rainmakerrtv

Rumour has it that the reason Leo Burke has not been seen much lately for AWA TV and house shows is that he has been supervising the establishment of new training facilities for the young new wrestlers. This is said to anticipate not only a large influx of new talent, but also a major shakeup of the AWA training staff. Stay tuned for more developments!

One of the things I always loved about Jake, which he pointed out in a shoot interview, was that his character was always very consistent whether he was a heel or a babyface. That way, he always kept you guessing.

I knew this was coming but still sad to read. I had a lot of fun using Mad Dog Lefebvre in the AWA and always enjoyed reading what you did with him. A great talent taken from us all too soon

There is a reason it will be the headliner of my last super show of the year

I would have loved to have a SNME back in the day be this good all the way through. Class show.

AWA show from the International Amphitheater, Chicago, December 21st Jim Brunzell vs. Jerry Blackwell Blackwell pinned Brunzell with a side slam British Steel vs. The Onyx Express Onyx Express won when the masked man snuck in the ring and knocked out Regal with a thrust kick to the jaw Mando Guerrero vs. Leo Burke Mando hit the German Suplex for the victory Dusty Rhodes vs. Ed Wiskowski Rhodes won with the Bionic Elbow Drop Fall Count Anywhere : Kendo Nagasaki vs. The Great Kabuki Kabuki executed three piledrivers in the middle of the audience to get a bloody win in a chaotic match AWA Southern Tag Team Title match : Badd Company © vs. Buzz Sawyer & Jesse Barr Both teams went to a 20 minute time limit draw AWA American Title Match : Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Tony Atlas Atlas was going for a Full Nelson, but Bockwinkel countered with a small package to successfully defend his title

AWA show from the Mecca, Milwaukee, December 20th (as shown on ESPN / TSN Super Cards) Dan Spivey & Mike Rotundo vs. Jake Roberts & Nord the Barbarian This match ended in a double DQ with both teams brawling The Killer Bees vs. Col. Buck Robley & Dave Schultz The Bees hit the Bee Stinger on Robley for the victory Cpl. Scott Hall vs. Killer Khan Khan pinned Hall after a running knee drop. Khan then went up top for the flying knee drop, but Sgt. Slaughter rushed to the ring and pulled Hall out in time AWA World Tag Title Match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero Rose blindsided Hector with a blackjack then executed the Inside Out Backbreaker to score the tainted victory AWA Southern Title Match : Al Perez © vs. Tojo Yamamoto Perez forced Tojo to give up to the Indian Deathlock to defend his title. After the match, Killer Khan came out and attacked Perez, but AWA officials separated the two Ricky Steamboat & Sgt. Slaughter vs. Kevin Sullivan & Rick Steiner Steamboat caught Sullivan with a running crossbody to get the win AWA World Title Match : Paul Orndorff © vs. Nick Bockwinkel Bockwinkel won by DQ when he was attacked by the Varsity Club. Orndorff retained the World Title

