Chat! culturecrossfire.slack.com

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

AA484

AA484

Integral Poster
Messages
7,828
Reaction score
1,065
Points
228
Location
NC
alkeiper said:
I happened to watch Wrestlefest '93 yesterday. Nord and Undertaker had a match that I frankly quite enjoyed.
Click to expand...
Is that the one where Berzerker tried to stab Undertaker with his sword?
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
@Love King Kamala mentioned surprise at JCP working Green Bay, so check out UWF's AWA invasion:
April 8th 1987 UWF

@ Chicago, IL
The Fabulous Freebirds def Bill Irwin, The Angel of Death & The Viking
UWF Tag Team Champions Chris Adams & Terry Taylor def Sting & Rick Steiner
Steve Williams def UWF Heavyweight Champion The One Man Gang by disqualification. Terry Gordy was the guest referee.
Savannah Jack def Iceman King Parsons by reverse decision
UWF Television Champion Eddie Gilbert def Sam Houston by count-out
Nickla won a Catfight Match
Chavo Guerrero def Jon ???
The Viking def The Iron Duke
The Missing Link def Dan Rignoti


April 10th 1987 UWF

@ Bloomington, MN
Steve Williams def UWF Heavyweight Champion The One Man Gang by disqualification
UWF Tag Team Champions Chris Adams & Terry Taylor def Sting & Rick Steiner
UWF Television Champion Eddie Gilbert def Sam Houston
Chris Adams def Iceman King Parsons by count-out
The Missing Link def Savannah Jack
The Fabulous Freebirds def Bill Irwin, The Angel of Death & The Viking
The Terminators (Riggz & Wolf) def The Top Guns (Ricky Rice & Derrick Dukes)
Chavo Guerrero def Terminator Wolf
Nickla won a Catfight Match

(Of note here is Eddie Sharkey's indy guys Terminators and Top Guns get a pay day. I wonder if Sharkey aided in promoting locally?

Watts was losing money hand over fist. His last days of owning the UWF he was no where near Oklahoma as they ran Memphis, St Louis, Memphis, Atlanta and Los Angeles!
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6



Groovy Greg and Ringside Ralph can’t decide if Sargent’s Snipers or Debeers Dimondbacks is now the name of the team. For god’s sake Sarge has been on WWF TV for 6-8 weeks by now. This isn’t that hard!

Johnnie Stewart vs WT Jones Jones gets plenty of offense in despite technically being a jobber. Then after seeing Stewart fail to hit his own “flying knee” finish properly I realize this is the same match we saw on Aug 27th on ESPN with Verne and Marshall doing commentary. Not running a TV taping for months catches up with you….

Curtis "The Cat" Hughes vs Jamie Magnum Same match as shown on Aug 27th. Let’s see if the announcers give me anything to work with. They put over Curtis playing for Tom Landry’s Cowboys. They tease at the end that Hughes will talk about being lead by racist Col Debeers but Curtis just speaks of the TCS million dollars.

Col. DeBeers vs Tom Bennett Same match as shown on Aug 27th. Greg debates if Debeers can lead his team to victory with his racist ideals.

TCS update – Marshall says we have 3 weeks left. That’s a lot of redubbing and reusing of footage to piece together another 6 episodes.

Buck Zhumhoff promo. He talks about Johnnie Stew-rat. No mention of his 1986 or 1989 prison stints for statutory rape.

Texas Hangmen interview – they want to hurt people and get the million dollars.

.Destruction Crew – They remind us what a terror they were before they won the tag titles and we are going to see more of it again. .

Texas Hangmen & Destruction Crew vs The Trooper, Tommy Jammer, Brad Rheigans & Baron Von Rasche (behind the 8 ball match) Team Challenge Series

This is Survivor Series rules, but each pin or submission is worth points and tossing a man over the top rope is an elimination as well.

Jammer eliminates himself via a missed flying attack. Baron takes over as face in peril, which given his age and limitations isn’t great.

Baron fights back and wears a Hangman down with the Claw, but a skirmish breaks out and Hangman #2 knocks Baron to the floor (through the middle ropes) and take counts as an elimination, because reasons.

