rainmakerrtv

Such a classic style Mid Atlantic main event.

Rock solid TV with a wild main event ... love the possibilities of Hayes vs. Blanchard.

Thanks for all of the feedback, guys. For me, tag teams are a big part of the fun of fantasy booking, finding cool pairings that never happened IRL. In an old TNM fed, I had a tag team called Black Irish, which was Fit Finlay and Bad News Allen, which I figured would be one of the most badass pairings of all time. When I realized that Finlay and Cameron would be available, I couldn't resist, so I moved some people around and made some cuts and brought them in as my hot new tag team. I figured the pairing would make sense, in storyline, for the reasons laid out in my dirt sheet articles, with the more experienced second generation guy sharing his guidance and wisdom with the big strong new guy. The Buzz vs. Snakepit feud is hopefully the seed for some really big things coming up. When I dissolved Buck Robley's Army, I wasn't sure what to do with him. Then I realized that matching him up with the crazy mofos in Jake's crew just made sense. If somebody is going to teach Cactus to brawl, why not the man who inspired Arn Anderson to say "I've been in barfights that weren't as bad." This is about to blow up in a big way. I kind of fell backwards into using Spivey. Back when I had Hulk Hogan on my roster, I had a thought of bringing in Spivey for a sort of All About Eve scheming understudy angle, but I never had both of them at the same time. When he became available, I brought him in as a natural fit for the Varsity Club and he was usually the guy eating the falls in tag matches. Looking for something to distinguish him, I figured what the hell, dusted off and modified my old idea, and gave him the Spiveymania gimmick. This proved to be so much fun to write, I started giving him bigger matches and moving him up the ranks. I figured it was a case of a guy being given a goofball gimmick, but making it work to the point he legitimately gets over. For me, Spivey, like Cameron, was a great Might Have Been, a guy with potential who started late and didn't get the breaks he needed. He got to be legitimately very good working in Japan, but by then his body started breaking down and he only had a few years left. In my reality, instead of languishing in Central States or the lower levels of the WWF tag ranks, he's getting the benefit of my training program and offering him for as many Japan shots as possible. This way, I can rewrite history and help him reach his full potential a few years earlier so it could still benefit him. Bock, Larry Z and Saito are such a natural dynamic, they pretty much write themselves. I have some really big plans for them coming up. Buddy Rose is the lynchpin for my west coast swing, not just being a legend in Portland but one of the last stars of Roy Shires' San Francisco promotion. Every time the AWA comes west, I put him front and centre and make the most of the incredible possibilities of the Rose/Somers team.

One last shake up hit the AWA roster with the surprising departure of Jesse Barr. It seemed like Barr was settling into his role as part of the AWA training staff, but the losses on the road to the rookie crew were a bit much for Barr to take, so he left suddenly for World Class. His place in the training faculty has been filled by David "Fit" Finlay, who was brought in on recommendation of Marty Jones. Finlay, a second generation Irish superstar, brings with him a wealth of experience for his relatively young age, both in Europe and Japan. He has been paired, with Larry Cameron, a new prospect in whom the AWA has big hopes. With the success of the Varsity Club Rush angle, it is thought that Cameron, an Eddie Sharkey trainee with a pro football background, could be capable of getting over like Spivey and Luger before him. The plan is to pair him with Finlay to give him guidance on the road, while putting him against the likes of the Guerreros and the Playboy Club, to help hone his skills in the ring. Time will tell if this investment pays off.

AWA show from McArthur Court, Eugene, February 16th Mike Rotundo, Doug Furnas, Brian Pillman, Darryl Peterson & Jeff Gaylord vs. Greg Gagne, The Killer Bees & Badd Company In an exciting opening bout, Peterson was ultimately able to get the win for the Varsity Club when he forced Blair to give up to the wakigatame The Snakepit vs. Buzz Sawyer & The Onyx Express Jake Roberts hit the DDT on Buzz to score the pinfall Sgt. Slaughter vs. Dan Spivey In a major upset, Spivey ducked under the Slaughter Cannon and hit the Spivey Bomber for a big win Chris Adams & The British Bullies vs. Too Cold Scorpio & British Steel In another long technical bout, Dave Taylor was finally able to catch Scorpio with the British Suplex for the one two three. The Great Kabuki vs. Larry Zbyszko Masa Saito was at ringside. Kabuki caught Larry flat footed with a thrust kick to the jaw for the win. Larry wasn’t happy about this, Saito didn’t seem to care. AWA Southern Tag Title Match : Chavo & Hector Guerrero © vs. Black Irish Chavo hit a top rope flying somersault senton on Finlay to defend their belts AWA Southern Title Match : Mando Guerrero © vs. Al Perez Both men went to a 20 minute time limit draw Ricky Steamboat vs. Ken Patera Steamboat won with a top rope flying cross body press AWA World Tag Title Match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. The Youngbloods Somers hit Blackman with the loaded elbow smash for the win

Did not see that one coming.

