slaughter does as Slaughter does to get a solid match out of him. I do think they could have used the stipulation better as this is no worse than a modern day WWE street fight, but it is a solid brawl no less. DeBeers, for all of his limitations, has electric heat here and the crowd is loving Slaughter beat the crap out of him. It’s okay. Watch if it interests you. ***

This is pretty awesome. So we get Bockwinkel on commentary for the footage we have and he gives a lot of great insight to his psychology, which is second to none in pro wrestling. From the start, Bockwinkel is targeting the heavily taped fist of Verne, to either eliminate Verne's strikes or weaken them significantly. Verne reverses the tide by doing the same to Bockwinkel. In the midst of this fist work is a lot of great limb work from both men and some great, high level technical wrestling and mat exchanges. Plenty of clean reversals throughout the match because Bockwinkel and Verne know each other so well and thus predict each other's next step. Bockwinkel's offensive wrestling in this match is seriously great. One of the better scientific back and forths I have seen. The ending is really fun. Bockwinkel thinks he has it won and celebrates with Heenan, he in fact did not have it won because Gagne's foot was on the rope, and Verne attacks Bockwinkel sending him into Heenan and Heenan goes flying. Some more back and forths between the two and we get a finish as Bockwinkel sends Verne towards the ropes and Heenan lowers them, forcing Verne to spill over. Bockwinkel is disqualified. Wow. This match is amazing. I highly suggest seeking this one out. ****

Joined in progress. Heenan is strangling Gomez, and Gomez has some excellent facial expressions selling the maneuver. Bobby Heenan lands some really nice snug punches and a huge dropkick, then attempts to exit the cage. It cuts to Gomez attempting to rip brass knuckles off of Heenan's hands, and then another cut to Gomez pulling Heenan off the cage and laying him out. Gomez now equips the brass knuckles himself and unloads countless right hands on Heenan after being told off by the referee. Because who cares what the referee says? It's a cage! Heenan has a full crimson mask. It is beautiful. Bobby recovers and lays out Gomez with a right hand. The mat is now red and the commentary points this out. Gomez removes the tape from the brass knuckles and digs them into Heenan's cut. Some more aerial offense in trading dropkicks. Heenan claws to the cage and starts climbing, Gomez meets him there. Gomez slams Heenan into the top of the cage and Heenan goes flying backwards. A pin attempt from Gomez and Heenan kicks out. Heenan, yet, is first up and wobbles to the cage to climb. Gomez stops him and Heenan hardly resists. Pin from Gomez that I thought ended the match but no. We get Heenan attempting some offense on Gomez and missing badly, sending himself head first into the steel. Gomez follows it up with a huge stomp and that is finally the end. What a fun match even if clipped. Super recommend. Super fun. ***

Clipped. This match is chaos. Bobo Brazil is taking on anything that moves and very quickly, they no longer move. We start with Heenan inviting offense, which is a rarity, and later on I am sure he regrets it. Heenan, once again, is amazing in this match. I think I say this for every Heenan review but he was. Heenan throws himself all around Comiskey Park. He's such a great bumper. The Sheik is pretty good here too, and gets the finish by biting and pinning Bobo Brazil. Fun stuff. Go ahead and watch it. From what we have, **.

This is another clipped match. The first clip is dominated by Graham, presenting issues to Snyder with a headlock. Every time Snyder exits, he finds himself back in Graham's hold. The second extended clip is mostly Snyder action, which is disappointing because it's largely Snyder with the worst stomps ever, but Graham still sells the arm really well. The third clip is more Graham, and he's got some crisp offense. A nice treat after the Snyder offense. We get some heel antics from Graham with working the corner and raking the eyes, but Graham immediately pays in the form of eating the turnbuckle. Snyder starts to work Graham, Graham finds himself to the ropes and instead of breaking, turns Snyder and goes for a huge punch... and misses! And Graham goes flying over the top rope! Graham returns to the ring and begs Snyder for mercy, to which the crowd reacts with displeasure. Snyder takes too long to attack and Graham does it for him. Back to holds from Graham. This is Graham's bread and butter here. Snyder makes his way to his feet and flips the action. Graham does the same and we get an exchange in the corner. Huge sequence of flying headscissors from Wilbur Snyder, the best action from him so far in the match. The finish comes when both are counted out for brawling on the apron rather than entering the ring. Very cool finish. There is more to the match and it heats up pretty quickly. Graham works his holds very well here and when he is forced to stand, has some neat strikes. This is a good match. I recommend. ** 3/4.

