[1980-05-01-AWA] Greg Gagne vs Super Destroyer Mark II

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[SAMS]

1980-05-01
AWA
Greg Gagne vs Super Destroyer II
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Card
★★

We’re missing the first 5 minutes of the match. Lots of cheating from the Super Destroyer combo of he and Heenan, as to be expected. Heenan was constantly angling to get in a cheap shot wherever he could.
I thought Greg was pretty lively here. His offense had energy and Destroyer made his offense look really good. Considering Greg’s size though, I thought the level to which Destroyer bumped for his shoulder checks was a bit too much. He must outweigh Greg by a solid 70-100 pounds and there’s no way he’d be getting bounced that hard by that type of move.
I loved both how Greg locked on his sleeper hold and how Destroyer hit his clothesline. They both almost let the man go past them before catching them by the neck. It gives a bit more of a whiplash effect that I thought looked really good.  
Destroyer was nailing move after move on Greg at the end (this also was a bit much as these were pretty killer moves and Greg seemed to be handily kicking out of them) then Super Destroyer 3(!) came out for the distraction, allowing Greg to send him face first into the turnbuckle (wicked bump here as it really snapped back his neck on impact) and get the pin. Considering how much punishment Greg took in the minutes preceding this, a single turnbuckle bump putting Destroyer II away felt a bit cheap in comparison as he didn’t roll him up or hook the leg at all on the pin.
Nice little match that I thought showed both guys in a positive light and highlighted a lot of their strengths but I thought Super Destroyer made Greg look a little too strong at points.