AWA results for December 1985

[rainmakerrtv]

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN / TSN for Decembert 6^th

 

Killer Khan vs. Hunter Ellis

 

Hoo boy. I’d say the young rookie Ellis put up a game effort, but he didn’t really have a chance to. Tojo just pointed at him and Khan charged in, savagely pummeling Ellis before administering the thumb choke and forcing him to give up. Khan then went up to the top turnbuckle , seemingly about to go for the flying kneedrop that put out King Kong Bundy and Brad Armstrong, but Tojo and Kaissie ordered him to come down. It remains to be seen who will be able to stem Killer Khan’s tide of destruction, if anyone.

 

Kevin Sullivan vs. Pvt. Mick Foley

 

Sullivan and his Varsity Club goons have been relentlessly bullying poor Foley for the last while, and Mick has been getting progressively more unhinged as a result. He showed up for this match with even longer and shaggier hair than before, as well as sporting a full beard. Part-way though the match , Foley’s Cobra Corps comrade Cpl. Scott Hall showed up at ringside to cheer him on , but Foley only seemed to find it distracting. As Foley and Sullivan brawled back and forth, Hall was startled to find himself confronted by a huge man, tall enough to even look him straight in the eye. It was Nord The Barbarian! The two stared each other down, but this proved to be the ultimate distraction for Foley, who was blindsided with an elbow shot to the back of the head by Sullivan and pinned with a roll up. Sullivan and Nord stood over Foley and Hall seemed willing to try to fight his way through them , but even he was shocked when they were joined by a third man … Jake “The Snake” Roberts! Roberts and Sullivan high fived in the ring … but then Roberts swiftly hit a short clothesline on Sullivan, followed by the DDT! Roberts then grabbed Foley by the hair and brought him to his feet. He and Nord then dragged Foley from the ring, leaving behind a confused Hall and an unconscious Sullivan.

 

Jesse Barr vs. Mando Guerrero

 

After the chaos of the last match, this was a more straightforward technical match, with both men seeming like they could take it at any point before Mando was able to catch Barr in a German Suplex to score the victory. The Guerrero Brothers have continued to impress since arriving in the AWA, and it is only a matter of time before they start seriously challenging for title gold.

 

Tony Atlas vs. Gabriel Cade

 

Atlas was clearly furious since his loss in Winnipeg to Ricky Steamboat, and proceeded to take it out on poor young cade, dismantling him with a brutal series of power moves before pinning him with a running splash. This, however, was not enough for Atlas, who then knocked aside the ref and locked Cade in a Full Nelson, refusing to let it go. Suddenly, somebody charged into the ring and broke it up. It’s “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes! Rhodes peppered Atlas with lefts and rights before knocking him out of the ring with a big elbow, giving additional elbows to Koko and Brickhouse when they charged in. “The American Dream” has arrived in the AWA and clearly isn’t about to stand for people being picked on by Atlas.

 

AWA World Title Match : Paul Orndorff © vs. Brian Blair

 

The World Champion seems to be feeling his oats since sending Curt Hennig out of the AWA, and clearly felt that facing one half of the Killer Bees was somewhat beneath him. Blair, however, gave Orndorff quite a fight, nailing several high impact dropkicks and taking the champ down to the mat for a series of leg submissions. Orndorff gradually was able to get back control over the match and finally hit a piledriver to put an end to Blair’s challenge. Orndorff was about to start smugly celebrating in the ring when his attention was drawn to somebody arriving at ringside. He turned around, expecting to see Blair’s partner, Jim Brunzell, but instead it was the newly crowned American Champion, Nick Bockwinkel. Unlike most people showing up at ringside tonight, the former World champ didn’t enter the ring, instead just standing there, staring daggers at Orndorff before returning to the back. It looks like Orndorff has a new challenger to his crown, one who is clearly not happy with him for sending his partner out of the territory.

