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Heaven neeeeeeeeded a chaaaaaaampiooooooon!!!!! Great card coming up, looking forward to the steel cage match especially.

In retrospect, Patera heading to Japan actually worked out pretty well for me. I wanted to be able to build up challengers but at the same time keep the champ and his crew strong. With him away, the Garvins were able to pick up some wins and establish themselves as top contenders. Now that the champ is back, though, the Sinister Syndicate has regained focus and the babyfaces are going to find it a much steeper climb.

AWA show at the Denver Auditorium, Denver, June 15th (shown on ESPN Supercards) Gama Singh vs. Jose Lothario Singh won with the Cobra Clutch Al Perez vs. Manny Fernandez Perez won with a rollup after Fernandez was distracted by Da Crusher at ringside The Wild Bills vs. The Latin Lovers The Wild Bills won when they hit a double lariat on Cruz AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Greg Gagne Gagne won by DQ when he was attacked by Rip Oliver and Ed Wiskowski, but did not win the title. AWA World Tag Title match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Mothership Connection In a match that went over 29 minutes and looked like it might go to the time limit, Parsons was going for a piledriver on Prichard when Eaton came off the top rope and hit an elbow smash to the back of the head, then put Prichard on top of Parsons to get the win Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Olympia Both men were counted out when they were brawling outside the ring The Garvins vs. Ken Patera vs. One Man Gang In a match when the Syndicate kept working over Jimmy Garvin’s right arm, Garvin managed to get One Man Gang in position for the DDT but couldn’t sink it in, and when he went for it again, Patera leveled him with a massive lariat to give the victory to the Syndicate

