Brody and Friends talk about the AWA (Brody has no friends)

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

Even in '86, I bet Stan Hansen Vs Shawn Michaels was a super fun match btw.

 

[BruiserBrody]

View attachment 1606
I’m low key amazed that Shawn Michaels was getting World Title shots as early as ‘86.


Question for people who were watching wrestling in the ‘80s. I’ve heard oldheads say “Well, actually people thought Marty Jannetty was going to be the breakout star of the Rockers.” Seeing stuff like this just emphasizes to me that they’re probably just HBK haters trying to make themselves feel better!

Neither Crazymax or wrestlingdata has this card listed at all

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

It's fun to know that Larry Zbyszko was still doing his "I'm a way better wrestler than those STEROID FREAKS in the other promotions." schtick in 2002. And tbh, he didn't look *that* much different than he did in 1990.

Did Zbyszko have a run with Dale Gagner's AWA in the mid-late '00s, @BruiserBrody ? It's funny that he thought "Screw it. They're not my in-laws anymore and the guy's checks clear for me."

 

[BruiserBrody]

I was going to say I am pretty sure he was even the Gagner champ, but verified it first:

AWA World Heavyweight Title (AWA Superstars of Wrestling)

History of the World Heavyweight Pro-Wrestling Title, recognized by AWA Superstars of Wrestling, also known as Wrestling Superstars Live!.

www.wrestling-titles.com

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I remember seeing an ad for an indie show in '09/'10ish with King Kong Bundy Vs Demolition Ax and Larry Zbyszko. Unfortunately, that was one of the brokest periods of my life and I thought $20 for an indie show was too rich for my blood. And now King Kong Bundy is dead and the other two are (presumably) retired.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1590042585674182656

WrestlingClassics.com Message Board: Greg Gagne vs Bob Backlund 1977

wrestlingclassics.com

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1590839113191522306

 

[Super Leather]

This match is interesting to me because I'd never seen Dick Beyer wrestle as Doctor X before. Only as The Destroyer in Japan, but Beyer is pro wrestling goodness either way. I'll also watch any older footage of Ray "The Crippler" Stevens that I can find. Fully mobile Andre is a scary sight to see. Verne & Greg provide commentary. Some of these "Classic Facts" are a bit suspect, heh. I don't think Andre weighed anywhere near 725 pounds, for instance. They dubbed in crowd noise, but it's not too distracting. Wish the full match existed somewhere out there, but it looks like one of those house show clip jobs that they used to put on TV back in the day. I guess this is from 1971.

 

[Valeyard]

Whatever happened to Magnificent Mimi? I was a big fan.

 

[BruiserBrody]

- Bloom and Enos both do jobber duty 6 months before they get pushed to the moon.
- Verne Gagne is suspended! I'm not even sure what this would be about. Hopefully they flesh it out during Greg's match.
- Michael Caine coming soon to Celebrity Corner. I think I may have seen that episode?
- WTF.... So Verne is suspended because he was going to talk about a big announcement and President Stanley Blackburn doesn't want him to appear on camera to spoil it...but Verne can still do color commentary.
- DDP announces he has seen to it that Col Debeers is unsuspended. Debeers calls out Jimmy Snuka, who I'm pretty sure is done with any AWA dates as of this time.
- Larry Nelson announces a series of special events in the Memphis area. That would be the cross promotion TV tapings for SuperClash.
- Greg's jobber is a massive man. Apparently a former NCAA Div 3 football star of note.
- Jerry Lewis appears in Celebrity Corner to plug his telethon.
- Lewis doesn't have any update on MDA research efforts as he doesn't want to give families any false hope.
- Lewis says he's a 5x Grandpa, not the zany Lewis of the past.

 

[BruiserBrody]

Chigusa Nagayo worked a match in Las Vegas vs Madusa in Oct 88. Apparently that same day she went to Dallas and worrked WCCW's Cotton Bowl show vs Candi Devine.​

It can be noted Muta is working for WCCW and they didn't use him for the cross over TV or Superclash event. An obvious oversight.

