The High Flyers v Jerry Blackwell and Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie: From an AWA event in St. Paul Minnesota on December 25 1981. The Flyers are the AWA World Tag Team champions, but this is non-title. Joined in progress, looks like only moments in, with Greg Gagne holding Blackwell in an armbar. Sheik comes in to break it up, so Jim Brunzell comes in to chase him away, but the damage is done. Greg stays on Jerry with a full-nelson, however, and it’s over to Jim to work his arm. Blackwell manages to tag out, but Sheik ends up in an armbar as well, and Greg tags in to dive onto the part, before applying a hammerlock. They take turns working Sheik’s arm, but Greg runs into a double team, and the heels work him over. The cheating is so bad that the announcer argues that there should be four referees out there for tag matches. Even Gorilla Monsoon would probably tell him to walk that one back. Greg finally escapes long enough to tag, and Jim comes in throwing multiple dropkicks at Blackwell. One of them ends up knocking him right into a tag to Sheik, but Jim quickly takes him down, and Greg dives in Sheik’s leg. Jim puts a figure four on, but Jerry splashes him to break it up, and Sheik covers at 12:18 shown. Pretty basic tag action here, nothing special. ¾*
Hulk Hogan and Tito Santana v Ken Patera and Bobby Duncum: From an AWA event in St. Paul Minnesota on December 25 1981. The Network labels this as 1982, but from my research, it seems to be from the ‘81 Christmas show, as Hogan wrestled Jesse Ventura on the ‘82 card. And if you look at the people in the crowd, it looks like the same fans as in the High Flyers match covered above, so I think we’re safely in 1981. Joined in progress with the babyfaces working Duncum’s arm. Bobby manages to make a tag, so Patera stalls. Once he gets in, the babyfaces take turns pinballing him around, until Tito runs into trouble, and the heels go to work on him. Hogan gets sick of the cheating and goes after the heels with a chair, but the referee cuts him off, and the beating continues. He finally makes the tag for real, and Hogan runs wild, of course. They hurt his friends, they hurt his pride! He’s gotta be a man, he can’t let it slide! Patera eats a dropkick from a recovering Santana, and Hulk delivers a legdrop to the leg. The babyfaces work Ken’s leg, so Bobby Heenan tries a distraction. Hulk takes the bait, allowing Duncum to attack, but Hogan saves by throwing Bobby into Bobby! But, he accidentally throws Ken over the top, and that’s a DQ at 11:00 shown. Nothing special, but both Hogan and Santana were excellent in their roles, and it definitely worked for the live crowd. ½*
NWA National Title Match: Brett Wayne v Jake Roberts: From GCW The Last Battle of Atlanta event on October 23 1983 in Atlanta Georgia. It’s crazy, he’s not even thirty yet here, and Jake already looks like an out of shape hasbeen. Also, bell bottoms! Wayne works the arm in the early going, and a dropkick sends Jake to the outside. The challenger stalls out there to break the momentum, and he manages to get control with a double-knucklelock on the way back in. Wayne reverses, so Jake backs off, and stalls again. They keep trading knucklelocks for what feels like forever, and Jake gets control, working the leg. He gets increasingly aggressive while doing so, including taking cheap shots to antagonize the crowd. Jake dumps him to the outside for some abuse, and then drops Wayne across the top rope when the champ tries to re-enter. Snapmare gets the challenger two, and a side suplex is worth two. Wayne is busted open and running on fumes, but Jake shows no mercy, working him over. Wayne manages to reverse a cross corner whip on instinct alone, and Jake rebounds into a backdrop. Wayne tries a dropkick, but Roberts dodges the dizzy champion, and then sadistically destroys his knee while taunting Ole Anderson (who has shown up at ringside to try and advocate for Wayne). Jake keeps wrecking him with shot after shot after shot until Wayne can’t even stand, and Ole throws in the towel on his behalf at 21:48. So Jake believes he’s won the title (which makes sense, a forfeit usually counts as a title change), but we’re not playing by that rule tonight, and Wayne retains. These regional ring announcers were really put to shame by guys like Howard Finkel. Imagine the way the Fink would tell you that a title didn’t change hands, versus the laid-back way the ring announcer here does. “You have to have a pinfall or submission to take a title!” This was like a masterclass in heel tactics from Roberts, and Wayne did an incredible job selling throughout, but the match itself was pretty dull. *
