AWA Thread

[Frankensteiner]

All of Dylan's recent talk about Martel has motivated me to go back and re-watch some of the matches from Martel's AWA World title reign.

 

Rick Martel vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Winnipeg, MB 3/28/85

The first of what I watched is this match against Bockwinkel. Martel worked more matches against Bock during this period than he did against any other opponent so these guys should certainly be familiar with each other. The match starts off with Bockwinkel breaking clean early only to eventually pummel Martel when both go into the ropes off an abdominal stretch. Bock then controls the ring by preventing Martel to enter. I guess it doesn't make much sense for a challenger to do this but Ken Resnick covered for it well enough, I thought. They then worked a long section of holds culminating in Bock's figure four on Martel. Martel's escape and fired up side mounted punches on Bock were great. The problem with this match was they didn't really work enough of a stretch run after all the holds and the ending felt abrupt as a result. I was ready for at least another 5 minutes. The ending was shit too with the dueling in-the-ropes spots. I enjoy seeing these guys wrestle each other but I don't know that they ever had a truly great match together.

 

Rick Martel vs. Michael Hayes, St. Paul, MN 7/14/85

This match was JIP to the middle but what was shown wasn't good. Crusher was ringside as an outside ref/special enforcer type. I generally like Michael Hayes but this was way too chinlocky before going into a clusterfuck of a finish with the Birds and Crusher brawling ringside. This was a re-match from Hayes "winning" the title via outside interference the previous month. There was also a previous match between Martel/Roberts where Hayes bloodied Martel with his boot (although this could have been exclusive to Chicago). Anyway, what I'm trying to say is they would have been better off working a shorter, more intense revenge match than what they did here.

[Dylan Waco]

Ill comment more when im on a real comp, bit i think martel and bock at worst had a couple of borderline great matches though nothing on the level of curt and bocks best. I think my favorite martel in the AWA match is actually v. Jimmy garvin. Well that or the great, mildly clipped, rheingans match

[Frankensteiner]

Yes, I love the Rheingans match even if the clipping is somewhat distracting. I plan to re-watch it at some point.

 

It would be great if you could specify which Bock/Martel and Garvin/Martel matches you're referencing because there's plenty of them that are available on tape. I do want to watch the two match Martel/Bock series from Winnipeg from the previous year with the crap finishes. I started with the above match because I remember thinking it was their best one together.

[Matt D]

Were there any Masked Superstar vs Sgt. Slaughter matches in 84? How much was Backlund around? Was he just doing Pro Wrestling USA or was he doing AWA tv too?

 

I've seen so little AWA.

[Dylan Waco]

You will love the AWA set when it is released Matt. The best Sarge and Superstar encounter ive seen was the awesome handicapp cage match from starrcage 85. I will specify on the garvin match later as i dont have dates in front of me.

[Matt D]

I'm planning on participating in this one. It's such a black hole for me.

[Mad Dog]

Were there any Masked Superstar vs Sgt. Slaughter matches in 84? How much was Backlund around? Was he just doing Pro Wrestling USA or was he doing AWA tv too?

 

I've seen so little AWA.

The ESPN Classics stuff essentially picks up after Pro Wrestling USA fell apart and I don't recall ever seeing Backlund on any AWA show that's been on there.

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Mr. Saito, Winnipeg, MB 4/24/85

I felt this was kind of a cookie-cutter match but still very good nonetheless. I would say actually one of Martel's three or four best title defenses. These guys both have pretty deep movesets and were able to cram plenty of stuff into 15 minutes, perhaps to the match's detriment. Match felt much shorter as a result. Saito controlled early with a side headlock but everytime the pace picked up Martel was able to gain control, including hitting some really sweet looking arm drags. Martel's sell of the Scorpion complete with pulling on the ring mat as he inched towards the ropes was great as well. Finally, it was nice to see Martel go over clean for one of the few times during his reign.

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. King Tonga, Meadowlands, 4/19/85

I thought this was a match from the joint NWA/AWA Star Wars but it looks like it was an AWA-only event. I didn't even realize the AWA ran the Meadowlands by themselves (doesn't look like they did too bad either drawing 10,000). My version of this is from World Pro in Japan and runs about 7:30; it's possible there might have been some cuts. As far as the match, I don't have too much to comment here as this was rather nondescript in every way imaginable. Match was OK when Martel was fired up but Tonga wasn't interesting at any point. Some crappy strikes, a nerve hold, and a gutwrench suplex is the extent of Tonga's output here. The layout and flow were pretty poor also. I'm noticing a pattern as you can kind of make a similar comment about some of the previous matches.