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN, June 15th Interview : Mean Gene stands in the AWA control center Mean Gene : Folks, the AWA recently has been shaken by some big news concerning one of its biggest stars. Here to give his side of that story is the former 2 time AWA World Champion, Hulk Hogan. Hogan comes out, more subdued than normal. Hogan : Thanks so much, Mean Gene, for you and the AWA board of directors giving me this chance to speak my piece. As you know, I am coming towards the end of my contract with the AWA. At the same time that my contract negotiation was approaching, a major new opportunity has been presented to me to enter another promotion and gain exposure to a whole new set of fans. Now this was a very tough decision for me, as everyone know how much the AWA fans mean to me, but as I was ultimately not able to come to terms with the AWA for a new contract, I came to the realization that it was time for the Hulkster to move on. I have accomplished almost every thing I have set out to in the AWA and at the July 4th show in the Metrodome, I will wrestle my last AWA match. Mean Gene : Hulkster, you said that you have accomplished *almost* everything … would you like to clarify? Hogan : Well, y’know, Mean Gene … I have one last bit of unfinished business to take care of. Before I left for my tour of Japan, I was having a lot of trouble with my former friend, Mr. Olympia. He betrayed me, he cost me my World title, he even cost me my shot at being #1 contender again. So in the Metrodome, I have signed for one final match, no excuses, no outside interference, mano a mano … and I will get my revenge on Mr. Olympia as my last statement to the great AWA fans. Mean Gene : Well, Hulkster, I understand your position but you will certainly be missed. Hogan : Thank you, Mean Gene, it has been a pleasure working with you. Super Destroyer & Manny Fernandez vs. Al Perez & Da Crusher Whether it was because they were wary of Perez and his recent string of victories over members of the Army, or it was because of the hatred between Fernandez and Da Crusher, the members of the Army looked determined to keep Perez out of the ring. They kept up a furious attack on Da Crusher, brawling with him while keeping him in their corner of the ring and preventing Perez from tagging in. On a couple of occasions, it looked like he had managed to tag in, only for Col. Robley and his men to distract the ref at the last second and Perez would be sent back into his corner. This finally caught up with the Army as, while Super Destroyer and Fernandez were brawling with Crusher and Robley was jawing with the ref, Perez simply strode into the ring, slapped his hands together behind the ref’s head, and then caught Super D unawares with an inside cradle. The ref, thinking that he had heard Perez legally tag in, rushed over and counted the pinfall as Fernandez and Crusher slugged it out. The Army was livid but the result stood. Paul Orndorff vs. Chick Donovan This match up of two muscular men showed how Orndorff was gaining momentum since moving over to the side of the fan favorites. Donovan tried to lure Mr. Wonderful into a pose down but Orndorff wouldn’t be drawn in, instead rocking Donovan with a clothesline and following up with several high impact power slams before finishing him off with a piledriver. The crowd cheered loudly as Orndorff stood tall in the ring. AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Express © vs. The Wild Bills The Southern Tag champs have been facing some pretty intense competition of late, but his was perhaps their toughest challenge in facing much larger opponents, namely the former World Tag champions the Wild Bills. The Bills came in with a reputation of bullying their opposition, but the Nor-Am Express were clearly having none of that. Zenk and Lafon dealt with the Bills’ attempts to overpower them by using their speed and technical expertise to out-maneuver, out-think and just plain out wrestle Irwin and Haynes. Every time the Bills thought they had the Express dead to rights, they would pull out some high flying or double team move to retake control of the match. The Wild Bills finally got so frustrated that they brought their bullropes into the ring and clocked Zenk with the cowbell right in front of the ref, leading to a DQ. Even then, their attempts to curb stomp Zenk were cut short by Lafon knocking them off with a flying double clothesline and he and Zenk attacked the Bills every time they tried to get back in the ring, playing King Of The Mountain with the much bigger team. The Nor-Am Express are clear that they are not intimidated by anyone, including the Wild Bills. Tito Santana & Greg Gagne vs. Buddy Rose & Bob Sweetan This match featured a champion on either side and continued Santana and Gagne’s individual wars with members of the Playboy Club. Gagne was clearly on fire and gunning for Rose, trying to take as much advantage to wear him down for their Southern title matches, to the extent that is was all Santana could do to keep him reigned in and under control. This wound up costing them as Gagne was able to get the Gagne Sleeper on Rose, but as the ref was ushering Santana back out of the ring, Sweetan was able to hit Gagne with a nasty clip to the back of the leg to break up the hold. Rose then made the cover on the badly hurt Gagne for the win. The Garvins & Adrian Street vs. Ken Patera, One Man Gang & Mr. Olympia This was Patera’s first match back on his return from Japan, where he had knocked off several challenges from both Japanese and American wrestlers in a series of very impressive title defenses. In his absence, the Syndicate had their hands full with the Garvins and Patera looked set to take command and get the Syndicate back on track. The Garvins and Street came at them full bore but this was clearly a Syndicate with a new focus to shut down any potential challenges, tagging in and out of the ring and double or triple teaming their opposition whenever possible. Street got more and more reckless as the match went on, ultimately staggering Patera with a pair of running clotheslines but the third time turned out to be too many as Patera caught him and then hit him with a brutal backbreaker. He got the three count and delivered a message to the Garvins and any other challengers : you want my belt, you better step your game up and be ready to pay the consequences.

Frick

Thanks for the feedback. Past few weeks have been a bit challenging, with both Hulk Hogan and my World champ away in Japan. They will be back in time for my next shows and I can start heading full throttle on the road to the Canada Day/Independence Day shows.

AWA show at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, June 8th (as shown on ESPN Supercards) Great Gama Sing vs. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong Sing won with the Camel Clutch “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell vs. Jose Lothario Blackwell won with a running splash The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino, Javier Cruz & Al Perez) vs. The Wild Bills & The Super Destroyer The Latin Lovers won when, after Perez tripped Irwin while coming off the ropes, Cruz hit a swinging neckbreaker AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Iceman Parsons Parsons won with the Inside Out Backbreaker The Road Warriors vs. The Cuban Commandos The contest was thrown out after the match broke down into in and out of the ring brawling AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Connection © vs. Badd Company The Nor-Am Connection won when Zenk dropkicked Tanaka into a Cobra Clutch Suplex by Lafon AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. Bob Sweetan Both men went to a 30 minute time limit draw The Garvins & Paul Orndorff vs. Mr. Olympia, One Man Gang & Sheikh Adnan Kaissie The Sheikh and his crew thought they had it all sewn up as then had Jimmy Garvin trapped in their corner , relentlessly working over his right arm. But the Sheikh got cocky, taking time to grandstand and jaw with the ref, not taking in that Ron Garvin and Paul Orndorff had knocked his partners from the ring. He turned around to find he was facing all three members of the opposition, who took him down and hit a spike piledriver for the victory.