This match is joined in progress and also heavily clipped so no rating. The highlights are pretty full of your standard action in a tag team bout, with a really nice hot tag from Watts and Wahoo McDaniel in the first fall. Billy Graham takes a punch on the apron and takes a lovely bump. Bill Watts tries to stop in front of the ropes after Ladd drops to evade him and finds himself hanging from the ropes...? I don't know how this has happened. He is freed in between cuts and we return to Watts convulsing on the outside and it looks so good. Wahoo McDaniel is comforting his teammate, and Watts is escorted to the back leaving McDaniel to complete the match alone. Ladd/Graham win the second fall, I assume by count out? I do not know. From what we have of the third fall, Wahoo gives a good account of himself but the numbers advantage gets to him. Yeah, I don't know, not enough of it to rate but it's an okay match.

This is a fine match. Verne is really amped up for this one and takes the fight to Valiant. It's one of the more fiery Verne matches, from my estimation. We get some good Heenan spots like the classic head clash with [insert Heenan wrestler] and Heenan flying over the ropes and accidentally taking out Valiant rather than Verne. Heenan rushes the ring at the end and immediately runs into a right hand from Gagne, that Heenan sells wonderfully. In my review, I think I am coming to really enjoy Heenan's performance in this more than the two wrestlers. It's not bad though. Just is what it is. ** 1/2.

I did not feel the promo at all, maybe it is lost on me with age, but the action speaks to me. We start off with Dusty being the ultimate chickenshit and after finding nowhere to run, using Dick Murdoch as a human shield! He takes a huge punch from Bruiser and bumps huge, in typical Dusty fashion, and it looks great. I now realize this match is clipped with it cutting to Crusher ramming Dusty's cranium into the metal post. On the opposite side of the ring, Dick the Bruiser is doing the same to Dick Murdoch. I now realize this match is a battle of dicks. Nasty blade job from Dusty and the blood is pouring from his eye down his chest. Sick. Dusty and Murdoch are sent head first into one another. Dusty is going to have a mean headache after this one. Dusty THEN takes a huge chair shot on the outside. God, why won't anyone think about poor Dusty? The crowd is eating this up though. And into the post once more. A finish happens? I am not sure what happened there. But Dusty and Murdoch take another beating after the match ends for their efforts. Also throughout my experience, I heard a slur from Verne Gagne on no less than 5 occasions. The match was fun. Nothing great. Dusty Rhodes was a great heel here to make Dick The Bruiser look great. ** 1/4.

Hahahaha this match rules so hard. This is so great. The match starts off with Baron Von Raschke splitting Wilbur Snyder's skull open with brass knuckles, so he's off to get bandaged. Bell rings and Andre beats the life out of Baron, and Baron sells everything so, so well. After about 5 minutes of a beating, Baron finally gets some offense in with the assistance of Bobby Heenan on the outside tripping Andre, and Baron claws at Andre's eyes and face. This essentially blinds Andre for the rest of the match, so enter the returning Wilbur Snyder to save Andre. Snyder unloads on Baron, and the referee just watches on. Maybe there was a stipulation I missed? Heenan also watches on, and only interferes a couple times to save Baron from this beating. This goes on. And on. Eventually Andre recovers to some degree after some wonderful eye selling, which was especially satisfying after watching Abdullah the Butcher no sell the same thing yesterday, and we get the ending sequence. Snyder has Baron firmly in an abdominal stretch, and Heenan steps in to break it up. Andre catches on and has a go at Heenan, Heenan tries to hide behind Snyder and Baron, and we get Andre chasing Heenan in circles around the two. THIS IS SO GREAT. But seriously, this is must watch. Check it out. *** 3/4