[Dylan Waco]

Do you have access to the Zhukov matches? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on those

[Frankensteiner]

Do you have access to the Zhukov matches? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on those

Yes, I plan to get to those at some point.

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Brad Rheingans, St. Paul, MN 9/9/84

Going into this I sort of wished Dylan hadn’t talked it up earlier because, as with anything, high praise raises expectations and increases scrutiny. But I am happy to say even with the bar raised this match seemed even better now than the first time I saw it a few years back.

 

I loved the classy way in which they worked a World Title match between two faces; the way in which a match between two faces should always be worked (if you listen to the crowd you can understand why that’s not the case). They worked holds and exchanges befitting the occasion. Even when tempers flared neither Martel nor Rheingans resorted to throwing punches or brawling, choosing instead to up the intensity of their grappling. Many of the holds were basic but the counters in and out of them were the highlight, some of which I’ve rarely seen. Even the ending, shitty as it may be, works well in the context of the match. Like the match had to stop once the hopes for a clean encounter were ruined.

 

This is the best match in this series that I’ve seen so far. It’s a real feather in Martel’s cap. The clipping does suck because the focus seems to be the “all-action” parts as opposed to their work in holds, which I thought was the best part. Still a great match, however.

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Billy Robinson, St. Paul, MN 11/22/84

Another strong match. This, like Martel/Rheingans above, is raw footage shot with a single hard camera. And much like the previous match, there’s clipping at various points. In total about 12:30 of 17:30 is shown, so the majority of the match is preserved. However, because of the numerous cuts, the flow of the match suffers a little bit.

 

Robinson was looking pretty old here but still managed to bring it fairly well. I thought Martel was his typical great self, straddling the line between wanting to wrestle a clean, scientific match and not being afraid to rough it up in response to Robinson’s tactics. One thing that hurt this was Robinson’s multiple trips to the outside which would reset the match and slow down the flow (much like the clipping). I didn’t mind it so much early on but he was doing it about 2 minutes before the finish.

[khawk20]

For those that might not know, the Raw Footage matches like Martel-Robinson were shot at an alternate angle without commentary specifically for the purpose of being fed to the various TV Stations for their highlight packages of the Civic Center cards, which they would broadcast bits of on the sports show that evening (sometimes doing live cut-ins), and for the next night. Several stations got in on this from around 83 through the end of 85, at least. The resulting matches end up clipped up, but the majority are there because the stations would want to extract the best bits and the finishes from the matches for their broadcasts, but they didn't know when they would happen.

 

Though I suspect that most of these were filmed with the standard AWA commentary/stationary camera, a large portion of these bouts have never surfaced and never aired on TV. Charles Warburton's list was the first/only place I ever saw the 3/83 - 12/83 Raw footage tape before I got it, and the 1984-85 stuff I received directly from a friend in Minnesota that had them lying around for years. He suspects there is a lot more but has no idea where they would be at this point.

 

Anyhow, just some FYI on the background of those tapes.

[Frankensteiner]

For those that might not know, the Raw Footage matches like Martel-Robinson were shot at an alternate angle without commentary specifically for the purpose of being fed to the various TV Stations for their highlight packages of the Civic Center cards, which they would broadcast bits of on the sports show that evening (sometimes doing live cut-ins), and for the next night. Several stations got in on this from around 83 through the end of 85, at least. The resulting matches end up clipped up, but the majority are there because the stations would want to extract the best bits and the finishes from the matches for their broadcasts, but they didn't know when they would happen.

 

Though I suspect that most of these were filmed with the standard AWA commentary/stationary camera, a large portion of these bouts have never surfaced and never aired on TV. Charles Warburton's list was the first/only place I ever saw the 3/83 - 12/83 Raw footage tape before I got it, and the 1984-85 stuff I received directly from a friend in Minnesota that had them lying around for years. He suspects there is a lot more but has no idea where they would be at this point.

 

Anyhow, just some FYI on the background of those tapes.