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN, June 8th Tom Zenk vs. Paul Diamond As one half of the AWA Southern Tag Team champions the Nor Am Express, Tom Zenk has mostly been dealing with the challenge of the Latin Lovers. However, Badd Company has felt like they have been overlooked for title contention, and in this match they would get in the ring with the champs, albeit in a singles match between two rookies. This was a predictably fast paced and dynamic match that could have gone either way, but as it wore on, it seemed clear that the coaching Zenk had gotten from Phil Lafon and Jose Lothario was paying off. Zenk was gradually able to assume complete control of the match and was able to duck a desperation superkick from Diamond, countering by locking him in the Sleeper. This was the cue for Pat Tanaka to dash into the ring and take Zenk down with a vicious legsweep, leading to the DQ decision that cost Zenk a decisive victory over Diamond. The Wild Bills vs. The Latin Lovers The Wild Bills clearly were more interested in getting revenge on the third member of the Lovers, Al Perez, for his recent string of victories over them in singles matches. As it stood, they settled for battering his partners, Vinnie Valentino and Javier Cruz. There seemed to be an extra thread of viciousness to their attacks and the ref had his work cut out for him just trying to keep one of the Bills in the ring at a time, not to mention Col. Buck Robley making his presence felt whenever he could. While Billy Jack and Robley were pummeling Valentino in one corner, Bill Irwin was setting up Cruz for the superplex in the opposite corner. Little did he know that Al Perez had snuck down to ringside and wound the Bills’ own bullrope around Irwin’s ankle and when he went for the superplex, he was thrown off by the bullrope and awkwardly crashed to the mat. An exhausted Cruz draped an arm over Irwin and got the pin. Perez proceeded to laugh at the Army but his partners seemed puzzled that he would resort to such a tactic. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong vs. Angel Acevedo One again, Armstrong gets caught in the crossfire of the war between his good friends, the Road Warriors, and their current rivals, the Cuban Commandos. This was pretty much a bare knuckled slug fest between two brawlers where the momentum of the match swung back and forth. It looked like Armstrong was about to polish off Acevedo with a mighty running clothesline, but the Cuban Assassin ducked at the last moment and came back with a running neckbreaker drop that flattened the Wild Man. He then picked him up and hit an over-the-shoulder neckbreaker that finished Armstrong off for good. AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. Rip Oliver Of late, Santana has had his hands full with Bob Sweetan challenging for his American title, but this time out it was Sweetan’s fellow Playboy Club member Rip Oliver taking on the popular Mexican firebrand. Oliver looked to be trying to soften Santana up for his teammate, with moves that looked more likely to injure than win the match and focusing particular attention on the neck of Santana. Santana was able to rally with a series of lightning quick dropkicks followed by hitting the Mexican Hammer Forearm that got the pinfall in a successful title defense. Paul Orndorff vs. “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell Mr. Wonderful was making his first appearance in a match since being kicked out of the Sinister Syndicate, and the fans seemed ready to accept his change of heart as they cheered on his quest for revenge. The Syndicate, for their part, seemed determined to nip his threat right in the bud by sending out their biggest gun, the huge “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell. Blackwell presented a considerable challenge to Orndorff, as his incredible bulk curtailed any attempt to slam him. Orndorff adapted to this by instead rocking him with big tackles and clotheslines to try to take him off his feet. Blackwell, on the other hand, felt free to slam Orndorff to his heart’s content, dropping several meaty elbow drops to wear down his former cohort. Seeking to get rid of Orndorff once and for all, Blackwell held the exhausted Mr. Wonderful in a waistlock while Sheikh Kaissie entered the ring and unleashed a huge fireball. Orndorff, however, was able do break loose just in time, and the Crusher caught to fireball square in the chest. Orndorff tossed the mortified Sheikh out of the ring then hit a big running kneedrop on the felled Blackwell for the win.