I don't know what I just watched. It's clipped to hell and back. The falls aren't even in the footage. But alas, this is really fun. If you're not an Andre guy, gal, or pal, I suggest checking this one out. Andre is running all over the ring kicking ass. Stevens and Bock are taking huge bumps for him. Dr. X is amazing here too and there's a nice sequence of shoulder tackles he does that popped me, but this is the Andre show. Not enough for me to rate but it's worth watching. Go check it out. It is maybe 6 minutes.

This match looks like mayhem. We have 7 minutes of THIRTY FIVE available, and I am a little bummed out that we don't have more. This is nonstop action within the footage we have. Dick the Bruiser and The Crusher are hounding on the Blackjacks. And Heenan is trapped in the cage. And Heenan is great here. Heenan pisses off special guest referee Jersey Joe Walcott towards the end and Walcott lands a peach of a punch on Heenan's jaw and Heenan dies. Because Heenan is the best bumper ever. We get the weasel coughing up blood at the end too from Walcott's blow. Nice! Anyways, highly recommend from what I can see here. It's great fun. *** 1/2 Also, on commentary. "Here comes Dick the Bruiser... he's pounding Blackjack Mulligan" what a line.

It is a fine match. Only goes about five minutes before Dr. X gets himself disqualified for dropkicking the referee as a way to escape Verne Gagne's famed sleeper hold. It's a bit of a lull. **

We join in the middle of the match and O'Connor is applying a toe hold. O'Connor is relentless with the toe holds in this match, and Bockwinkel displays some of the best selling of the leg I have seen. O'Connor is claimed to have boxing experience, and from this footage, I believe it. (side note: I am surprised I have not heard about this? I know of a Pat O'Connor that did box but he would not have been born when the wrestler began his career.) He throws beautiful punches, head and body, to Bockwinkel. I have not seen a lot of Pat O'Connor so this is mostly new to me and I understand why many are high on him. Bockwinkel has limited offense in this match but makes the most of it in pummeling the back of O'Connor's skull while O'Connor is trapped in the corner. This one ends in a roll up exchange with Bockwinkel narrowly escaping with the victory, in typical Bock fashion. I really like the action here and despite it being only around 7 minutes of the match, it's worth checking out. *** 1/4

It's a fine match but it drags out way too long. I was pretty disinterested for the latter half of the match. I thought Jim Brunzell was excellent here offensively, though. I would have enjoyed it more if it went 15. ** 1/2.

I saw this and thought, I am going to watch this because it cannot be that bad. My famous last words. This match fucking blows. Not due to Carlos Colon. He tries. Abdullah the Butcher fucking stinks. One of the select few worst wrestlers ever. And this is horrible. The match is built around losing sight and the guy can't even bother to close his eye? Also, for someone supposed to be a brawler, his punches are horrible. Just awful. If you like Abdullah the Butcher, great for you, the next good match of his I see will be the first.

We only have about half of this match available but it's pretty dang good from what we do have. Bockwinkel and Santana together were always amazing. Bockwinkel is just a huge prick in this match, Santana is one of the best faces ever, they both throw some great looking punches and the wrestling here is excellent. Also, that one sequence where Tito drills Bock's head into the ground and Bockwinkel sells it like he's been shot. God. Amazing. It's Bock, it's Tito, it's good. Not as good as the match they'd have later in the year but that's one of the best matches ever. Still, go watch it. *** 1/2

The match is clipped. It is explained in pre match segments that Baron Von Raschke is an "assassin" for Mad Dog Vachon, seeking revenge on Big John Studd and Jerry Blackwell for hospitalizing Vachon. We join with Studd applying a chin lock to Baron. Immediately standing out to me is Baron selling Studd's offense. It looks great. Studd drops the Baron and goes for a fist drop, but Baron counters with his famous claw. Blackwell, on the outside here, climbs onto the apron to disrupt Baron and Baron swiftly deals with him for his troubles. Baron then reapplies his claw grip to Studd and Studd submits. Blackwell storms the ring afterwards and is laid out by Baron (again). It's good. Nothing to write home about but we have maybe 3 minutes of footage from this. Not enough of the match presumably for me to rate it. If you're a fan of Studd or Baron, check it out.