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

AWA Unleashed!- Episode 44- Tom ”Rocky” Stone - AWA Unleashed

This week it's an entertaining and insightful conversation with one of the most well known jobbers in AWA history, Tom "Rocky" Stone. He talks about going against the grain as a kid, Larry Hennig and his hissy fit, Billy Robinson making him look go...

pca.st

“The podcast event of the year!”- @BruiserBrody
“I still say it stinks!”- George Schire

 

[BruiserBrody]

AWA Unleashed!- Episode 44- Tom ”Rocky” Stone - AWA Unleashed

This week it's an entertaining and insightful conversation with one of the most well known jobbers in AWA history, Tom "Rocky" Stone. He talks about going against the grain as a kid, Larry Hennig and his hissy fit, Billy Robinson making him look go...

pca.st

“The podcast event of the year!”- @BruiserBrody
“I still say it stinks!”- George Schire

I think I've only listened to one of these since George left. I have 5 or 6 on the docket that will get viewed at some point this winter.
Stone will definitely be added to the pile.
--
Reading the Muta stuff I mentioned above has made me want to rebook Superclash 3 again.
On top of that, one of my youtubers I sub to is releasing weekly AWA TV from the build up (see above), so expect an over thought post this weekend that only serves to tickle my booking heart.
The available talent in Nov-Dec 88 that could have appeared is crazy.

 

[BruiserBrody]

- More Hospice era AWA!
- Lee Marshall puts over Tommy Jammer's' abdominal stretch in the show preview, which feels on brand for the AWA, but also antiquated.
- DJ Pederson works almost heelish as he gets in Tom Stone's grill before the bell, and later shakes off a flying head scissors attempt and just dumps him to the cement. Pederson works a front facelock for longer than most WWF squashes of this era.
- Bloom and Enos indicate they are avoiding a title defense against the Trooper and DJ Pederson as Bloom lets us know they have a world wide tour to finish before they will have such a match.
- Jobber Steve Butler lands on his damn head during his Doomsday Device bump. Bill Apter at ringside even seems to react a bit shocked.
- Bobby Heenan gets name dropped as the announcers discuss managers for Bloom and Enos now that they have fired Johnny V.
- Jammer's match serves as a backdrop to talk about the Destruction Crew and Larry Z vs Nikita Koloff.
- His now famed abdominal stretch would not pass Gorilla Monsoon's muster.
- Instead of showing the finish during the replay, they show Jammer landing a kick and picking the jobber up as they roll to commercial. It's the little things.
- They sell the Larry Z squash as Larry picking a jabroni to pound on to motivate his team to TCS greatness.
- The TCS scoreboard has Baron's team up, but when you look at the standings they have apparently had more matches. If "DD" stands for double DQ. then it really makes no sense because Larry and Sarge's team only has 3 "DD" and Baron has 6. I've put too much thought into this already.
- Mike George vs Koloff has some blown spots. The announcers mention them but say "George avoided____". Another moment has George sent to the corner, with a multiple second delay before Koloff charges and misses.
- Bischoff mentions George has gotten fatter in recent months. Marshall tries to defend it by comparing him to Larry Z added size. Eric counters that Larry power lifts, implying George is just flabby.
- Koloff wins with the sickle, as he had to since he was in theory feuding with Larry Z.
- The big tease for next week's ESPN show is..... BUCK ZUMHOFE in action.
- This showed aired on Monday or Tuesday and Marshall mentions the West Coast airing is at 1 pm. Why even bother paying Verne for TV with that time slot?

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1594290273865146368

If Hogan jumps to AJPW then he's likely AWA champ in 83 and who knows how the end of the year goes.

Maybe he drops the title in Japan for Baba before jumping to WWF? Or just jumps and AWA has to make up a story to strip him.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1596495006885642241

Booking Midget Mr T while Vince has the genuine article is kind of bush league.
He was booked for both Superclash 1 and Wrestlerock too.

So Little T actually worked in front of a bigger house at Wrestlerock than T did in NY for WM 2

 

[BruiserBrody]

What happens after too many Bobby Heenan low blows?:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1598450018524225536

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1598889528533872640

These guys are the same age as me.