Nick Bockwinkel v Curt Hennig: From an AWA event in St. Paul Minnesota on December 25 1984. Feeling out process to start, until Bockwinkel gets control, bashing him with a turnbuckle smash, and unloading in the corner. Nick kicks him out of the ring and won’t let Curt get back inside, knocking and blocking him with each try for minutes on end. Finally, Curt manages to sweep him out of the ring to block a kick, and Hennig unloads. Inside, Curt cross corner whips him, and throws an elbow when Bockwinkel rebounds. Dropkick gets him two, so Hennig dumps him to the outside for a bit of payback, then bringing Bockwinkel back in on his own terms with a vertical suplex from the apron for two. Hennig works a front-facelock, but Nick fights to a vertical base to force a criss cross, and Curt gets the worst of that one. Bockwinkel goes for an axehandle, but Curt punches him in the gut to block, and goes back to the front-facelock. Bockwinkel railroads him into the corner to force a break, and Nick delivers a backdrop for two. That was a weird looking backdrop. Bockwinkel with a pair of knees to the gut for two, but Henning counters the piledriver with a backdrop. Bockwinkel recovers with a sleeper to try and prevent a comeback, and Curt fades, but manages to drop Bockwinkel into the turnbuckle before he goes down. Nick responds by unloading on him in the corner, and a hiptoss follows. Backdrop, but Curt counters with a sunset flip for two, so Bockwinkel decks him. Slugfest goes Curt’s way, however, and he makes a comeback. Earringer rattles Bockwinkel, and another sunset flip gets Hennig two. A third sunset flip gets two, so Bockwinkel sweeps the leg, and gets him in a figure four. Hennig reverses and gets into the ropes, so Nick pounds the leg as soon as he gets the break. Back to the figure four, but Curt makes the ropes again. Bockwinkel keeps pounding the knee and tries again, but this time Hennig is ready with a small package at 14:17. This took a while to get off the ground, but it was good stuff once it did. **
Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Fabulous Freebirds v Tonga Kid and The High Flyers: From a Pro-Wrestling USA event in East Rutherford New Jersey on April 19 1985. Buddy Roberts starts with Greg Gagne, and Greg manages a pair of armdrags, so Buddy complains of a hair pull. Well, to be fair, Roberts has got such long, full hair that it would likely get pulled even if he waved at him from across the ring. Gagne with a hammerlock, and he passes to Kid to dive with an axehandle to the arm. Roberts manages to scurry away long enough for a tag to Michael Hayes, and Hayes uses some well placed stalling to annoy Kid. Hayes wins a criss cross by grabbing a handful of hair, but he stupidly squanders his advantage on a turnbuckle smash, and you can guess how that goes for him. Kid continues to get the better of Hayes, until Michael tags out to Terry Gordy. Terry manages to get control by bringing brute strength into the equation, and he delivers a fistdrop. Backdrop, but Kid leapfrogs him, and unloads with chops. Headbutt sends Gordy flopping around the ring, and Kid passes to Jim Brunzell. Brunzell slaps on a headlock, but Gordy forces a criss cross, and Terry bodyslams him as he comes out of the ropes. Brunzell tries another headlock, so Gordy tries another bodyslam, but Brunzell reverses. That draws Hayes in without a tag, but Brunzell is ready with a bodyslam for him as well, and he puts Terry back in the headlock. The other two Freebirds run in without tags to help, but Jim backdrops Hayes, and gives Roberts a headscissors takedown - all while still holding Gordy in the headlock! The Freebirds bail to regroup, and the dust settles on Gordy powering Brunzell into the heel corner, and it’s time for a triple team. Kid tries to save, but gets cut off by the official, and the Freebirds capitalize. The heels go to work on Brunzell, but he manages a tag to Greg, and Gagne delivers a backdrop on Hayes for two, before getting clobbered by Gordy when running the ropes too closely to the heel corner. The heels cut the ring in half on Gagne, but he manages to fight Gordy off with a side suplex, and it’s hot tag to Kid - Roseanne Barr the door! The referee tries to restore order after letting them run wild for a bit, but no one will please think of the children, so he disqualifies both teams at 18:23. This was a fun piece of business, relying mostly on basic stuff, but done with style and energy. **