I enjoyed this so much. This is what tag team wrestling should be. The dynamics of the teams together and opposing one another were amazing. The High Flyers wearing down Blackwell, Blackwell himself becoming a high flyer (LOL, but Blackwell was very agile!), Studd kicking butt. Greg Gagne takes a beating and there was one spot that is still in my mind because it was so unique to me and I thought hey, why does this not happen more often? Studd makes the hot tag to Blackwell and while doing so, holds the foot of Gagne so Gagne cannot do the same to Brunzell. BEAST. Anyways, eventually Jim Brunzell gets into the match and he solos the big men. At one point, he bodyslammed Studd. BEAST, AGAIN. This match devolves into mayhem and the ending comes with Studd taking out Blackwell with a punch by accident. Very good. I recommend. *** 3/4.

This was great. Big John Studd asserts his dominance early, and the counter from Vachon gets the crowd to erupt. They engage again, Studd is tripped and Vachon bites his toes. Studd flees, crowd erupts. Studd gets the better of Vachon in the next exchange, Vachon escapes to the outside this time and baits Studd into a huge chair shot. Crowd erupts. Yeah, Mad Dog was extremely over in this period and it rocks. This was a well worked match with Studd on top for a lot of it. Vachon does a great job selling the head damage he sustains from Studd's huge punches and also Studd forcing him headfirst into the corners. Mad Dog has one last huge rally in him in the corner and just as he starts to lay it on Studd, the referee pulls the two apart. While holding Vachon back, Studd decks Vachon causing the referee to disqualify BJS. Mad Dog Vachon wins. This was a very good showcase of two guys knowing how to work to their audience, and also it's Mad Dog so obviously.. it's good! I recommend watching. It's a lot of fun. ***

As the only poster in this thread, I will give a more detailed breakdown as well as my review. This starts off with a great segment where 'Mean' Gene Okerlund reveals Heenan's opponent to be Mad Dog Vachon, to which Heenan and Bockwinkel LOSE IT and Heenan gripes that Vachon has no interest in a wrestling match, but rather to rip him apart. Heenan is likely correct. We then cut to Mad Dog Vachon, who claims he feels ashamed to get paid for the match against Heenan because he is going to break [insert limb]. Heenan was correct. The bell rings after a good two minutes of Heenan absolutely terrified to start and Mad Dog immediately stalks him out of the ring. Heenan is warned by the referee for repeated attempts to flee. Heenan eventually chooses to simply turn his head and take his beating, and does he. Vachon rails his head into the turnbuckle a good few times, causing Heenan to roll out and vomit (maybe just spit? but i enjoy marking) on the outside. Vachon lands a peach of a right hand that Heenan sells like it came from George Foreman. The crowd at this point is hot and wants to see Vachon batter Heenan. Heenan strings together some stiff offense and works on Vachon as Mad Dog is trapped in the corner. Vachon maybe makes Heenan's offense look a little stronger than he should, but oh well. Vachon stumbles across the ring after a few more Heenan punches and takes a minute to recuperate, but Heenan pounces. Vachon eventually counters one of Heenan's punches, and makes Heenan pay in a serious way. After Vachon gets in his groove and starts raking the back of Heenan, Heenan decides he has had enough and runs out of the ring. Vachon wins by count out. This is pretty good stuff. Not the best from either man, and I do think Vachon probably should have dominated a little more than he did, but Heenan was such a damn coward weasel here and Vachon's constant stalking was terrifying. Vachon also sells his rear end off for Heenan, and again I do not think he should have to that degree, but it looked great. He made Heenan look like a serious threat. Heenan, in fairness, did have some beautiful looking offense to counter. I really enjoyed this! I think it's worth checking out. *** 1/2.