It's been been a roller coaster week in the AWA, but it looks like things have turned around for the mid-west promotion. After the news that they were not able to sign a new contract with former champion Hulk Hogan, word has trickled back that they were able to cut a deal with another promotion to pick up Hogan's option, in exchange for sending a major talent their way. This, along with the rumor of a major talent deal with the newly re-opened PNW territory, seems to have provided the AWA with the leverage they needed to finally close the long in the works deal with ESPN. That's right, they have finally closed the deal and from here on in, AWA All-Star Wrestling will be broadcast nation wide in the sports cable channel. This will definitely help expand the AWA and help re-establish them after all of the recent changes.

Awesome kickoff for the promotion. Can't wait to see where this goes.

AWA Show at the Met Center, Bloomington, June 1st Gama Singh vs. Jose Lothario Singh won with the Cobra Clutch The Latin Lovers vs. Badd Company The Latin Lovers won when they hit the Love Missile on Diamond Ed Wiskowski vs. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong Wiskowski won by getting Armstrong with the face first pile driver Da Crusher & Al Perez vs. Super Destroyer & Manny Fernandez Crusher & Perez won when Perez caught Super D in a German Suplex AWA World Tag Team title match : The Heavenly Bodies vs. The Road Warriors The Road Warriors won by DQ when they were attacked by the Cuban Commandos, but did not win the titles. AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. Bob Sweetan In an intense match that had Santana just barely escape getting hit with a piledriver at several points, both men went to a 30 minute time limit draw Ron & Jimmy Garvin vs. Mr. Olympia & One Man Gang In an extremely chaotic match, the end came when Sheikh Kaissie took advantage of a ref distraction to throw a huge fireball at Ron Garvin, followed by Gang hitting a running splash for the pin. Gang then brought his chain into the ring and the three members of the Syndicate proceeded to attack both of the Garvins until suddenly, somebody charged into the ring tossed them to the outside. PAUL ORNDORFF? Mr. Wonderful , who had not been seen since he had been beaten down and kicked out of the Syndicate, made his return to the AWA ring to rescue the Garvins, grabbing One Man Gang’s dropped chain and swinging it wildly when the villains tried to get back in the ring.