Great write up for the Fantastics match. Loved the Rumble and the way multiple stories were put across. Obviously loved the Ron Simmons vs. Ashura Hara, really put across the heat of the Football vs. Rugby showdown.

AWA show from the Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland, February 15th Black Irish vs. The Onyx Express Finlay pinned Brickhouse with a belly to belly piledriver Brian Pillman vs. Too Cold Scorpio Scorpio won with a flying top rope splash The British Bullies vs. The Youngbloods A long technical match that ended when Taylor hit the British Suplex on Wellington for the pinfall Ken Patera vs. Norman Smiley Patera got the victory after a shoulder breaker Buzz Sawyer vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts Jake executed the DDT to get the win AWA World Tag Title Match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. Sgt. Slaughter & Dusty Rhodes Rose lured Sarge into going for the Slaughter Cannon, only to dive out of the way at the last second and Sarge ended up nailing the ref. When the ref recovered, he gave the champions the win by DQ AWA American Title Match : Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Chris Adams Adams actually had some fan support during this match, likely stemming from his past history in the Portland area. With both Larry Zbyszko and Sheikh Adnan Al Kaissie absent from ringside, this turned out to be a purely scientific bout. After an mat working exchange, Bockwinkel showed his mastery of counter wrestling as he worked his way out of several submission attempts and repeatedly dodged the Superkick. Adams, for his part, was savvy enough to change tactics, catching the champ in several jarring suplexes and, little by little, managed to wear him down. It looked like he was about to finally hit the Superkick, but Bock dodged it and nailed a single leg takedown, then wrapped him up in the Figure Four Leglock. That seemed to be it for Adams, but the Englishman refused to give up, and the bell rang to signal a 30 minute time limit draw without him having quit. Bock was clearly impressed with the challenge that Adams had given him, and helped him to his feet after the match. The two begrudgingly shook hands, then went their separate ways.

AWA Show from the Cow Palace, San Francisco, February 14th (as shown on ESPN / TSN Super Cards ) Cactus Jack vs. Leo Burke Cactus won with a flying clothesline Steven Regal vs. Darryl Peterson In what proved to be an intense, matwork and technically based match, Darryl was able to catch Regal in a belly to belly suplex to score the pinfall Ken Patera vs. Sgt. Slaughter Sheikh Adnan Al Kaissie interfered in the match, leading to Patera catching Sarge with a shoulder breaker , followed by a second rope kneedrop for the tainted victory Jerry Blackwell vs. Dusty Rhodes The Sheikh tried to interfere in this match, but was intercepted by Sgt. Slaughter. During this confusion, Dusty took down Blackwell with a clothesline and hit the Bionic Elbow Drop for the win Terry Gordy (courtesy of Lutte Internationale and WCCW) vs. Leon White White was sporting bandages over his bruised ribs from the beatdown by his former Varsity Club compatriots on All-Star Wrestling. In spite of this, it turned out to be a real coming out party for White, who put up a hell of a fight for the NWA National Heavyweight champion. Every time the Freebird looked like had put down White for good, the Colorado Buffalo would fight his way back. The crowd started to think he might just pull off the upset, but it was not to be when Gordy put in a mighty effort and managed to execute the Freebird Piledriver on the huge White and get the one two three. White still managed to gain the respect of both the fans and Gordy, who helped him up after the match and shook his hand. 2/3 Falls AWA World Tag Team Title Match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Raymond & Armand Rougeau 1st Fall : Raymond caught Somers coming off the ropes with a savate kick for the pinfall 2nd Fall : Rose executed the Inside Out Backbreaker on Armand to even the score 3rd Fall : The match was declared a draw when it went to the 45 minute time limit with both teams at one fall apiece Ricky Steamboat, Nick Bockwinkel & Jake Roberts vs. Paul Orndorff, Kevin Sullivan & Mike Rotundo Steamboat got the pin on Rotundo when he countered a Varsity Rush attempt with a crucifix. After the match, it was announced that Steamboat would get his shot at Paul Orndorff’s World Title at the February 21st show in Milwaukee, and that Kevin Sullivan and the Varsity Club would be banned from ringside under penalty of suspension, but that in order to get this concession from Orndorff, the match would also be under the stipulation that the loser would leave the AWA