Rheigans rushes in and pins the dazed Hangman. Brad is then made into the face in peril for several minutes before he mounts a comeback, but foolishly charges the ropes on the heels side of ring and they pull down the ropes to eliminate the Olympian. 3 on 1 now vs the Trooper.

Trooper shoulder blocks one of the Hangmen out to the floor to eliminate him. Bloom and Enos pounce on Trooper and lay a 2 on 1 beatdown. Ref is useless of course. Trooper goes full Hogan as he hulks up from his knees and no sells. He chucks Enos for a good pop. Bloom gets whooped now that things are even steven, but Enos distracts Trooper from the apron and allows Bloom to dump the Trooper from behind.

The victors talk about the TCS money. Gagne is still talking about “Sarge’s Snipers” STOP.

To show how silly the TCS is, every team has an overall losing record. Baron is leading despite having a worse win/loss percentage due to having a bunch of draws and “DD” which I guess is double DQ? I have no idea. Great booking. Looking further into it, Sarge’s team has 40 total matches in 3rd place. Baron’s first place team has 52 total matches listed. Hard to win points if the matches aren’t evenly divided! Great booking. My head hurts.

Col. DeBeers promo to end the show. He buries his team of bums. He calls Curtis Hughes “clearly illiterate and under bred” and claims Rapey Zumhoffe has AIDS.
Ok, that may have saved the whole show. I laughed.
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1631121694956855298

Abby made a handful of dates around the point of Blackwell's babyface turn, but it must have been in the magical few weeks when the Remco deal was being sealed. However, Flair is also part of the line, so who knows? Oh, and Colon. Pro Wrestling USA FTW (but that was after Abby's run by a bunch of months. ) Assuming he actually sold off his likeness, maybe it was while he was doing Montreal shots since they were an AWA affiliate until Aug 85.
--
That Blackwell/Hansen drawing is....strange....skinny Hansen and shirtless Jerry Blackwell (he wore a singlet over his shirt to hide the Moobs IRL.

Selling a 2 pack of the wrestlers with a VHS of the guys fighting is not the worst idea ever.
I'm still a little mad I didn't go to the mom and pop rental stores in the mid 2000s and wipe out their AWA tapes. I know 2 different places were selling the SuperClash (in 3 or 4 parts) and the AWA Best of... series or whatever they called it.
 
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala

Cackling Co Pilot Kamala

Integral Poster
Messages
62,263
Reaction score
8,605
Points
293
Location
Vacationland
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1632928168360263683

Future "AWA President" Joe Blanchard co-promotes a card with Verne.

"Hey Verne, I'm looking at buying some air time on the USA Network...National TV"
"Eh, who needs that? Chicago was a sell out last week"
"Seems to be helping Ole..."
" Rock Rogowski? Eh, I broke him in....Hey, have you seen Greg's dropkick?"
 
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala

Cackling Co Pilot Kamala

Integral Poster
Messages
62,263
Reaction score
8,605
Points
293
Location
Vacationland
pca.st

AWA Unleashed!- Episode 59- Mid card guys of the 70’s - AWA Unleashed

This week the topic is some of the mid card performers of the 1970's. This includes what their role was, some of the guys who started in the AWA and went on to super stardom in other territories and more. Names included in this episode: Harley Race, ...
pca.st pca.st
George Schire trying to get back on the podcast for this episode
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1635791628614123520


Winnipeg
"Our group was housed mostly on the same floor [of the hotel] and the boys wandered from room to room. So did the groupies. I had gone looking to bum a beer somewhere, when I encountered a beautiful young woman hurrying down the hall, wrapped in a blanket. "That big guy's crazy!" she exclaimed. I offered her admittance to my room. She hesitated. The elevator door opened and Stan Lane of the Fabulous Ones stepped into the hallway. He approached us and asked what was going on. I could already detect chemistry building between the two.... Stan Lane was a cocksman and the Fabulous Ones were, for female fans, the most popular babyface tag team in the AWA. He asked the woman to open the blanket ...Stan looked her up and down ..."Come on" he said and they went to his room. A groggy Hawk came out of his room dressed only in his underwear. He mumbled something about "Does she want a man or a mouse?" and knocked on a door across the hall.....