AWA All-Star Wrestling for June 1st Announcement : Mean Gene Okerlund stands in the AWA Control Room, his face looking very grave. Mean Gene : Folks, as some of you know, former World champion Hulk Hogan is coming to the end of his contract with the AWA. The Board of Governors and the Hulkster’s agents have been in constant communication to try to reach an agreement for a new contract, but Hulk Hogan has just communicated to us from Japan that …. He will not be signing a new contract and instead will be pursuing an opportunity in another promotion. While this breaks the hearts of us in the AWA, as I am sure it does for many of you fans at home, we understand if he feels it is his time to move on. Rest assured, while this is a loss for the AWA, we will keep on striving to provide you, the great AWA fans, with the very best in professional wrestling entertainment. We wish Hulk Hogan the very best of luck in his new situation. Jose Lothario vs. Chick Donovan With that bombshell out of the way, we head to the ring for action. With their respective teams involved in an off and on feud, it now fell to the third men of the Nor-Am Express to square off in a singles match. The tough Lothario went at it, toe to toe, with the muscular Donovan in a match that looked like it could go either way until Lothario made the mistake of turning his back on Donovan and Donavan blindsided him with a brutal clip from behind to the knee. Donovan then put Lothario in the Figure Four until he was forced to submit. The Golden One seemed well pleased with himself but nobody in the audience was. Ron and Jim Garvin vs. Badd Company Speaking of Badd Company, the rookie team found themselves in the path of the Garvins, who were gearing up for their challenge to the Sinister Syndicate. Full credit to Badd Company, they gave the Garvins a run for their money with fast paced offense and lots of quick in and out tags. They tried to finish them off when Tanaka got Jimmy in a waistlock and Diamond tried to come in with a superkick, but Garvin was able to leap up and kick Diamond back, then turn his position around to hit Tanaka with a DDT for the pin. A tough loss for Badd Company but they managed to look good in spite of it. Gama Singh vs. Master Gee This was a mostly technical match based around Master Gee working over Singh’s legs to set up the Master Lock (Fuller Leglock) and Singh trying to set up Gee for either the Cobra Clutch or the Camel Clutch. At one point , the Great Gama did get Gee in the Camel Clutch but Master Gee was able to inch over to the ropes, causing the ref to force a break. When he was able to recover, Gee was able to take down Singh and tried to apply the Master Lock, only for Singh to get him in a small package, assisted by a fistful of trunks, that finally got him the pin. Al Perez vs. Col. Buck Robley Perez has managed to pick up a lot of surprising victories over various members of Robley’s Army, leading to the Colonel himself to take direct intervention. He was clearly out to hurt Perez and make him pay for showing up his men, frequently attacking him with his thick leather forearm pad. Perez made use of his technical skills to duck and dodge out of the way of many of his shots, but eventually Robley got him in the corner and started whaling on him. The Colonel then slid something into his forearm guard and tried to hit Perez in the head with it, only for Perez to duck out of the way and Robley hit the turnbuckle instead, his forearm bouncing back and hitting himself in the forehead. Perez then swiftly caught Robley in a rollup to get the quick one-two-three. AWA World Tag Team title match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Cuban Commandos The Bodies certainly had their work cut out for them, defending their belts against a team that had even less regard for the rules than they did. Jim Cornette was in a constant state of panic during the match as his men tried to get control of the match though double teams and judicious use of the tennis racket, only for the Commandos to come raging back with ferocious brawling. It must have come as a relief to Cornette when the Road Warriors charged the ring and attacked the Commandos, leading to a DQ finish. Cornette and the Bodies grabbed the title belts and headed back to the locker room, leaving the Road Warriors and the Cuban Commandos to settle things among themselves.

Sweet deal, works well for both sides.

Good point, Slaughter was still on the Big Time roster when it was acquired by Montreal. It was Masa Fuchi who was dropped to make way for Lefebvre, so Slaughter is still technically on the roll call for International.

Wow, lots of moves and even new territories opening up. Exciting stuff. I am almost caught up and will be making my own big announcement , hopefully in the next couple of days. Another promoter and I have been sitting on this for a while, it will be good to make the big reveal that will sure to generate a lot of excitement. If you can get things worked out with your friend Sutton, please get him in touch with me with regards to the Heavenly Bodies. I am definitely up to work things out with them, just need to know his plans.

AWA Show at the Winnipeg Arena, May 25th Al Perez vs. Super Destroyer Al Perez won when he got the huger Super Destroyer in a German Suplex AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Express © vs. The Latin Lovers Both teams went to a 30 minute time limit draw The Road Warriors & “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong vs. The Cuban Commandos & Great Gama Singh The Commandos won when they hit a spike piledriver on Armstrong AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Greg Gagne When the Playboy Club rushed the ring and attacked Gagne, Greg won the match by DQ but did not win the title The Garvins & Adrian Street vs. One Man Gang , Mr. Olympia & Sheikh Adnan Kaissie The Garvins & Street won when Jimmy Garvin hit a DDT on Kaissie, followed by a running splash from Street for the pin AWA Canadian Title match : Rick Martel © vs. “The Tank” Mike Shaw In an intense and bloody fight, Martel was finally able to get the win with a top rope splash on Shaw