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN / TSN for December 20th Buddy Rose vs. Chavo Guerrero If the Playboy’s ego seemed out of control before, he has been especially full of himself since he and Doug Somers won the World Tag Titles. He came out in his full swagger for this singles match, with both Somers and title belt in tow, while Chavo, perhaps sensing potential shenanigans, had both of his brothers at his side. Rose’s ego possibly took a bit of a bruising throughout this match, as his failure to take Chavo seriously let to Guerrero catching him off guards with big moves and takedowns. Chavo even went up to the top turnbuckle to potentially hit a devastating move , but Doug Somers made his presence felt by swatting at him from the outside. This led to Mando charging over to intercept him and, while the ref was distracted by all of this, Hector quickly dashed into the ring and clipped Rose’s leg from behind. Chavo then came off the top with a flying somersault senton and got the one two three. The crowd cheered the victory over the hated Playboy, but were puzzled by the questionable tactics by the brothers. British Steel vs. Robb Zbacnic & Jed Hildebrand After the interference in their last match by a mysterious masked man, Regal and Smiley seemed particularly wary in this match. When one of them was in the ring, the other would be anxiously looking around the ringside area for any interlopers. No interference was forthcoming, and the swiftly dealt with Zbacnic and Hildebrand when Smiley forced Zbacnic to give up to the Norman Conquest. An otherwise uneventful match, but how long before the masked man makes his presence felt again? Mike Shaw vs. Jim Brunzell With the big loser leaves town match coming up at Super Clash, the big “Tank” looked set to do as much damage as he could to Brunzell to give his team the advantage. He pummeled Brunzell with big blows and slams, while the Killer Bee kept in the match with his usualy fast paced moves and precision dropkicks. Brunzell went one step too far when he tried to take Shaw down with a running cross body, only to be caught and brought down with a massive power slam. One running splash later and Shaw got the victory. He tried for another running splash after the final count, but Brunzell rolled out of the way just in time. Interview : Ken Resnick stands in the ring Resnick : Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest has been the centre of controversy ever since his recent arrival in the AWA … Jake “The Snake” Roberts! The crowd response is a mixture of cheers and boos as Roberts comes out, paying no heed to the fans. He is accompanied by Nord the Barbarian, who strides impassively beside him, and Mick Foley, whose eyes dart around the audience as he scuttles along to the ring, clad in his new black and leopard-print ring gear. Resnick : Jake Roberts, ever since you showed up in the AWA, nobody has any idea where you are coming from. First you provide distraction in Mick Foley’s match, leading to him losing to the Varsity Club. Then you end up attacking the Varsity Club … and now seem to have lured Pvt. Foley away from the Cobra Corps. Where are you coming from? Roberts : No one knows where a snake is coming from, Resnick. That’s what makes us so dangerous. Sullivan thinks of himself as the deadliest man in the AWA. Well I am going to remind him, every chance I get, nothing is deadlier than the snake. We are the agents of chaos, and nobody know where we will show up next. Resnick : But your recent actions put you at odds with both the Varsity Club and the Cobra Corps, two groups that could only agree on how much they hate each other. Just whose side are you on? Roberts : (slyly grinning) The same side I’m always on, Resnick. The winning side. There is a commotion in the audience as Sgt. Slaughter and Cpl. Scott Hall head out to the ring. Hall looks so distraught he can barely talk, while Sarge is quite clearly livid. Sarge : Now you listen here, maggot! I don’t know what you have done with Pvt. Foley, but he is part of the Cobra Corps and he belongs with us! You let him loose from whatever hold you have on him and return him to us, right now! That’s an order! Roberts : (chuckling) Hey, cool out, my man. I never had any issue with you. But take a good look at my friend here and see that he has no place with you. You did your best, but he is just not a rank and file type of individual. He belongs with others like him. We can give him the guidance to help him become what he was meant to be. And he doesn’t go anywhere he doesn’t choose to. Sarge : (pleadingly) Private Foley … Mick … please … Foley grabs the microphone from him and stares Sarge straight in the eyes. Foley : My name … is CACTUS …. JACK!!!! Roberts, Nord and Foley … errr … Cactus Jack depart the ring, leaving Sarge and Hall behind them, crestfallen. AWA Southern Title match : Al Perez © vs. Bob Roop Perez is staring down the barrel of a match against the terrifying Killer Khan, a match where not only is his title but his AWA career is on the line. With that in mind, he was clearly in no mood to trifle with Roop, shocking the veteran with a devastating series of slams and suplexes. It was clearly not enough for him to pin Roop, as he went after his leg with multiple takedowns and stretches before wrapping him up in an Indian Leglock, keeping him there long after Roop gave up and evidinently doing much damage to the leg. Perez is sending a message to Khan that he is not intimidated. Ricky Steamboat vs. Kevin Sullivan Steamboat is angling to get back at the World Champion, Paul Orndorff, but the Varsity Club are doing everything the can to block him in his attempts. Steamboat kept the upper hand through much of the match, but was kept from scoring the decisive victory when Rick Steiner, still smarting from his defeat last week, rushed out to the ring and attacked Steamboat, leading to the DQ. Steiner and Sullivan kept slugging it out with Steamboat until Nick Bockwinkel ran out and he and Steamboat ran them off. Steamboat then swore that he would get to Orndorff, even if he had to run off everybody in the Varsity Club in order to do it.

Ooch, can't believe I missed this in time for the draft. Gorgeous Gary Young made his return to wrestling in 1986. Not looking to use him myself, but I think he should be available for free agency come January 1st.

Somebody has to make way for the new guys

A major announcement from the AWA with the full card for Super Clash 1985, to be held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas on December 31st. The theme for this year's card is The Last Chance Saloon, with every match except the World Title match having a Loser Leaves The AWA stipulation. Fitting for a Las Vegas show, the stakes have never been higher. The full card is as follows : AWA Super Clash 1985 : The Last Chance Saloon, from the Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, December 31st 1985 Loser Leaves The AWA Match : Dan Spivey vs. Cpl. Scott Hall Loser Leaves The AWA Match : Kendo Nagasaki vs. The Great Kabuki Losing Team Leaves The AWA Match : Greg Gagne & The Killer Bees vs. Mike Shaw, Dave Schultz & Buck Robley Loser Leaves The AWA Match : Rick Steiner vs. Ricky Steamboat Loser Leaves The AWA Match : Dusty Rhodes vs. Tony Atlas AWA World Tag Team Title Match with the Losing Team Leaving The AWA : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. The British Bulldogs AWA Southern Title Match : Al Perez © vs. Killer Khan (if Khan wins, Perez leaves the AWA , if Perez wins, Tojo Yamamoto leaves the AWA) AWA World Title Match : Paul Orndorff © vs. Nick Bockwinkel