"Every month we went to Winnipeg and every time this type of thing happened. The bar would close and wrestlers and groupies wandered the halls in search of sex, booze, drugs and adventure. Some of the women simply disappeared into a wrestler's room for the night. Others went from room to room. A few of the boys wrestled, returned to the hotel, then retired to their rooms alone. Most partied the night away with various combinations of women, alcohol and drugs. I watched Stan Lane tell three young women to strip in his room one night. On another occasion I witnessed a spontaneous and friendly match erupt for the world title between champion Rick Martel and challenger Curt Hennig in room 311........

Usually the recreation area and pool were closed off, with only the wrestlers and crew permitted entry -

"Once inside, with our booze and drugs, we did as we pleased. Usually, most everyone was naked within minutes! These gatherings had people in the pool, sauna and jacuzzi, enjoying every form of sex imaginable. I once walked into the men's room and froze at the sight of the world's champion and a young woman he had positioned on the wash basin shelf. He glanced over, nonplused ... and kept on. The young woman paid me no mind at all.....

Sex, booze and drugs were everywhere. Women were on male laps in the jacuzzi. Wrestlers sat on the edge of the pool with females as others nonchalantly made conversation in lawn chairs, oblivious to it all. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Not at these parties. The smoke could be from cigarettes, cigars or joints. The plastic cups could hold soda pop or whiskey. Though no one had to participate in anything, anyone could participate in everything....

Most entertainers come to town once, perform, then move on. Their encounters are singular. Wrestling territories, on the other hand, booked matches in the same towns on a regular basis. The women who flocked to the wrestlers did so after every match and some became regulars. Competition among these groupies could be intense and sometimes violent. You may be surprised that most professional wrestling groupies are not stupid, ugly or strangers to personal hygiene. Some are professional women with big salary careers, who look upon the monthly gatherings as an exciting forbidden break from the boredom of corporate jobs or pressure packed self-employment. ....Two women worked as nurses at a local hospital. They had unusual influence with us, because of their readiness to supply an assortment of drugs. Because none of us wanted to chance transporting drugs across the border to Canadian matches.

The few female members of our AWA entourage steered clear of these parties. Really the only women who consistently made the trip were women's world champion Sherri Martel and "Georgeous" Jimmy Garvin's wife, Patty, who served as his valet. Jimmy and Patty pretty much stayed in their room, while Sherri hung out with Larry Zbyszko in his room. I suspect they shared more than a few games of Battleship....
Click to expand...
 
Cackling Co Pilot Kamala

Cackling Co Pilot Kamala

Integral Poster
Messages
62,263
Reaction score
8,605
Points
293
Location
Vacationland
pca.st

Special Guest - Larry Zbysko - Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw

On this episode Stories with Brisco and Bradshaw, multi-time hall of famers Gerald Brisco and John Bradshaw Layfield welcome the Living Legend Larry Zbysko to the show. The guys discuss Larry's historic career from his beginnings in professional wrestling, to his legendary feud with Bruno...
pca.st pca.st
Eh. Bruno’s yard. Eh the Human Game of Chess.

Kamala snores, @BruiserBrody listens reverently.
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6

Verne Gagne and Lee Marshall host. They promise 3 more weeks until the battle royal finale of the TCS????. Oh Geez…. This was the 2nd to last show supposedly and they are already repeating matches. Lots of filler incoming.

Jake Milliman vs Larry Cameron

Lee Marshall pretends there has been a Light heavyweight tournament unfolding and Buck Zumhoffe and Johnnie Stewart are in the finals. They have been cutting promos on each other for months!

Lee and Verne make light of the Butcher and Milkman gimmicks and share some food puns. Cameron wins easy with power stuff.

Buck cuts a promo on “Stew-rat”. I kind of wish he hadn’t upgraded his boombox to something from the 90s. His classic boom box was probably pawned to pay his legal fees.

Team Challenge Series Update! Sgt Slaughter is finally not mentioned by name. They only took 7 weeks or so after his WWF debut.

At this point they showed the 8 man tag battle royal that I covered on their last show. This version was edited off here though. Eric Bischoff recaps and low and behold we have Sgt Slaughter listed as team captain again!

Johnnie Stewart promo – Pretty generic wrestling promo but delivered intensely. His cadence reminds me of Adrian Adonis.