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN / TSN for February 14th Black Irish vs. Shamar Thomas & Matt Bischoff The sound of “Emerald” by Thin Lizzy blared over the arena PA to herald the arrival of an intense new tag team : David “Fit” Finlay and “Lethal” Larry Cameron, collectively known as Black Irish. Finlay, also known as the Belfast Bruiser, was a tough Ulsterman in his late 20s who already had the look of a grizzled veteran and wrestled like it too, blasting Bischoff with hard clotheslines and footstomps. Cameron, a powerful former pro football player with an impressive physique, tossed Thomas around the ring before polishing him off with a running powerslam. The competition in the AWA tag ranks has heated up recently but adding this combination to it could possibly cause it to explode. Too Cold Scorpio vs. Leon White Scorpio had gotten an upset win by countout over White at the last TV show, but Sullivan was demanding that White go out and settle the score in a rematch. Sullivan had Jeff Gaylord and Darryl Peterson with him at ringside and egged on White during the match. While the Colorado Buffalo was clearly reluctant to take things too far against his old friend, he was clearly being more aggressive in this match, with several quick tackles and clotheslines to take Scorpio down. Scorpio kept rallying and coming back with dropkicks and high flying moves to keep White off balance, which led to Sullivan’s hectoring from ringside to become even louder and more abrasive. Seeking to put White down for the count, Scorpio came off the top rope with a flying cross body press, but White caught him in mid air and countered with a crushing power slam. He followed up with a running splash and got the one two three. But this was not enough for Sullivan, who got on the ringside mic and demanded that White punish Scorpio after the match. White was clearly distressed as he refused to do that to his friend. Sullivan was livid at this clear show of insubordination, and said on the mic, “Leon, I thought I could make something of you, but you clearly don’t have what it takes to be one of my men. You are *cut* from the Varsity Club!” With this, Peterson and Gaylord rushed into the ring and ambushed White from behind, clipping him and putting the boots to him until security finally cleared them from the ring. It looks like the first man has been eliminated from the Varsity Club Rush, and what a suprising choice it was. Masa Saito & Larry Zbyszko vs. The Youngbloods Moving on from one loudmouthed crabapple to another, Larry Z was his usual verbose self as he came to the ring, a distinct contrast to his grim and silent partner. He trash talked both of his opponents throughout the match, and was clearly out to prove that his tactics were superior as not only did he cut every corner and work in every cheap shot that he could, but he never came close to trying to tag in Saito as he worked over Wellington. This would prove to be a mistake as he gave Wellington an inverted atomic drop, but failed to notice that Wellington was able to tag out as he fell back. He then set up Wellington for a neckbreaker, only to eat a Blackman Bicycle Kick to the face and get pinned. As the Youngbloods celebrated their biggest win yet, Zbysko looked like he was going to berate Saito for not saving him, but clearly thought better of it when he saw the look his partner was giving him, and instead got in the face of the ref. Larry Z clearly can’t own up to his own mistakes. Mike Rotundo, Doug Furnas & Ron Simmons vs. Dave Samson, Garrett Adelstein & Brice Johnson After the craziness of the earlier Varsity Club outing, Rotundo seems to be the only sane man of the Club veterans, and had clearly been given instructions to keep the Rush prospects on a very tight leash. He gave clear directions to Furnas as the Tennesee Volunteer worked over Adelstein, working in some chain wrestling and submissions in with his impressive power offense. Then Furnas tagged in Simmons and the match took a completely different turn. Simmons didn’t wait for any guidance from Rotundo , just exploding out of the blocks on Adelstein with a series of fast, jarring shoulder tackles before planting him into the mat with a spinebuster slam to get the pin. Rotundo looked like he didn’t know what to make of Simmons, but calmly whispered something in his ear, and Simmons nodded as he listened. It still raises the question : if Sullivan wasn’t able to bend Leon White to his will, what is he going to do with Simmons? Cactus Jack vs. Buzz Sawyer Cactus had the rest of the Snakepit, Jake Roberts and Nord The Barbarian, in his corner for this match, giving him moral (?) support. Buzz Sawyer was alone but brought with him a heavy chain, which he swung in a wide circle over his head before the match. This served to neither impress nor intimidate Cactus, who went straight at Buzz with a whirlwind of lefts and rights. The two went at it fist and fire in a match with not a lot of finesse but a lot of action. Cactus showed the reckless intensity that has been on display in his most recent matches, especially his trip to Japan, but Buzz was no pushover and gave as good as he got. It looked like he was going to put away Cactus with a powerslam, but Cactus broke out of it with a wild elbow to the face, then coming off the ropes with a flying clothesline to get the upset win. He didn’t have much time to celebrate, because Buzz popped him in the back of the head with his chain wrapped around his fist. He then dared Jake Roberts to get his own taste of the chain, but Nord surprised him with a kneelift to the back that sent him into a Jake Roberts DDT. Nord and Snake both assisted Cactus away from the ring, but it’s unlikely Buzz will either forgive or forget this. Chris Adams vs. The Great Kabuki These two had been feuding ever since Adams’ unspeakable ambush of Sunshine at Super Clash, and neither man was going to take any chances, as Kabuki was backed up by Al Perez and Badd Company in his corner, while Adams was joined by Sheikh Adnan Al Kaissie and the British Bullies. For all the deep seated hatred between both sides, this was actually a riveting technical matchup for most of its duration, with Adams’ British technique warring with Kabuki’s Japanese stylings for supremacy . The pendulum of momentum went back and forth throughout the match, until the ref got caught between the two and knocked to the mat, which seemed to be the trigger for chaos to break out. Kaissie and the Bullies saw this as the cue to try to enter the ring, but were interecepted by Perez and Badd Company, and both sides tangled with each other. But the biggest shock came when someone appeared out of nowhere at ringside and ascended to the ring apron. It was Sunshine! Kabuki’s manager, wearing a black kimono, was making her fist appearance since being assaulted by Adams. Adams was not impressed, as he mocked Sunshine and got in her face. Bad mistake , as she reached into the sleeve of her kimono and pulled out a set of nunchaku, which she used to clobber Adams in the side of the head. This staggered him enough to leave him easy pickings for a thrust kick to the jaw from Kabuki, and the ref had recovered enough to count the pin for Kabuki. Perez and Badd Company dashed inside the ring and formed a cordon around Sunshine and Kabuki as they celebrated their victory. Looks like the return of Sunshine might just prove to be the spark her boys need.