Just curious, for how long will it be under a one free agent per day restriction? One week? One month? Not really planning on grabbing anyone from free agency, have a lot of new talent to integrate as it is, just wondering.

If this is supposed to be real time, he's pushing a ton of guys who have next to no experience (Steiner/Foley/Spivey/Hall/Diamond/Tanaka) and running a ton of ethnic babyfaces in the mid-west. I enjoy fantasy booking myself, but this all looks way off base. Not really. I admit I have been running a bit ahead of schedule (hell, I have the Varsity Club in 1985) but have tried to keep things in the area of reason. None of these guys have been getting extended World Title challenges or main eventing the major house shows. They all have a solid year of experience (close to 2 years for Badd Co.) in my version of the AWA and have frequently been paired up with more experienced hands to show them the ropes. I have done my best to make the most of these characters by trying to give them fun gimmicks and interesting angles in the lower and mid-card, which is the place for such experimentation. While I have written some of them as getting over big with the fans, it has always started out as plucky underdogs, which again is how you get rookies over. Steiner is raw but is a big huge guy with a legit collegiate background that you can easily imagine some promotion giving some sort of shot. I have kept him mostly in tag matches. He is getting matches with Steamboat for the explicitly stated reason that Steamboat is making his way through the Varsity Club to get to Orndorff, and Steiner is the lowest man on the Varsity totem and thus the first in the firing line. Mick Foley started out in my circuit as a guy who kept trying to join the established stables and ended up as Private Foley, the lowest ranked member of the Cobra Corps. With a small number of heavily booked results in tag matches, his victories have been over job guys and managers. I am making him crazy Mick a lot sooner in his history than IRL, but I have been waiting for a long time to pull the trigger on that, and with Jake Roberts now in my circuit, now seemed be the ideal time to start grooming him for that role. Dan Spivey was also green IRL but also was a big guy with a sports background. He has been mostly the other guy eating the falls for the Varsity Club until I came up with an entertaining character for him to play that fit with his overall look and skill set. I hardly think that Bootleg Hulk Hogan is giving a main event push to an inexperienced, undeserving guy. Scott Hall, again a big huge guy, mostly kept to tag matches with more experienced hands, has gotten some wins but just to put him over as a power house. In real time, Hall is just a month away from being world tag champion. As I stated in other threads, I have held off on giving him singles matches with Spivey , even though the angle would incline to that, because that match would have been pretty rough at this point in their careers. I have only started doing that because Hall is on his way out as part of a trade and need to get to those matches ASAP. It may seem like I am pushing Badd Company too early, but they have been in my version of the AWA for close to 2 years , consist of a gifted second generation wrestler and an underrated guy with a legit sports background, and have worked their way up from feuding with the likes of Chick Donovan. They have built up a following, gotten experience and are currently the secondary tag champs, hardly out of keeping with their current status. True, I did put them in the main event on a recent house show, but it was a match between the World Tag champs and the Southern Tag champs with Buddy Rose in Portland. That just seems like a natural draw, no matter what. As for "tons of ethnic babyfaces", a quick perusal of my roster shows Al Perez (a bit of a special project of mine, who has gradually been brought along from the lower reaches of the card to become my equivalent of the TV champion), the Guerreros (did work the AWA , being mostly used as a unit and hardly being pushed to the moon right now), and two British tag teams in a circuit that used to main event Billy Robinson. Does Steamboat count as ethnic? I hardly think the mid-west is going to turn up their nose at a "Hawaiian", especially considering that he has tons of babyface charisma and is sexy as hell. All in all, I have kept with one of my explicitly stated goals of my circuit, which was to have part of my version of the AWA be a wrestling version of the JSA : veterans working with newcomers to help groom them to be the next generation of superstars. When Crossface Chicken Wing (RIP) was first drafting the initial roster at the start of the project, I asked him if he would be picking up Nick Bockwinkel (whom I would ultimately acquire through a trade much further down the line) and he said no, he wasn't looking to recreate the original AWA but do something different. I did say this is not your Daddy's AWA. Nor was it ever meant to be. It might seem jarring, picking it up now and seeing how much it has diverged, but I have been running this circuit for 2.5 years, and have done my best to have it gradually evolve from what it initially was to something new. True, the original AWA did stick with white bread, meat-and-potatoes wrestling right to the very end. The original AWA also went broke. I have thrown in new elements , a bit accelerated but still within what I think is reason, to show how they could have kept themselves vital and interesting. If I ever have Sunshine stripping on top of the International Amphitheater, then I will know I have gone too far, but for now, I am overall satisfied with what I have done.