AWA All-Star Wrestling for May 25th Mr. Olympia vs. Da Crusher Mr. Olympia continues the reign of terror he has been on since joining the Sinister Syndicate by taking on the always unpredictable veteran, Da Crusher. Crusher was clearly not intimidated by Olympia’s aggressive tactics and came out with both guns blazing, overwhelming the masked man with a flurry of punches. Olympia struggled to find his footing in this match, every time he would start to gain the upper hand, Crusher would come back with big rights and lefts. So of course, the moment the ref took Crusher to task for his constant brawling, Olympia slipped something into his mask and, once Crusher turned back to him, blasted him with the loaded head butt. Not content with stunning Crusher, he kept up with head butts until Crusher dropped to the ground and then, for good measure, hit a falling head butt to the skull of the prone veteran. He then applied the Power Lock (Figure Four) on the unconscious Crusher for the win. Dirty pool, Olympia. Sheikh Adnan Kaissie vs. “Exotic” Adrian Street With the Garvins going to war with the Sinister Syndicate, this match sees their good friend, Adrian Street, taking on the Syndicate’s manager in a one on one match. Like most of Street’s opponents, Kaissie found it very difficult to get cope with the Exotic One’s mix of technical wrestling, deadly punches and flamboyant prancing. Street seemed to have it all wrapped up when he caught Kaissie in the Sleeper, but was robbed of a clean victory when One Man Gang charged into the ring and attacked him. While the ref called for the DQ, the Garvins rushed the ring and ran off the Syndicate. Greg Gagne & The Mothership Connection vs. The Playboy Club (Rip Oliver, Ed Wiskowski & Bob Sweetan) While both Gagne and Parsons have been gunning for the AWA Southern Title held by Buddy Rose of late, Rose was very conspicuous by his absence in this match. Instead, his partners in the Playboy Club looked to ensure that Gagne and Parsons were in no shape to challenge for the belt, with moves seemingly aimed to injure rather than win the match. It seemed like they were about to put Parsons out for good when Sweetan and Oliver got him in the corner for a spike piledriver. Gagne and Master Gee made the save with a double clothesline that bowled over Sweetan while knocking Oliver off the turnbuckle. Gagne then dropkicked Sweetan into a belly-to-back suplex by Parsons that gave the win to the Iceman. Vinnie Valentino vs. Phil Lafon The Latin Lovers and the Nor-Am Express have been having some exciting matches of late, both singles and tag team, with Javier Cruz getting the nod over Tom Zenk last week. This time out, their partners would square off in a fast paced singles match that would end when Valentino whipped Lafon into the ropes and leapfrog him, only for Lafon to come to a sudden stop and hit the Cobra Clutch Suplex for the victory. Both teams are now even going into their big title match in Winnipeg. Rick Martel & Al Perez vs. Super Destroyer & Mike Shaw It’s always exciting when the AWA Canadian champ, Rick Martel, comes to town, and this time out he was teaming with the hot new up-and-comer, Al Perez. After a fast start with some rapid fire double-team moves from Martel and Perez, the Army decided to cut the ring in half, blocking off any attempt to tag in Martel as they worked over Perez. It looked like it was all over for the Latin Heartthrob as Super Destroyer hoisted him onto the top turnbuckle for the superplex. But Perez was able to pivot as they came off and it was instead Perez who was on top as they landed on the mat. While Martel shot in and intercepted Shaw from breaking up the pin, Perez hooked the leg to get the one-two-three in what had to be an upset.

AWA show at the Mecca, Milwaukee, May 18th Badd Company vs. Jack Armstrong & Jose Lothario Badd Company won when Diamond superkicked Lothario into a Tanaka German Suplex Al Perez vs. Billy Jack Haynes Perez won with a Small Package Greg Gagne vs. Bob Sweetan Gagne won when Sweetan submitted to the Gagne Leglock Road Warriors vs. Cuban Commandos Road Warriors won with a double flying shoulder tackle on Morrow AWA World Tag Title match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Latin Lovers The Heavenly Bodies won when Prichard hit Valentino with Jim Cornette’s tennis racket, followed by an Alabama Jam flying legdrop by Eaton Falls Count Anywhere AWA American Title match : Tito Santana vs. Mike Shaw Santana won when he came off the top rope to hit a flying clothesline on Shaw on the ringside mats Da Crusher vs. Manny Fernandez In an out of control brawl where both men were busted open, Crusher won with a wild running Bolo Punch Mr. Olympia & One Man Gang vs. Ron & Jimmy Garvin The Garvins won when Ron hit the Hands Of Stone Punch on One Man Gang, followed by a DDT by Jimmy