I'm good with it.

Raymond Rougeau vs. Matt Borne is a bar fight I really wouldn't want to wander into.

Then maybe Martel could fight a black bear

There's a lot of new faces and changing dynamics in the AWA, but Badd Company aren't out of contention by a long shot.

AWA show from the Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, February 9th Darryl Peterson & Jeff Gaylord vs. The Onyx Express Gaylord caught Koko in a flying shoulder tackle and got the one two three British Steel vs. Masa Saito & Larry Zbyszko Larry was going for an over the shoulder neckbreaker on Regal, but Regal was able to counter with a backslide to get the pin. Afterwards, Larry argued with the ref but to no avail Ron Simmons & Leon White vs. The Killer Bees Simmons hit a crushing spine buster slam on Blair to score the victory Chris Adams & The British Bullies vs. Mike Rotundo, Doug Furnas & Brian Pillman A lengthy technical matchup that went back and forth and ended when Adams was finally able to hit the Superkick on Pillman to pull out the win for his team Dusty Rhodes vs. Kevin Sullivan Dusty won the match with the Bionic Elbow Cactus Jack vs. Buzz Sawyer A crazy brawl that ended when Buzz took advantage of the ref being knocked down and hit Cactus with a chain to get the cheap victory AWA Six-Man Tag Team Title Match : The Guerrero Brothers © vs. Too Cold Scorpio & The Youngbloods An exciting , fast paced match that really got the fans on their feet and ended when Chavo dodged a bicycle kick by Blackman and took him down with a legsweep, followed by a double leg rollup that got the pinfall AWA World Tag Team Title Match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. Badd Company Badd Company came out guns ablazing and looked at several times like they just might take the titles, but Playboy After Dark went to desperate measures and popped the ref, leading to a DQ loss but retaining the championship AWA American Title Match : Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Al Perez Another lengthy, purely scientific match, where Bock was going for a figure four leglock, but Perez countered with a small package. However, Bock was able to reverse that with his own small package to successfully defend his belt.