Do you know who edited or cut up the matches?

[khawk20]

It would have been the way the TV stations filmed it, likely stopping the camera at certain points when "nothing" was happening or likely was going to "happen".

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Kimala, St. Paul, MN 9/8/85

I was pretty excited for this mach as it was a chance to see Martel work against a monster challenger. I scanned the Martel match list and couldn’t find any other freak-show opponents. Wrestling against a technical babyface may not be Kimala’s best role but he does a good job here. The work in this match was simple but effective. They did well to establish the size difference and each wrestler’s strategy in the early going. Unfortunately the match ended rather abruptly after only 7 minutes with Kimala DQed for throwing Martel over the top. This looked as if it had a chance to be a solid match with more time and a better finish.

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, St. Paul, MN 9/28/85

An excellent match. Don’t know if this is best of what I’ve seen so far, but it’s certainly the most satisfying. There was just a great progression to the match, from a good opening to a hot stretch run where they traded some excellent near falls. There was a brief point where I thought this might be bordering too much on my turn-your turn but then Jumbo went on an assault on Martel’s knee and Martel was selling it like a champ. Then Martel fought back like the great babyface that he is and I was back to loving the match again. Probably neither man’s best effort but that’s actually a compliment as they made having a great match look easy.

 

On a side note, this has a great Rod Trongard call:

 

“How about that for action ladies and gentlemen? Vintage wrestling! Championship wrestling! The very best that there is. It’s right here in the ABA! The AWA! The ABA was something else at another time, another place. This is where it’s at and this is where it’s all about.”

[vikingsfan73]

Rick Martel vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, St. Paul, MN 9/28/85

 

On a side note, this has a great Rod Trongard call:

 

“How about that for action ladies and gentlemen? Vintage wrestling! Championship wrestling! The very best that there is. It’s right here in the ABA! The AWA! The ABA was something else at another time, another place. This is where it’s at and this is where it’s all about.”

Every match with Ron Trongard had a great call. I remember that he could never keep the Road Warriors straight. He switch between calling the same guy Animal or Hawk during the course of the match. Always brought a smile to my face!

 

And I agree, the 9/28/85 Jumbo vs. Martel match is awesome!

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Boris Zhukov, Winnipeg, MB 8/22/85

Rick Martel vs. Boris Zhukov, Winnipeg, MB 9/19/85

Rick Martel vs. Boris Zhukov (Cage), Winnipeg, MB 11/14/85

This is the aforementioned Zhukov series that only ran in Winnipeg.

 

The first match was alright. They established Zhukov's hard head gimmick early on and kind of played off of it when it was time for Zhukov to control the match. That part wasn't very compelling as Zhukov worked over Martel's arm with arm-bars, slams, punches and head butts. Martel carried this portion with his selling. His comeback didn't make much sense because it was punch heavy and they spent the early part of the match getting over the idea that punching Zhukov would only hurt Martel's hand without doing any damage to Zhukov. For the finish Martel intercepted Markoff's brass knux and used them on Zhukov to earn a DQ.

 

Second match was more of the same. Mad Dog Vachon was in Martel's corner to seemingly keep Markoff in check. Zhukov revisited his strategy to work over Martel's arm and Rick would make some periodic comebacks. They basically had kind of a listless match just waiting for the interference ending with Markoff throwing powder in Martel's eyes.

 

The feud thankfully peaked with the Cage match. What made this match stand out was the feel of a more heated encounter with an intensity missing from their first two bouts. Both guys juiced. The was plenty of good looking standard cage match offense. On the flip side, they completely blew off Zhukov's indestructible head gimmick but whatever. All in all, a good way to end a feud that was pretty tepid through the first two matches.

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Winnipeg, MB 8/16/84

I could be wrong but I believe this is the earliest Martel title defense available on video. Maybe khawk can chime in here to say if that's correct (I'm speaking of defenses on AWA turf as I know there's an earlier Jumbo match from All Japan).

 

It appears I was full of it earlier when saying these guys never had a great match together because this is truly excellent. I'm tempted to call it the best Martel match I've seen yet. Early on, there is this awesome sequence where they ran the ropes culminating in a Martel flying cross body that is simply phenomenal. Just one highlight out of many. These guys really cut an incredible pace but at the same time never lost the feeling of struggle which can sometimes happen in such quickly paced matches. Just a really exciting and excellent match. Because of how fast they went, it reminded me of Flair-Steamboat from Chi-Town Rumble, and I don't think it's a stretch to say Martel-Bock doesn't have to take a back seat to that match. It would be a good comparison regardless.