AWA show from Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland , December 14th Mick Foley vs. Kevin Sullivan Foley won after Nord blindsided Sullivan with a big boot to the face Jim Brunzell vs. Killer Khan Khan forced Brunzell to give up to the thumb choke Dusty Rhodes vs. Koko Ware Dusty pinned Koko after the Bionic Elbow Drop Mando Guerrero vs. Dave Schultz Mando got the win after a Guerrero Special Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Steiner Steiner was going for a bulldog headlock but Steamboat reversed it into a Tiger Suplex for the win AWA Southern Title Match : Al Perez © vs. Kendo Nagasaki Perez forced Kendo to give up to an Indian Death Lock AWA World Tag Team Title match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. Badd Company This incredibly exciting match ended with Paul Diamond going up for a top rope reverse flying body press, but Rose cut him off by hitting him with a blackjack, allowing Somers to pin him

AWA show from the Cow Palace, San Francisco, December 13th (as shown on ESPN / TSN Super Cards) Jake Roberts & Nord The Barbarian vs. Kevin Sullivan & Dan Spivey Roberts executed the DDT on Sullivan for the win Jerry Blackwell vs. Brian Blair Blackwell pinned Blair after a power slam British Steel vs. Onyx Express Onyx Express won when the masked man ambushed Regal with a thrust kick Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Jesse Barr & Buzz Sawyer Hector caught Barr with a slingshot cross body block for the victory The Great Kabuki vs. Kendo Nagasaki Kabuki got the win with a piledriver Dusty Rhodes vs. Tony Atlas Dusty landed the Bionic Elbow Drop to win the match AWA World Tag Title match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. The British Bulldogs Rose countered a snap suplex attempt with a small package with a fistful of tights to defend their belts AWA World Title match : Paul Orndorff © vs. Nick Bockwinkel After an epic battle, both men ended up being counted out of the ring

Regardless of who he is, it won't be the last we see of him.

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN / TSN for December 14th Jake “The Snake” Roberts & Nord The Barbarian vs. Spencer Duhm & Jerry Sims The first in-ring appearance of Roberts and Nord in the AWA was big news, but just as big was the appearance of Pvt. Mick Foley accompanying them to the ring. Gone were the military haircut and fatigues, in their place was long shaggy hair, a full beard , a black singlet and leopard print boots. While Foley paced at ringside, Roberts and Nord easily dispatched their opposition, with Nord sending Sims flying off the ring apron with a big boot while Roberts dropped Duhm with the DDT. After the match, Cpl. Scott Hall showed up and started pleading with Foley to come back with him, but Foley just stared at him silently. Roberts put his hand on the back of Foley’s head, then grinned at Hall and shook his head as he guided Foley to the back. The Killer Bees vs. Mike Shaw & Dave Schultz After the brutal attack on Greg Gagne several weeks ago by Mike Shaw, the member of Colonel Robley’s Army have been targeting Gagne’s allies, the Killer Bees. Brunzell and Blair did their best to stay ahead of their huge opponents, but little by little, Shaw and Shultz were able to grind them down. The tide turned when Greg Gagne, his ribs heavily taped, showed up at ringside and pointed at Shaw. Shaw took a moment to mock Gagne, but this was a fatal mistake, as the Bees took advantage of his distraction and double dropkicked him out of the ring. Shaw landed hard and was not able to make it back in before the count. The Army were furious but the Bees were victorious. Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Steiner Ever since it his return, Steamboat has let it be known that he is not going to stop until he gets to his former friend Paul Orndorff and his World title. Orndorff’s allies the Varsity Club have just as loudly let it be known that they will do anything to ensure that never happens. The first roadblock they put in Steamboat’s way was the powerful Rick Steiner, who tried to unleash his brutal throws and power moves on the popular favorite. Steamboat, however, was able to wriggle out of most of the suplex attempts and keep working in his own shots, chipping away at his huge opponent. Steiner thought he had finally gained the advantage when he was able to catch Steamboat with a clothesline and knock him out of the ring, but he failed to notice that Steamboat was able to catch himself at the last second with the top rope. While Steiner was facing the other way, Steamboat was able to rush up the top turnbuckle and come off with a flying cross body press that got the pinfall. Steiner looked like he was about to throttle the ref before Sullivan got him calmed down. Dusty Rhodes vs. Ben Browning The fans exploded in cheers when the “American Dream” came out to the ring, having his first match since his return to the AWA. People were into his every move as he dominated Browning before putting him away with the Bionic Elbow Drop. A quick victory for Dusty but Tony Atlas is likely to provide a much tougher challenge for him. AWA World Tag Team Title match : Buddy Rose & Doug Somers © vs. British Steel Rose and Somers have been full of themselves ever since stealing the World Tag titles from the British Bulldogs, but Regal and Smiley were determined to avenge their countrymen and take the belts for themselves. The Playboy and the Pretty Boy didn’t initially seem to take their much younger opponents seriously, but British Steel have been steadily coming into their own as a team, and had the champs scrambling at numorous points in the match. When Smiley was able to knock Rose out of the ring, Regal was about to get Somers trapped in the Regal Stretch, but this is where the match took a strange turn. A masked man in jeans and a silver jacket suddenly appeared in the ring and knocked Regal out with a thrust kick to the jaw , placing Somers on top of him before scuttling out of the ring and disappearing. Somers and Rose seemed as confused as everyone else but took the pinfall, as the crowd booed their disapproval. Who is this mysterious stranger and what does he have against British Steel?