SHADDUP BRODY!

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1598889528533872640

These guys are the same age as me.

SHADDUP BRODY!

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1598303610693365761

Rick Steiner trolls @Holiday Spice Kamala

(I'm saying this counts since Rick worked AWA as a jabroni!)

 

[BruiserBrody]

We are a few weeks away from SuperClash 3's anniversary and thankfully somebody is uploading the weeks of TV building to the event.
- Verne is still suspended from being seen on camera so he doesn't spoil the "big announcement". Yet he can still commentate. They are ripping off Jesse Ventura's story after Feb 88's The Main Event, but doing it poorly. Just say he is banned from talking about it.
Soldat vs Houdini - The jobber forgets to kick out of a bodyslam/kick pinfall attempt and the ref has to stop counting for no reason.
Soldat tosses the jobber out of the ring to be DQ'd.
Ustinov has nothing to do since WWF signed Baron VR a few months earlier to cut off one of the few AWA headline angles.
- Bad Company talks about Jimmy Snuka....who is still not coming back....
- Pat Tanaka rips on Jeff Jarrett. I wonder if that was a nod to their previous Memphis feud? This TV audience has no idea who JJ is. Bill Dundee also gets called out. At least he was AWA tag champ for 2 weeks in 1987. Was that even spoken of on TV since Verne didn't okay it (IIRC)?
- Dustin Hoffman gets a Happy Birthday graphic.... LOL? Random.
- Larry Nelson puts over the combined TV taping.... but we can't speak of the PPV yet....
Wahoo vs Wayne Bloom
- Bloom is just a jobber. He does get the "up and comer" treatment at least.
- Instead of talking about Wahoo's blood feud with Manny Fernandez Verne talks about Wahoo playing Little League Baseball w/ soon to be President Bush as his coach.
- Wahoo takes the heat, hits ONE chop and pins Bloom. I respect you Bookerman!
YES!!! ROAD WARRIOR RIP OFFS!!!
- The Terminators Riggs and Wolf vs Russian Jobber and Tom Burton
- I wasn't expecting them to be the babyfaces when they were intro'd.
- The Roadies Rip off sell for the jobbers since we have to drag things out.... not the best way to establish them as ass kickers.
- The Faces do not have their finisher mechanics down as one guy hits a suplex as his partner then awkwardly adjusts his run across the ring to hit a leg drop for the win.
- Wrestlingdata says the Terminators appeared in both JCP and UWF in 87. Neither are Animal's brother, who also worked as a Terminator.
Do we ever see these guys again? Similar to the Maxx Brothers, who made like one AWA TV squash appearance in 1986.
- Don Rickles is interviewed for celebrity corner.
- He shits on the prestige of this segment.
- Don then talks about his career in a mostly non comedic fashion.
- Verne Gagne comes into the scene and he towers over Don and the interviewer.
- Rickles jokes about the lack of jews in the ring. They are too busy owning the arenas or running things.
- Women Wrestling
- It does make sense that AWA is pushing this so hard since neither WWF or JCP is likely to snag the talent.
- It doesn't hurt that Mimi is a sexpot.
- Larry Nelson calls it a "Wrestling Exhibition" in the post match promo. I hope Verne choked him out when the camera cut off.
- AWA TV champ Greg Gagne intros the Mat Classic - Nick Bockwinkel vs Blackjack Mulligan
- As usual the AWA pretends this is from somewhere other than Minnesota. They taped the Twin Cities shows, but not "Denver", "Milwaukee" or in this case "Houston".
- We are JIP at the finish as Mulligan tosses Bobby Heenan around the ring. This is not a DQ. He then tosses Bock over the ropes for the DQ.
- Heenan takes two insane bumps in 2 mins!
- Bad Company vs Jobbers
Lee Marshall "I'm not sure anyone else has the kind of amateur background as Tanaka!"
- Probably the guy you're sitting next to for one, Lee.
- We close with Groovy Greg cutting a promo on Col Debeers. He promises Snuka is coming back to get Col Debeers... No wonder Vince wanted Snuka back. What's more fun then messing with anything Verne wants to push?