AWA All-Star Wrestling for May 18th “Cuban Assassin” Angel Acevedo vs. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong The Cuban Commandos are currently feuding with the Road Warriors, this time out the Cuban Assassin was taking on the Roadies’ good friend, Jack Armstrong. Acevedo immediately went to the bag of dirty tricks, keeping up a steady stream of eye rakes and low blows. This only served to rile up Armstrong, who fired back with slams and big tackles. After a fairly crazy brawl, Armstrong sent Acevedo into the ropes for a big back body drop, only to duck his head too soon, and Acevedo nailed him with a nasty DDT for the one-two-three. Badd Company vs. The Mothership Connection Of late, the Connection had been focusing on singles matches, including challenges for the Southern title, but they showed no signs of being out of practice as they took on the always dangerous rookie team of Badd Company. For their part, Badd Company kept pace with the Connection, matching them in high flying and double team moves, but after Master Gee ducked out of the way of a Tanaka spin kick that instead hit Diamond, he then followed up with a huge flying tackle on Tanaka that got the victory for the Mothership Connection. Tom Zenk vs. Javier Cruz The Latin Lovers have come out of nowhere to challenge for the Southern Tag titles , currently held by fellow fan favorites the Nor-Am Express. After a rapid fire, highly technical match, Zenk went up top for a flying cross body press. Cruz ducked down to dodge it, but Zenk adjusted and instead went for a flying sunset flip. In turn, Cruz hooked both of Zenk’s legs and reversed it to get a quick pin on Zenk. An impressive win that helps solidify the Lovers’ claim to be top contenders for the Southern Tag titles. Al Perez vs. Billy Jack Haynes Speaking of the Latin Lovers, Al Perez has been picking up more and more steam with a truly impressive win streak over much bigger opposition. Having already beaten “Wild” Bill Irwin, Perez now faced his Wild Bills partner, Billy Jack Haynes, who clearly had vengeance on his mind. Haynes looked set to get vengeance for his partner’s loss, taking Perez down with brutal slams and wrenching moves. Perez, for his part, used his technical expertise to lessen the impact of Haynes’ offence and keep pace with his bigger opponent, but Haynes looked set to finish off the Latin Heartthrob when he hoisted him over his shoulder and got ready to powerslam him into the corner turnbuckle. Perez, though, was able to slide down Haynes’ back, instead sending Billy Jack into the corner and, when the Wild Bill came shooting back out, got him in a schoolboy roll up to get the pinfall. “The Tank” Mike Shaw vs. Jose Lothario The Tank has been rolling through most of his opposition in his quest to win the American title from Tito Santana. In this match, he was facing the well liked veteran Jose Lothario and held nothing back, using his incredible size to devastate Jose before finishing him off with a running splash. Mr. Olympia vs. Ron Garvin With World Champion Ken Patera currently in Japan, Mr. Olympia was filling in to take on the Garvins in their war with the Sinister Syndicate. This put him in the path of Ron Garvin, the man with the Hands Of Stone, and for his part, Garvin didn’t seem to be intimidated by the masked man. He peppered Olympia with hard punches and stretched him with some painful looking arm and leg locks, while Olympia countered in turn with high impact slams and dropkicks. At one point, Garvin had Olympia trapped in the corner and was firing away with punches until the ref interceded to separate the two. Olympia took advantage of this distraction to slip some sort of object into his mask and, when Garvin came back to engage with him, he nailed Garvin with a loaded headbutt. This staggered Garvin enough that Olympia was able to grab him and hit a belly to belly pile driver for the pin. A dirty victory, but par for the course for Olympia and his new attitude.

All is in chaos in the AWA as, with Hulk Hogan away on a tour in Japan, word has spread that the former champ has not signed a new contract. Hogan has made it clear that he is not happy with his position in the AWA and may well be looking to make an exit. There have been a lot of long distance calls between Hogan in Japan and Wally Karbo in Minnesota but it is looking increasingly likely that the Hulkster's days in the AWA are numbered.