Jake Roberts v Ted DiBiase: From a Mid-South event on July 28 1985 in Tulsa Oklahoma, in an open air football stadium. Jake goes for the DDT a few times early on, but DiBiase evades him, and does some stalling. Jake dominates until DiBiase manages a cheap shot, and he goes to town in the corner, but Roberts reverses a cross corner whip. DDT, but DiBiase hits the deck again, and bails for more stalling. Back in, Jake manages to take him down in a side-headlock, but makes a mistake, and you’d better believe DiBiase pounces. He bashes Jake’s head into the announce table on the outside, then ties Roberts in the ropes on the way back in, pounding him as the referee works to intervene. Ted with a swinging neckbreaker for two, so he chokes Jake down, and delivers a fistdrop for two. Backdrop, but Jake blocks, so Ted tries a turnbuckle smash, but Jake reverses. He makes a comeback, but the referee gets bumped in the process, allowing DiBiase to load up his glove. He winds up, but Jake drops him with the DDT before he can use it, and makes the cover at 12:49. I like both of these workers, but they never seemed to have any real chemistry together. Great heat, though. ¾*
NWA United States Title Match: Magnum TA v Tully Blanchard: From a Pro-Wrestling USA event in East Rutherford New Jersey on December 29 1985. Tully goes for the eye at the bell, but loses a slugfest, and Magnum press-slams him. Blanchard bails to regroup, and he tries to power Magnum into the corner, but that ends badly for him. The champ blasts him with a forearm for two, but Tully manages to poke him in the eye on the kickout, and that allows the challenger to kick him out of the ring. Tully follows to bash him into the guardrail out there, and then viciously puts the boots to Magnum until he bleeds when the champion tries rolling back inside the ring. That goes on until Magnum is able to sweep his challenger to the outside as well, and Blanchard eats the rail in the spirit of payback. Inside, Magnum continues throwing bombs at him, and a flying axehandle finds the mark, busting Blanchard open as well. Vertical suplex is worth two, so Tully dumps him to the outside to buy time. Magnum took that bump with gusto. Blanchard follows to try a suplex on the floor, but Magnum blocks, and takes it back inside. He tries a vertical superplex, but Blanchard shoves him off the middle rope to block, and delivers a backbreaker for two. Slugfest goes Magnum’s way, so Tully kicks him down low, and ropechokes him. Backelbow, but Magnum ducks, and delivers a dropkick for two. A series of rights gets him two, and the belly-to-belly suplex retains at 11:10. This was an intense, hard hitting, and bloody match - the issue clearly not fully settled with the crazy Starrcade brawl. ** ¾
AWA World Title Match: Rick Martel v Stan Hansen: From a Pro-Wrestling USA event in East Rutherford on December 29 1985. Hansen attacks during the referee’s instructions, and unloads on the champion, but Rick fights him off with a dropkick. Bodypress gets two, and another dropkick sends Stan to the outside. He charges back in, but Martel is ready with an armdrag into an armbar. He holds onto that for a while, until Hansen finally fights him off, and dumps the champion to the outside. Stan drags him back in for a bodyslam, and he hammers on Martel’s lower back with knees and fists. Backdrop, but Martel blocks, and puts the boots to his challenger. The champ goes back to the arm with a short-armscissors, but Stan forces a criss cross, and backelbows him down. Hansen tries unloading in the corner, so Martel grabs at the arm and takes him back down, as the crowd chants ‘boring’ at them. That’s a surprising lack of tolerance from an audience for this time period. Rick keeps sinking his teeth into arm holds as Hansen makes attempt after attempt to escape, finally managing to crack Martel with a backbreaker to turn the tide. Stan delivers a vertical suplex for two, and a side suplex is worth two. Gutwrench suplex sets up an elbowdrop for two, but a pointed elbowdrop hits the knees, and Martel recovers with a backelbow. Hiptoss gets the champion two, and a kneedrop is worth two. Really bringing the fire with that state of the art offense there, Rick. I know it’s Verne’s title, but that doesn’t mean you have to work like you’re stuck in a time warp. Bodyslam sets up another kneedrop for two, but Hansen reverses a vertical suplex on him for two, and he applies an abdominal stretch. Rick manages to dump him to the outside to escape, but Stan hustles back in before Martel can recover. He pounds him, but Rick busts out an inside cradle to try and flash pin him, but it only gets two. That’s all he has left, however, so Hansen slaps on a Boston crab. Rick tries powering free, but Stan presses his head against the middle turnbuckle to block the escape, and Rick’s 595 day reign is over at 14:02! Kind of a dull match, but worth checking out for the historical significance. Hansen’s reign would not end amicably, of course. * ½