I enjoyed this... I am not right in the head.

Edit: UPDATE - Baron VR returned to AWA a week or so after Summerslam. He worked 2 spot shows and vanished for almost a year.
- The Terminators worked Windy City Wrestling right before this TV. Other former AWA guys like Rose and Somers, Steve Regal and Col Debeers also worked the event. Bam Bam Bigelow appeared in the main event.
This AWA TV taping is not listed on wrestlingdata.
The Terminators made 2 or 3 AWA spot shows and worked heel...after working babyface on TV....

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1599108727688134657

 

[BruiserBrody]

Larry Nelson tells us the “Hootchie Cootchie” girl Charo is coming up in Celebrity Corner.

Chief Jay Strongbow vs Tom Burton

So here’s another fresh face to the AWA. I was going to say he looks like his dad, but Wiki says Jay Jr was adopted!

The AWA sound system sucks but it sounds like Jay is coming out to an Indian version of the “I’m Turning Japanese” song intro.

Jr tries to do his Dad’s butt slide spot, but he and Burton don’t quite pull it off. Verne covers it by saying “Burton was mesmerized”

They put over that Strongbow may aim for Manny Fernandez to aid Wahoo in his feud over torn up head dresses. Somewhere Steve Strong weeps.

I know talent was constantly in and out after mid 1986, but it is interesting that this is the 2nd week in a row where fresh talent appears who do not wind up making it to the PPV in December.

Strongbow works like a video game character who is being controlled by someone who is only hitting the “power up” button as Jay is doing constant war dances in lieu of selling.

Jay whiffs on a knee lift. Burton tries to sell but Jay wants Tom to keep feeding him for the finish.

As the announcers put Jay over with random platitudes Verne, in his very awkward Verne way, says “I like the way he handles children” Creepy! At least this wasn't a Zumhofe match.

Dustin Hoffman is still getting birthday wishes, but AHNOLD gets added to the graphic this week.

Groovy Greg gets promo time. He has no feud so he just lists everyone on the roster as possible opponents. This is how Ron Garvin is introduced to AWA fans as a new talent (I guess?)

No Jimmy Snuka talk. Hmmmm….

Greg teasing a match w/ Robert Gibson is intriguing in my head. (Ricky Morton was back in JCP for a hot min at this point)

AWA Tag Team Champions Badd Company vs Mike Enos & Hoodini

We are one body away from an accidental AWA Hospice Dream Match!

Enos and Tanaka have a good sequence. Enos was raw, but Verne is clearly impressed on commentary. Didn’t lead to a push for another 6 months. I believe Enos works as a ref at the PPV.

Houdini tags in and the Orient Express hit one of their high spots to end him quickly.

Bad Company still carry something special in my head since they were on top when I was 6-7 years old and watching this trash.

The AWA threatens to bring Rocky Mountain Thunder to your town if you book a charity event, Shit.

Donna Gagne puts over the US Olympic wrestling team and allows Soldat Ustinov a retort. This would be fine if the plan was to build to Rheingans vs Ustinov at the PPV or something. Instead it is filler to talk about guys who Verne dreams about training in another 3 years so he can find the next Laurent Soucie.

AWA Champion Jerry "The King" Lawler vs Mike Smith

Smith stole Demolition’s vest.

Lawler comes out to a smattering of indifference. Not exactly a good sign for ½ of your PPV main event.

Smith is like 6’5+ and worked Groovy Greg a few weeks earlier. I wonder if Verne put Smith in with his 2 potentially best face workers to test the waters for the big man?

It should be noted SID and Undertaker were both on the verge of working Memphis over the coming months. If you wanted a big oaf to push, there’s 2 options.

Lawler works a perfectly fine squash here.

Manny Fernandez promo. Oddly, he cuts a generic promo on all the top guys instead of his feud with Wahoo. I was amused by him calling Nelson “Mr. Mircrophone”. Beautifully dismissive.