 

[rainmakerrtv]

AWA show from the Met Center, Bloomington, on December 6^th (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

[rainmakerrtv]

AWA show from Cobo Hall, Detroit, December 7^th

 

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

[dawho5]

I liked the house shows, but for me the highlight was TV. Killer Khan lives up to the name, JAKE shows up and acts all mysterious and BOCK is going to be Orndorff's new challenger? If I'm watching this in real time that's all very exciting stuff.

[rainmakerrtv]

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.

[dawho5]

Yup, that's how I book all my TV. If it's on there it should either be building a guy up or moving one of the feuds forward. One thing about TV in the 80s is that it was very focused on getting you to the house shows, the big shows to see the matches that meant something.

[SirEdger]

Very intrigued with Jake Roberts' debut in the AWA. Gonna be interesting to tread into uncharted waters as most of us had never envisioned Jake to be in the AWA.

[rainmakerrtv]

This is not your Daddy's AWA

[spaldoni]

Wow! Jake the Snake and Dusty Rhodes make some huge splashes right off the bat. Bock vs. Orndorff ...YES!

[rainmakerrtv]

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN / TSN for December 14^th

 

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?

[dawho5]

Foley is starting to look like Foley. And act like it. Who was that masked man in the main?

[rainmakerrtv]

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

[SirEdger]

The pairing of Jake Roberts & Nord the Barbarian will be so much fun to watch evolve.

[gordi]

Wow. Dusty coming in, Steamboat and Bock chasing Orndorff's title, Nord and Jake teaming up with Foley in their corner...

 

...definitely not my father's AWA!

[rainmakerrtv]

AWA show from the Cow Palace, San Francisco, December 13^th (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

[rainmakerrtv]

AWA show from Portland Memorial Coliseum, Portland , December 14^th

 

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

[kevinmcfl]

Best quote of all was by Rain himself. "This is not your father's AWA." I truly love what is going on here and it has become a must read! So many great angles under way that I can't wait for the next show. Dusty was hard to give up but now I can't wait to see what he does next. Great lead in to 1986.

[SirEdger]

Can't help but think that somehow, Badd Company will be the ones to dethrone Buddy Rose & Doug Somers.

[GeneJackson95]

AWA has been so much better here than IRL but with the influx of talent that you've adding recently the AWA is a powerhouse in this game!

[spaldoni]

This is really fun to read! Cactus Jack is born. Dusty Rhodes comes in strong. Rick Steiner looks like he's going places. Bock is giving Orndorff a tough run. Who is the masked man?!?! So much great stuff happening.

[dawho5]

Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Steiner is actually a genius feud. Instead of turning Steamboat into "The Dragon" or some goofy shit, you put him with a guy who he can use his credentials against to their fullest.

[BruiserBrody]

AWA has been so much better here than IRL but with the influx of talent that you've adding recently the AWA is a powerhouse in this game!

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.

[rainmakerrtv]

 

AWA has been so much better here than IRL but with the influx of talent that you've adding recently the AWA is a powerhouse in this game!

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.

[kevinmcfl]

I think the AWA does the best job in our game of developing young talent as he puts them into some type of stable and allows them to work their way up! While some of the wrestlers are ahead of schedule, it could just be because they are trained better. I agree with the fact that this is not the AWA we grew up with and for that I thank Rain. The AWA was often boring and tough to watch. This AWA has turned into a favorite read of mine and hope it continues in the same way.

[SirEdger]

I personally have zero problems with how rain has done with the AWA. I like how it is very different from the RL AWA. Rain keeps us on our toes with every show he does. Everything he does happens for a reason. Everything is well thought of.

 

Besides, none of us joined this Project to recreate EXACTLY what those territories were in 1983. We all try to keep a sense of authenticity with what was true to those territories while we're all adding a bit of our creativity to it. If anything, we're all guilty of stretching reality. But this is what makes it fun. It's a project with which "What ifs?" are strongly encouraged.