AWA World Title Match: Nick Bockwinkel v Curt Hennig: From AWA Brawl in St. Paul on December 25 1986 in St. Paul, with Billy Robinson as the special guest referee. Don’t you just love it when you’re blindly fast-forwarding through a video, and land exactly at the opening bell of the match you’re looking for? That’s the wrestling fan version of coming back from the bathroom to find your food waiting for you. The closed captioning accidentally identifies Bockwinkel as the man of a thousand ‘holes.’ Missed it by that much. They size each other up for a bit to start, and Curt strikes first with a bodyslam to set up an elbowdrop for two, so Bockwinkel bails. He slows things down on the way back in, and gets Curt in an overhead wristlock, until Hennig escapes, and delivers a series of turnbuckle smashes. Bockwinkel quickly fights him off and bashes his knee into the post a few times as punishment, and Nick goes to work on the leg. Curt escapes a leglock and knocks Bockwinkel to the outside with a knee, but Nick beats the count. Curt responds by bashing his arm into the post, and the challenger works the arm on the way inside, so Bockwinkel rakes the eyes. That allows Nick some turnbuckle smashes, and he dumps Hennig to the outside for a smash into the announce table. Inside, Bockwinkel delivers a backdrop for two, but another one gets countered with a sunset flip for two. Curt throws a kneelift, and plants a dropkick for two. Corner whip leads to some chops, and the challenger hooks a small package for two. Forearm smash gets two, so Nick rakes the eyes, and the referee gets bumped as they criss cross. Hennig gets control and covers, but the referee is down, so no count. Curt tries to revive him, but that allows Bockwinkel to sneak up. Piledriver, but Hennig backdrops him over the top to block, which would be a DQ if the referee had seen it. Curt bodyslams him back in, and he dives with a missile dropkick, but the recovering Robinson calls for the DQ at 19:18 over throwing Bockwinkel over the top. This was surprisingly dull. *
Cage Match: Doug Somers and Buddy Rose v The Midnight Rockers: Also from Brawl in St. Paul, with Billy Robinson again acting as the special guest referee. Sommers and Rose are the AWA World Tag Team champions, but this is non-title. The Rockers charge in and chuck them both into the cage, drawing blood from Rose before the match even starts! The Rockers wreck Somers after the match officially begins, so Rose tries running into to make the save, but Marty Jannetty cuts him off, and feeds him some steel. Shawn Michaels beats on Rose until he simply flops, and he chucks Somers into the cage yet again to draw blood from him as well. The Rockers work Somers over with quick tags in and out, so Rose tries to make the save, and Marty gets so unbelievably mad that he just bashes his head into the cage over and over and over again like he’s in a rage blackout. He tries banging their heads together, but gets his eyes raked, and the heels toss him into the cage to turn the tide. Rose uses a bodyslam, and he heads to the top, but Jannetty crotches him before he can dive! Jannetty does some more brain bashing, and a bodyslam gets Marty two when Doug saves. Jannetty fights him off, but that allows Rose to recover, and he punches Marty down low for two. Rose tosses him into the cage, but that just fires Jannetty up, and he pounds Buddy down. Cover, but Marty decides he’s not done with him, and pulls him up at two. He whips Buddy right into a punch from Shawn, and Rose is so battered that he staggers backwards all the way across the ring into a tag, with the Rockers not even trying to stop him since they want to punish Doug as well. Front-powerslam on Somers gets two, and Shawn uses a bodyslam to set up a flying elbowdrop for two - Michaels again breaking up his own cover. Shawn keeps pounding Somers with right hand after right hand, but Doug goes low, and makes a tag. Rose uses a catapult into the cage (with AUTHORITY), and now Shawn juices as well. Rose immediately goes to work on the cut, and Shawn is wearing a crimson mask within moments. Shawn, of course, does an incredible job of selling as the heels work him over, and they’re not shy about payback, including pulling him up at two on their covers. Somers tries a backdrop, but Michaels blasts him with a kneelift to block, allowing the tag to Jannetty, and Roseanne Barr the door! Powerslam on Doug gets two, and Marty is so angry that Rose tries running out of the cage. Jannetty drags him back in by the hair, and hammers Rose at the top of the cage until Buddy falls back in. He then dives with a flying bodypress on Somers for the pin at 17:20. Monstrous pop for that one, and they’d go on to win the title a few weeks later. I loved the attitude here, with the Rockers seemingly disinterested with winning the match until they felt like it, instead just wanting to inflict as much abuse as possible. And, of course, once it settled into the heat segment, who better than Shawn Michaels at getting that kind of action over? This also had great execution throughout, especially from the Rockers. A really intense, brutal, heated match - though I wouldn’t quite call it a classic. ** ¾
AWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Original Midnight Express v The Midnight Rockers: From an AWA event in Minneapolis Minnesota on December 25 1987. This is the Rockers’ return to the AWA for the first time since jobbing the title to the Russians back in May, and then flaming out of the WWF, before doing a stint in Continental. And, of course, they’d be back in the WWF again by May ‘88, mostly for good. The challengers attack to kick start the match, and they whip the champions into each other to clean house. Both the sound and lighting is absolutely atrocious here. The dust settles on Dennis Condrey and Shawn Michaels, and Condrey does a bunch of stalling. Shawn knocks him around once they engage, so Condrey backs off, and does more stalling. The Rockers continue dominating in the early going, Oddly, in kind of a reversal of typical wrestling timekeeper incompetence, they announce that ten minutes have passed at around the twelve minute mark. Paul E. Dangerously uses a distraction to allow the Express to turn the tide, and cue the selling clinic from Michaels! The Express work Shawn over, until he manages to escape an abdominal stretch, and there’s the tag to Marty Jannetty - Roseanne Barr the door! Marty hits Condrey with a backelbow for two when Randy Rose saves, but Marty stays on Rose with a backdrop for two. Backelbow gets another two, and an inside cradle is worth two. The Express decide to stall for time as the clock runs down, but the Rockers do their best to get things going… but working a damned rowboat spot with ten second left. Yeah, you guys deserve to lose this one. And, indeed, time expires at 18:13. This would have been a lot more effective at about half the length. *
AWA World Title Match: Curt Hennig v Greg Gagne: From an AWA event in Minneapolis Minnesota on December 25 1987. Larry Hennig and Verne Gagne are tied together at ringside to prevent interference. The announcers talk about various situations between Hennig and Gagne that built up to this one, and man, the AWA really earned every bit of their reputation for terrible finishes, didn’t they? Gagne dominates him in the early going, until Curt manages to sweep him down, and he works a spinning toehold. Greg escapes, and a tries a bodypress, but Hennig sidesteps, and Gagne wipes out on the ropes. That allows Curt a figure four, but Gagne reverses, so Hennig grabs the ropes. Greg with a leg-feed enzuigiri, but Curt fights him off, and abuses the leg in the corner. Corner charge, but Gagne sidesteps, and Hennig hits the post. Greg capitalizes by going after the arm that Hennig just ran into the post, and a hammerlock slam works. Curt fights back by swiping at the leg, and a kneebreaker is followed by a shoulderblock for two. Criss cross results in a double knockout, and they stagger up for a slugfest, won by the challenger. Gagne with a kneelift to set up a 2nd rope kneedrop for two, and a backbreaker is worth two. Dropkick, but Hennig dodges, and somersault cradles him for two. Gagne gets dumped to the outside, right in front of the fathers, and Verne manages to protect his boy. Greg comes in fired up, and a bodyslam connects. Backdrop does too, and Greg bootchokes the champion down in the corner. Cross corner whip sends Hennig rebounding into a sleeper, and he fades, so papa Larry beats on Gagne to force a break. The referee doesn’t see it, but not Curt is in a dark mood, and nails Greg with the title belt for the DQ at 18:22. I’m honestly surprised Greg never got the world title, not even once, even over some 70 shots at it. I mean, even in the dying days, he never got a token reign. *
AWA International Television Title Match: Ron Garvin v Scott Steiner: From an AWA event in Louisville Kentucky on September 18 1988. The announcers make a point of putting the AWA over by noting that Garvin is a former NWA World champion, but he could only make it to the International TV title level here, because the level of competition is so fierce. It’s cheap, sure, but I appreciate when commentators do stuff like that to make their promotion and title seem more prestigious. Scott looks mostly normal at this point. Garvin takes him down for the stomp right away, but Steiner manages to get to the top rope, and dives with a flying bodypress - only for Ron to sidestep. That allows Garvin a big knockout punch at 1:46. Just a quickie squash, but fun to see a really early Scott Steiner match. ½*
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