Love the whole card but the post-break is brain melting. Going from the crazy brawl to the technical showdown to the main event that told a great story is how you cap off a big show. Cactus vs. Hickerson is a pairing I would love to see again. So glad the Bullies got a chance to show their talents on a big stage. The main event was truly epic. More juniors!

The behind the scenes reason for these Gagne draws is a very simple one : Groovy Greg is one of the trainers. Once the rookies have had their intial matches with Burke and Barr, they go the distance with Gagne to work on endurance and match building. From there on, the move on to more intense matches with the British Bullies, The Guerreros and Mike Rotundo for their advanced education. The order can change up, but the methodology remains the same.

AWA show from Cobo Hall, Detroit, February 8th Cactus Jack vs. Leo Burke Cactus won with a flying clothesline Jesse Barr vs. Darryl Peterson Peterson made Barr give up to the Wakigatame armbar Too Cold Scorpio vs. Kevin Sullivan Scorpio scored the pinfall with a top rope flying splash Greg Gagne vs. Doug Furnas Both men went to a 20 minute time limit draw Dan Spivey vs. Al Perez In a long , hard-fought match, Perez had Spivey set up for a German Suplex, but Spivey blocked it with several big elbows to the face, then followed up with a Spivey Bomber lariat to get the victory AWA World Tag Title match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. The Onyx Express Rose hit the Inside Out Backbreaker on Koko to successfully defend their titles AWA American Title match : Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Mike Rotundo Rotundo was about to hit the Varsity Rush, but Bock grabbed the ropes to stop it, then hit a belly to back suplex and got the win

The AWA releases Jesse Barr and the Fallen Angel and picks up David "Fit" Finlay and Larry Cameron.

AWA show from the Met Center, Bloomington, Feb. 7th (as shown on ESPN / TSN Super Cards) The Onyx Express vs. The Youngbloods Brickhouse pinned Blackman after a top rope missile dropkick Jesse Barr vs. Cactus Jack Cactus won with a flying forearm smash to the head Greg Gagne vs. Ron Simmons Both men went to a 20 minute time limit draw Larry Zbyszko vs. Dan Spivey Zbyszko trapped Spivey in a roll up with his feet on the ropes, but failed to notice that Spivey had gotten his shoulder up just before the three and the ref had not made the full count. While Larry was arguing with the ref, Spivey nailed him with the Spivey Bomber lariat to get the win Sgt. Slaughter, Dusty Rhodes & The Great Kabuki vs. Ken Patera, Jerry Blackwell & Sheikh Adnan Al Kaissie Sgt. Slaughter scored the victory for his team when he hit the Slaughter Cannon on Kaissie AWA Southern Title Match : Mando Guerrero © vs. Too Cold Scorpio Mando reversed a sunset flip attempt by Scorpio to successfully defend his title Ricky Steamboat & Nick Bockwinkel vs. Paul Orndorff & Kevin Sullivan Steamboat hit a top rope flying cross body press on Sullivan for the victory

I see this as my place among the various promotions. While big promotions like the WWF and the UWF might focus on established characters, the AWA is the place where they get their initial experience and seasoning. I give them programs and training and work them in matches with veterans who teach them the ropes. That way, when it is time for them to move on to the bigger promotions (like Lex Luger to the UWF or Rick Steiner to the WWF) , they can be credibly be presented as big names, having already done the ground work.