Colonel DeBeers vs Brian Costello

Curt Hennig leaving must have been enough for Verne to forgive Debeers for working outlaw shows in 1987 and bring him back to fill in the heel ranks. Buddy Rose and Doug Sommers look on from afar....

Another perfectly ok squash from Debeers. They talk up a Snuka feud. If only Jimmy was coming in.

We get another promo from Ustinov. The hot topic is “Where is Sheik Adnan?”
Ustinov and Khan quit in November. I don’t have a reason listed in my notes, but the Top Gunns quit at the same time before Verne gets Ricky Rice back with the promise of a PPV pay off.

The Top Guns vs Krusher Krugnov & Todd Becker

The faces ring intro gear is Air Force style jackets. Their music is “Pour some sugar on me” WTF? Wouldn’t Danger Zone make 1000 percent more sense? It’s not like anyone is paying for rights either way.

The Top Guns (a blond and a brunette BTW) with frills on their tights came in to replace the Rockers over the summer.

John Paul quits before the PPV and Derrick Dukes replaces him. I know Verne was paying peanuts, but why not stay on and get pushed on national TV until a real gig pops up?

The heels get a big heat segment. Much like the Terminators last week, having your pushed face team sell and sell for jobbers just doesn’t work in 1988. This is one way Verne was still stuck in his 70s mind set for TV.

Madusa cuts a promo on her made up world tour of title defenses.

The Top Gunns promo tells us to stay off drugs. I need some after spending almost 2 hours of my weekend on AWA recaps.

Oh... I guess the Charo segment was cut out here. It is on youtube separately anyway.

 

[BruiserBrody]

 

[Cackling Co Pilot Kamala]

I liked Conrad doing the hand mirror gesture when Jerry Blackwell was on screen. Didn’t know he had a self deprecating streak.

 

[RedJed]

I ended up watching WrestleRock 86 just a few weeks ago when I was down sick. This was pretty weird, seeing the only wrestling event in the famed Metrodome (I always wished WWE would have done a WrestleMania here) was kinda a trip since I had gone to so many baseball games there, as well as concerts. I knew it was virtually impossible to keep around but I really hated to see them tear it down.

Anyway, this came off very strange in execution. Particularly, the promos before the matches were goofy and filmed in a confusing way. Matches themselves were, by and large, pretty terrible and for such a large crowd, the heat was not as strong as I imagined it would be (could be an issue with ring mics, etc). There certainly though was interesting matches on paper, they just had issues in making them work in front of a large crowd like this. Plus you had something like 15 or 16 matches total, such a burnout effect when very little did the matches achieve even decent level. The women's battle royal particularly....OOF......and poor Rod Trongard (who was the high school football announcer for my high school back in the day) didn't even know 3/4 of the names in it.

 

[BruiserBrody]

And even with the bloated card they left off guys like Leon White, who was actively being pushed as a new top guy.
--
Most of the extra talent (Fabs, Windham, Race, Brody, Martel etc) didn't stick around for the "Wrestlerock Revenge" tour even though they were vagabonds and would have done the shots for the right price.
--
One of Verne's promoters decided he didn't care if Verne had heat with him or not and brought back Mad Dog Vachon for some AWA shots at this point too, so we could have gotten a Mad Dog tag and/or send off at the event.
--
Da Crusher was contacted first to replace Blackwell, but he asked for too much money, so Snuka got the gig.
--
Larry the Ax gets one of the biggest pops of the night while intro'd as a special ref.
--
The Crockett Cup went down the same week, so some talent did cross over to it.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1599960369497346049

Didn't listen yet, but this could be an interesting deep dive if they go into the politics and not just say "In this version Hulk stays...."
--
Does Vince sign every other non old guy so Hogan has to work Baba loyal guys only?
Does Hogan draw enough to keep talent from actively jumping at a high rate?
Does Hogan and Larry Z have a 3 way with Verne's daughter in Beaver Dam, WI's High School gym?

 

[BruiserBrody]

AWA 9/24/88

The road to Superclash 3 continues…

Intro is cut off but Ray Stevens is in for Verne this week. Why not do that 2 weeks ago to put over the angle that Verne was banned from talking about “The big announcement”?