 

Even the finish, which I didn't like earlier, worked well in this match. It was an amalgam of the top-turnbuckle sleeper reversal (think Bret/Piper) and a belly to back side suplex with a double pin. That is, Martel reversed the sleeper by kicking off of the top turnbuckle, Bock released the sleeper but still held on to Martel enough to get him in that double pin position. I think I didn't like the ending initially because it didn't make Martel look strong enough, but watching the match, Martel really outclassed Bock (in a kayfabe sense) so Bock getting kind of a fluky rematch out of this works just fine (I should note Martel did raise his arm and it was Bock who was clearly pinned).

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Nick Bockwinkel, Winnipeg, MB 9/20/84

The rematch from their previous month. I probably liked the earlier match slightly more but this was excellent in its own right. You have to give them credit for wrestling a completely different match. It was much slower but just as exciting. The focus here was body part work with Martel targeting Bock’s knee and Bock attacking Martel’s ribs. As such, both guys put in a masterful selling performance. There was a particularly terrific spot with Martel running the ropes and Bock using his injured knee to connect with Martel’s ribs leading to both guys collapsing on the mat in pain. They finished it up with a nice stretch run with some great near falls. Finish came when Mr. Saito (seconding Bockwinkel after Heenan was “suspended” = left for WWF) threw powder in Martel's eyes. Bockwinkel the pinned Martel to win the title but the decision was quickly reversed. Not really a good finish but it does set up those matches the following year (already reviewed earlier though I will rewatch that Bock match).

 

On a side note, I have these last two matches from World Pro in Japan. Both appear slightly clipped. Does anyone know if the full matches ever aired in the US/Canada?

[khawk20]

They may have aired complete on TSN, but I'd have to check on that.

 

There is a July 1984 Martel-Bock match out there from St. Paul, but it's JIP fairly late as I remember, and I don't recall having it in any sort of decent quality.

 

I don't think any of his defenses out of Montreal made TV any earlier than this, either.

[Frankensteiner]

Rick Martel vs. Stan Hansen, Chicago, IL 9/28/85 (SuperClash)

I think this is the most famous match of Martel’s title reign as it took place on probably the most widely seen AWA show ever. It wasn’t much of match, however, as Martel and Hansen brawled all around ringside leading to a double count out almost right after the opening bell. Can’t really “rate” this as a proper match but I will say it was a cool little moment in time and a way to maybe showcase Martel in a different light. You of course have to question the logic of a 2 minute DCOR world title match on your biggest show but that’s an entirely different conversation.

 

Rick Martel vs. Stan Hansen, St. Paul, MN 12/25/85

This was an alright match but too short to be worth anything. There was kind of a hot opening and then they quickly took it down a notch. Stan managed to hit a running Martel with a nice back elbow. Nothing else of note took place. Match ended on a lame DQ when Hansen slammed Martel’s back into the ringpost.

 

I also re-watched Martel/Bockwinkel from 3/27/85 (see first post). I guess my opinion of the match went up, if only a little. On the one hand, I liked some things more watching it in context of the earlier bouts. On the other hand, it was even more disappointing given the greatness of the previous two matches. I did appreciate them wrestling yet another type of a match, as there were more holds used here. Bockwinkel was also a little more vicious than he had been earlier, adding a new touch to the series. Still, this match wasn’t nearly as compelling as the other two and they could have done more before taking it home.

[Frankensteiner]

Since this is an AWA thread and not simply about Martel, I thought I’d take the opportunity to comment on another match:

 

Curt Hennig vs. Stan Hansen, 2/14/86

I didn’t think this was very good, actually pretty disappointing since I seem to recall Dylan talking this one up. This certainly should not be used as an example to point to AWA Hennig being superior over WWF Hennig. Curt didn’t do here much move/punch-wise to make me think of Mr. Perfect as an inferior version. Henning sold well, Hansen was good in coming after him, they worked a good headlock sequence early, and had one or two decent punch/chop exchanges. As an overall match though this felt very flat.