AWA TV

[Superstar Sleeze]

Didnt feel like St. Louis so decided to watch a random episode of AWA TV.  I watched All Star Wrestling was this the A-Show or was it Championship Wrestling? I have seen a lot of great AWA promo with Mean Gene, but there were promos on this episode. It was 35 minutes long, usually an hour of TV is 38-42minutes run time, do people think the promos were cut or did All-Star Wrestling not show promos? Also where was this taped? Twin Cities, I presume? Spacious venue. 

August 2, 1981 AWA All-Star Wrestling

AWA World Tag Team Champion High Flyers vs a Mexican/Puerto Rican jobbers. Heel jobbers go after Greg's eyes and try some roughhouse tactics on Brunzell in the second falls. Two straight for the champs. Brunzell looked great. Dropkick was not the finish, needed a small package. Greg looked pretty good, but I preferred Brunzell in this outing. Greg had some good leg work. Both were energetic and vigorous. Greg wins with a Jackknife pin.

Crusher Jerry Blackwell vs George "Scrap Iron" Gadaski - The highlight of this show. Blackwell looked like a million bucks. If you are a Blackwell like I am, this is not a must watch, but it is a really strong squash match from him. Loved the freight train finish. 

Tito Santana vs Pancho - I like how he heel jobbers cheat a lot, lots of hair pulling in this. Tito has his fists cocked in typical pissed off Tito fashion but he never lets them fly to my dismay. Really cool pin by Tito that should be cribbed. He does a standing reverse toehold with a backbridge. Verne has been on commentary and you could tell he liked that one.  

Sheik Adnan al-Kaisse vs Jobber - Adan slapped the jobber around. I dont remember this being quite as vicious as I wanted it to be. Abdominal Stretch wins it for the Sheik, customary Wilbur Synder reference by Verne. 

Baron Von Raschke vs Jobber - Finishes off. Again, I noticed that Baron is still quite athletic at this point in his career. Verne calls him "supple" while that's a descriptor that I reserve for use in a different form of physical, adult entertainment, he's not wrong, but at the same time I am not sure I want to think of the Baron in that light. The Baron definitely had something, the way he moves around the ring is very graceful. Brain Claw finishes it. 

I will probably stick with St. Louis for the time being because I am trying to finish before the end of the month so I dont have to pay Impact another $8, but this was a fun 35 minutes. Blackwell squash was worthwhile, always nice to see Tito and the Baron is growing on me. 

 

[Superstar Sleeze]

I have no idea when this episode of TV is from they were advertising an Oakland Battle Royale on November 12th. Based on the roster, it feels like it is 1981. 

AWA World Tag Team Champions High Flyers vs Jobbers - Been watching a lot of squashes and I realize my least favorite is when a technical babyface squashes. Power wrestlers are a ton of fun to watch heel or baby as they will just smoke their opponents. Classic heel with cheat like sumbitch. Technical babyfaces not much to it and they often try to make it seem more competitive by doing a lot of motion but it really isnt. Matches like this make me believe Crockett was not ahead of its time just with it. Very Crockett style match in 1981 in AWA. Tons of workrate and motion. Brunzell has such a terrific dropkick. Love the snapmare take over for the first fall. Gagne sleeper takes the second fall. Gagne has good fire. It is a shame Brunzell was not a bit taller or didnt come along a little later could've been a big player. 

The Hulkster is with Johnny Valiant. Hulk Hogan is clearly trying to do the Superstar Billy Graham rap and he is pretty good at it, but he still hasnt found his voice. Johnny Valiant is just one of those talkers that talks. His cadence is good, but he doesnt have the conviction or content worth listening to. They are challenging Jesse The Body to a Arm Wrestling Match. A little heel vs heel...SCANDALOUS~! Mean Gene is the best. He asks a pointed question about arm wrestling he knows how to get a point over.

Dizzy Ed Hogan vs Scrap Iron George Gadawski - Brutus Beefcake has one of those faces where he looks different everytime I see him. Man, I dont know youre telling me Dizzy Boulder, Brutus Beefcak and The Disciple are the same person. i have a hard time believeing that, brutha. Dizzy Boulder is Hulk Hogan with a better hairline and less charisma. He wins with a full nelson. Lame Squash. 

Baron Von Raschke vs Worst Jobber Ever - Greg says the Baron was an NCAA champion when he intro's this and uses the Danny Hodge line to describe Baron that the Baron had the strongest grip in wrestling. Looked it up. Baron was an AAU champion, World Bronze and a Big 8 Champion. Baron is a good athlete I can tell. He is in there with one of the worst jobbers I have ever seen. A total load and that makes every move look like shit. I would have just Clawed him and got the fuck out. What a load.

Hulk Hogan vs Two Jobbers - Hogan gets the BIG STAR treatment! You cant say the AWA was not pushing him and he looks like a million bucks. He was pretty good in this. I like 80s WWF Hogan that hams it up more. Hogan double bearhug was a really cool finish!

Tito Santana vs Jobber - Not Much to report here. Tito has a nice dropkick too. God, I love that Tito/Martel vs High Flyers match from this time. 

Jesse The Body SMOKES Hulk Hogan in his promo. It is not even close who is the better promo at this time. Hogan would become Jesse's equal but he was always more athletic than Jesse and I think more inherently likeable. Jesse has too much smarm to him. He did get the State of Minnesota to vote him as Governor so I guess I am wrong. Adrian Adonis here also and they are talking the Battle Royale. Jesse was so good in this. HEY! Here's Andre and he's going to be in the Battle Royale. It is in Oakland and Mean Gene has the audacity to sav that it is something that area has never seen before! The last Cow Palace Battle Royale was actually this very year, 1981 and won by the Man of San Fran himself, Pat Patterson!