Manny Fernandez vs Todd Becker

“Manny has a thing for Wahoo McDaniel and I’ll never quite get it” – Lee Marshall. Good god there’s a scene almost as bad as Andre the Giant’s recent attempt to seduce me in a hotel room in Dreamland.

Manny takes apart Becker slowly and finishes with the “Flying Burrito”. Just a match to put over the Wahoo angle.

Groovy Greg promo – Larry Nelson and Gagne talk about how horny Charo made them last week. Gagne won’t speculate on the announcement out of fear of being suspended himself. Life as TV champ is exhausting. And out….

AWA Champion The King Jerry Lawler vs Wayne Bloom

Lawler again comes to the ring to deafening indifference. Bloom gets the up and comer level of offense to make this a bit competitive. Lawler works the leg, a clear set up for the fist drop and piledriver finish to come.

Lawler holds Blooms legs apart with his own feet and dares him to try anything. A fistdrop finishes almost right after. I didn’t buy that finish at all. Bloom was made to look like a chump by the end there.

Madusa interview. She’s talks about her body compared to the other ladies as Larry Nelson pushes his hard on into her backside. I’m not quite joking. Those infamous AWA orgies Nelson wrote in his book about seem to have made TV in 88!

The Top Guns: Ricky Rice & John Paul vs Mike Smith & Brian Costello

Mike Smith is the tall jobber I have written about the last few weeks. Smith gets flustered that the smaller man out maneuvered him, so he goes to get a chair, really helping to point out that the front row is endless empty chairs. Were they hoping some Vegas VIPs would actually use their comp tickets? Apparently Smith was doing jobs all year, so his up and coming never came. Guns win. The ladies squeal.

Bad Company promo

Chief Jay Strongbow Jr. vs Soldad Ustinov

Basic stuff here until Strongbow and Ustinov botch a slingshot move with the ropes and Ustinov almost saves it by getting his foot tangled in the ropes. Almost right after Strongbow almost losing him in a slam attempt. Ustinov switches to a bear hug heavy offense and the crowd actually wakes up and chants USA.

Strongbow fights out and begins the war dance. Tejoe Khan gets on the ring apron to distract Strongbow and takes the sling shot bump properly. The heels double up on Strongbow before Wahoo puts down his whiskey bottle in the back long enough to run in and help clear the ring. Will this lead to a tag match before someone quits by the next taping?

Larry Nelson promises Jimmy Snuka is returning! I’m still pretty sure he never shows up…

Soldat and Khan close the show. Ustinov informs us he was taken from his family at age 7 and developed by the Commies to be a super athlete.

This video was only 30 mins so at least 10 mins of stuff was cut. Celeb corner and whatever other fun.

 

[BruiserBrody]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1599960369497346049

Didn't listen yet, but this could be an interesting deep dive if they go into the politics and not just say "In this version Hulk stays...."
--
Does Vince sign every other non old guy so Hogan has to work Baba loyal guys only?
Does Hogan draw enough to keep talent from actively jumping at a high rate?
Does Hogan and Larry Z have a 3 way with Verne's daughter in Beaver Dam, WI's High School gym?

Yeah, this sucked. Very basic.
They blame T shirt royalties for the Hogan/Verne split and get the basics on royalties wrong to boot.
Then the one co-host declares Slaughter to be too old to take Hogan's place in WWF, but thinks Rocky Johnson may have been viable based on what he's seen on Young Rock.
Sigh.

 

[BruiserBrody]

We are 10 weeks or so away from SuperClash 3, so we should probably announce the event and start working on promoting it…

And just like that the opening announces WCCW and CWA are now part of the package…but today’s line up is all the same AWA guys that have already been on AWA TV for months.

The Nashville arena is lit like an Okinawa cave in WW2, so the production values sunk terribly in one week.

We go right to Lee Marshall at the “press conference” with all the promoters announcing the event. Verne amuses me by seemingly being unable to decide if he should look at the camera or at the promoters as they announced one by one. He comes across befuddled.