All good

Orndorff is on my roster. So are Zenk and Lafon, although they are working MACW as part of a 3 way talent exchange, they don't go on the full time roster page.

This is not your Daddy's AWA

Yeah, various deals, angles and waiting for the post-draft talent influx left me a little short handed for my house shows. The TV should build up anticipation for the year end shows and set the stage for the new year's changes.

AWA show from Cobo Hall, Detroit, December 7th Mando Guerrero vs. Bob Roop Mando hit a neckbreaker slam on Roop to get the victory Koko Ware vs. Steven Regal Ware executed a brain buster to score the win Jerry Blackwell vs. Norman Smiley Blackwell pinned Smiley after a power slam The Killer Bees vs. Mike Shaw & Dave Schultz Shaw crushed Brunzell with a running splash and got the win for his team Doug Somers vs. Dynamite Kid Dynamite came off the top rope with a flying headbutt to come away with the victory AWA Southern Title match : Al Perez © vs. Brickhouse Brown In a very fast paced, back and forth matchup, Perez was able to force Brickhouse to surrender to an Indian Deathlock AWA American Title match : Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Mike Rotundo Nick ultimately was able to pin Rotundo after executing a Piledriver

AWA show from the Met Center, Bloomington, on December 6th (As shown on ESPN / TSN Super Cards) British Steel vs. Leo Burke & Ed Wiskowski Regal trapped Burke in a small package to get the pinfall Kendo Nagasaki vs. The Great Kabuki Kabuki pinned Kendo after a thrust kick The Onyx Express vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero Chavo forced Koko to submit to the Gory Special Dan Spivey vs. Cpl. Scott Hall Spivey won by countout after sending Hall out of the ring with the Big Boot, after Hall was distracted by Mick Foley attacking Kevin Sullivan at ringside. Post-match, Jake Roberts and Nord the Barbarian attacked Sullivan and Spivey AWA Southern Tag Title match : Badd Company © vs. Buzz Sawyer & Jesse Barr Badd Company executed a Slingshot DDT on Barr to defend their belts Doug Somers vs. Davey Boy Smith Smith hit the Running Power Slam on Somers to get the victory Nick Bockwinkel & Sgt. Slaughter vs. Paul Orndorff & Mike Rotundo Bockwinkel reversed a rollup by Orndorff to score the win

And that's a wrap! Still plenty of solid guys going into Free Agency, which will allow for people to shift rosters around in the future.

Just a case of me putting off drafting somebody because I keep feeling he will be available next round , then they get picked right before I am finally going to grab them. There's always one. Overall, very happy with my draft, spent a lot (traded some pretty big ticket people and will have to cut more than I anticipated to make the roster cap) but managing to avoid buyer's remorse. Ron Simmons wound up being the big one that got away but truth to tell, I pegged Simmons, Vader and Pillman as my top three dream picks and I figured I would be most likely to get one of them, if that. (Very surprised to be able to land Pillman, so there is a plus). Had a fun angle planned to introduce a bunch of the top rookies and close to everyone I wanted for it ended up on my roster (again, with Pillman now a substitute for Simmons). Going to end up losing a bunch of Calgary guys, so was able to pick up a few to take their place. Good times.