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN / TSN for February 7th Masa Saito vs. Mark Caruso Saito had Larry Zbyszko in his corner for this match, but unlike his appearances during Nick Bockwinkel’s matches, Larry pretty much kept his opinions to himself. This could have been because of Saito’s intimidating presence (Saito could give even Ron Simmons lessons in the cold, hard stare) , or it could have been the fact that Saito clearly needed no “advice” in this match. Saito picked poor Caruso to pieces with his hard edged, strong style moves, mangling the rookie’s legs before hitting not one but two of his trademark Saito Suplexes, knocking him out. Even then, Saito chose not to go for the cover, instead wrapping the unconscious Caruso up in the Scorpion Deathlock until the ref called for the bell. One has to feel sorry for the next person who steps in the ring with Saito, especially if they should somehow make him mad. Doug Furnas vs. Leo Burke Kevin Sullivan did not make an appearance in this match, but Furnas was accompanied by Varsity Club members Mike Rotundo and Dan Spivey, who did offer coaching to the big Tennessee Volunteer throughout the match. Furnas had quite a challenge in this match, as the veteran Burke was not cowed by his power and physique and used his considerable technical expertise to stymie Furnas’s offense. Furnas found himself blocked at several turns by Burke’s counter wrestling, and would head to the outside to consult with Rotundo and Spivey. The more experienced Varsity Club hands seem to be able to give the advice and motivation he needed, as he was able to assert control of the match and start to land his power moves on Burke. It looked like Burke would still pull it off when he was about to cinch in the sleeper hold, but it turned out Furnas was drawing him in for a huge belly to back suplex that got the pinfall. Rotundo and Spivey both slapped Furnas on the back and congratulated him as they led him away from the ring. Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell vs. The Killer Bees Jim Brunzell was no stranger to this pairing, having faced both men in various configurations back in his old team of the High Flyers. Perhaps this was why the Sheikh’s team was not able to run roughshod over the Bees like they had their past opponents. Brunzell and Blair used their speed and coordinated offense to keep one step ahead of the Syndicate for much of the match. They kept this up until Blair went for a running cross body block on Blackwell, only to be caught in a , yes, crushing power slam. From there on, the Syndicate lowered the boom on the Bees, culminating in a shoulder breaker by Patera to finish off Blair. A game effort by the Killer Bees but they came up just short. Leon White vs. Too Cold Scorpio Kevin Sullivan was certainly present for this match, as he had a personal interest in making sure that the young rookie who had defeated him last week would get his come uppance. One major complication in this match was that it had come out that White and Scorpio had actually been very good friends in the past in Colorado. Sullivan couldn’t seem to be satisfied with anything that White did in this match. When Scorpio was able to duck and dodge White’s initial offense, Sullivan was furious with his Varsity Club Rush prospect. And when White was able to catch Scorpio in several big slams, it didn’t seem to be enough for Sullivan, who was on White’s case to not just beat Scorpio but punish him. White clotheslined Scorpio out of the ring, but Scorpio was able to land on his feet. Sullivan was screaming at White to follow up on Scorpio, but at this point his bellowing was so incoherent that it only confused White, who turned to the Games Master to try to figure out what he wanted. A costly mistake, as Scorpio had swiftly made it back in and dropkicked the huge Colorado Buffalo to the outside. To make things worse, White landed on top of Sullivan, and the two got so badly entangled that the ref was able to count to ten and give the win to Scorpio. Sullivan was livid as he angrily berated the embarrassed White all the way back to the locker room, even smacking him in the back of the head. AWA Southern Title Match : Mando Guerrero © vs. Paul Diamond With Sunshine still nowhere in sight, Diamond, still tending to a damaged shoulder from Starrcade, certainly had his work cut out for him. He gave it the best shot he could, going at it hard with the champ and getting several near falls. He tried to finish him off with a flying back body press, but Mando dodged just in time and Diamond landed hard on his hurt shoulder. Mando put him in the Gory Special, and Diamond had no choice but to give up the match. AWA American Title Match : Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Kevin Sullivan Another match where Sullivan was coming in with a lot of pent up aggression to work off. Bockwinkel, with Zybyszko once again in his corner, was clearly getting progressively more annoyed, both with Sullivan’s flailing antics and with Larry’s constant badgering from ringside to take more short cuts. The two factors combined seemed to distract the usually unflappable Bockwinkel, who found himself on the defensive for much of the match. He would invariably work his way back into control, only for Sullivan’s cheating or Zbyszko’s histrionics to send him off kilter. He almost was able to finish off Sullivan with a sunset flip, only Sullivan to grab a hold of the ropes and get the champion in a pinning position. This provoked Zybysko to jump on the ring apron and clothesline Sullivan. This broke up the pin, but before the ref could take any action, he was knocked out by the Fallen Angel, wielding Sullivan’s Golden Spike. This led to the AWA officials rushing out and declaring the match a no contest, then stating that Fallen Angel was now indefinitely suspended for directly assaulting an AWA referee.

I was ahead on my writing so I decided to throw in an extra card and make it an NXT/learning excursion type show. Over half the matches are rookies working with members of the training staff so they would be getting more match time with experienced hands in front of an audience . Then I would cap the show off with a fun brawl with some big names to send the fans home happy.

I just like the idea of Calgary and Edmonton being run by different promotions, keep that rivalry going.

Gordy takes the belt on Badstreet! Awesome card!