Jerry Jarrett promises this will be the biggest event ever. He also says “the Japan wrestling group” will be part of this event. Verne was attached to All Japan, but New Japan’s Fujinami is the only person who appears and that was just an introduction.

Stanley Blackburn says Central States and Portland will be involved. WTF? Crockett bought Central States a year or 2 ago. This would be right about the point Turner takes over so maybe Geigel said F it or the AWA is just blowing smoke. Is he threatening me with Bob Brown on PPV?

Kerry Von Erich offers some word salad on his role.

“Iceman” King Parsons (WCCW Texas champ) gets a 15 second promo as we go to break. Not exactly the mega star that will make any casual fan perk up.

The Rock and Roll Express get a promo after the commercial. Morton was doing JCP shots 2 weeks before this.
Morton actually makes Worldwide TV a week before this. He teams with Sting in a squash.

AWA Tag Team Champions Badd Company vs Odysey & Shawn Baxter
Badd Company definitely did Memphis shots, so the live fans will know them. Actually Tanaka had a big angle with Double J here in 87.
Baxter has some of the most 80s hair band hair ever.

Jeff Jarrett announces Jimmy Valiant is his partner. Handsome Jimmy cuts a wacky promo. But they were not partners at the PPV….

Manny Fernandez promo. He ignores his feud with Wahoo and declares himself the number one contender to both Lawler and Kerry’s belts.

The Raging Bull Manny Fernandez vs Sonny Street
Marshall and Verne are ignoring the Wahoo/Manny angle…not to mention the Strongbow part of the feud. They are just talking about basic heel tactics. I’m guessing we do not see Strongbow again, actually. Bull seems to have the same overly long jobber squashes as the rest of the AWA guys, but he doesn’t give the jobbers anything. He’ll openly no sell moves. The jabroni seems to minorly botch selling a flying knee so Manny hits him with the flying forearm, but pulls him up from the finish to hit a STIFF crossbody for the win. Bull chucks him to the cement afterward for good measure.

Stanley Blackburn is interviewed over Verne’s suspension that wasn’t really a suspension. Verne playfully attacks Blackburn.
Verne says the cards and letters have been pouring in already. Not bad for an announcement less than 15 mins old.

Soldat Ustinov and KHAAAAAAAN promo. Ustinov talks about a battle royal he’s going to compete in. It is taking place in some Wisconsin town (Abbotsford) so small I’m not sure I’ve heard of it. I hope this promo was on national TV.

Wahoo promo. He wants both world titles, but also Manny.

Wahoo McDaniel vs Syd Striker
These jobbers are apparently from the Memphis area. This guy seems to not even be able to do a lock up, unless that was supposed to intentionally sloppy. The jobber flops awkwardly while running off a turnbuckle toss too, so I’m thinking he just sucks. Wahoo tries a back breaker, but the jobber puts his arm in the way. He’s earning some stiff shots from Wahoo at this point. Wahoo finally says fuck this and hits an elbow for the pin.

Ricky Rice cuts a solo promo. John Paul is missing as he’s being swamped by fans off screen. I wonder if that is code for “He quit”.
Rice calls the champs “Sad Company”. Oh burn.

AWA Ladies Champion Madusa Micelli vs Wendi Richter
Richter (Spelled Wendy by the AWA production crew) comes out to Cyndi Lauper’s music yet. They announce her as a 3 time WWF champ, which isn’t correct…
Richter’s strategy revolves around destroying Madusa’s womb with knees. Verne stumbles through telling us that Madusa just attended a Prince concert. I guess that was intended to make her sound hip while also getting to talk about Minnesota? Richter busts out a powerbomb (in 1988 mind you), which draws Badd Company into the ring. They straight up attack Richter! She’s dropped throat first across the ropes and then they lay boots into her. The Top Gunns charge in to make the save. Surprisingly wild angle for the AWA. This actually built up the 6 person tag for the PPV!

Richter accidentally buries the tag champs by saying that she could fight them one on one since the guys are her size, but it was 3 on 1.

DDP says the woman abuse was okay because Richter's a draft beer drinking tramp.