Buck vs Stewart Zumhoffe does his wacky strutting and hand clapping to get the crowd woken up. Stewart does the classic heel stalling. Verne compares this to Red Bastien vs Ray Stevens. Neither were dead at the time, so I assume they just started spinning in their living rooms instead of their graves.

Stewart works a head scissors as Buck works to escape. Verne puts over the technical mastery as Marshall shits on WWF champ Ultimate Warrior. His act is for kids, AWA wrasslin’ is for adults. I wonder what Verne would have said about Omega/Vikingo?

Stewart breaks up the rest holds with a big bump to the floor, leading to more stalling. Stewart ultimately gets whipped up and over the corner and lands on his nuts.

Buck delivers a neck jolt, allowing Stewart to fly over the ropes yet again. At least he’s going all out for his main event moment.

The rapist tries a Vader bomb but lands on Stewart’s knees. Stewart tries to take advantage with an elbow, but misses and Buck barely gets the pin(?!?!!) off that. This is the AWA, so we can’t have a clean win in a title match so a replay reveals Stewart’s shoulder was up. Buck hands the belt to the ref for some reason, but Stewart then attacks him to set up rematches.

This was a perfectly fine house show opener type match.

Verne mentions that Sarge’s “age and weight problems” sent him out of the AWA as we close the show.



.
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
Valeyard

Valeyard

Retarded sexuality and bad poetry.
Messages
15,575
Reaction score
7,341
Points
253
Oh yeah. Doug was one of the guys trying to sue for likeness rights when the Network started.
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
Spring King Kamala said:
pca.st

AWA Unleashed!- Episode 63- Wrestle Rock ’86- Part 1 - AWA Unleashed

This week is the first of two episodes where we discuss Wrestle Rock '86. Why does Mick say the AWA was in a pretty good spot? Why was the show shot in a way that showed open seats? Why Waylon Jennings and more. Join us Friday night, April 28 at th...
pca.st pca.st
Click to expand...
They didn't dive as deep as they could to answer some long time questions, but they did address the usual talking points.
- The Dome was booked with a much bigger house in mind, obv. Verne later admitted he charged too high of ticket prices.
- A lot of the matches had no storyline and/or were filler.
- They speak on Prince being a good choice for the "rock" star since he was from Minnesota. I'm pretty sure others have figured out he was not around due to _____, but they didn't bother to google the Wrestling Classics thread to find an answer.
- Wrestlerock went on tour and some shows had actual rock bands (Molly Hatchett). The local promoter in Denver quit after his show in June as the AWA kept losing him money. (Denver was the Hansen no show card where Bock is handed the title. Pretty sure that is actually Verne's last match as well that night.)
- They talk about future Wrestlerock shows being possibly booked, but again didn't bother to google and pull up info on Meltz reporting in 88 on Wrestlerock being run again at the Dome that year. They also do not talk about the weird James Brown Wrestlerock show from late 88 where he did the show as a court ordered charity payoff or some shit.
- The production team used several extra cameras, and since they had one set up in the far stands, they used it, even though it exposed how many fans came dressed as empty seats.
- They close by teasing how we can hear about Mick Karch fucking Sherri Martel if we pay 30 dollars to hang out with them and Jim Brunzell at some bar in a few weeks.
 
JHawk

JHawk

Thank You, Fuck You, Bye!
Messages
3,749
Reaction score
346
Points
158
Location
Warren, OH
ESPN ran repeat matches and treated them as new content until the contract ran out in January 1991. I don't recall them actually mention Zbyszko being stripped on the ESPN show (in fact, I first heard it on WCW Pro Chicago on WGN when Zbyszko joined Tony Schiavone and said something along the lines of "can you believe they stripped me of a world title because"...)

Not sure how syndication handled that three months or so
 
BruiserBrody

BruiserBrody

Integral Poster
Messages
31,057
Reaction score
3,236
Points
293
Location
[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
Spring King Kamala said:
https://pca.st/episode/42bc6891-367b-4e15-9012-c8c138d2df9f
John McAdam’s podcast this week is doing a watch along of a 1983 episode of AWA television. #BrodyBait
Click to expand...
No shock that this annoyed me. They are critiquing a roster/era of the AWA that was literally doing their biggest consistent business in history and shitting on a lot of it.
I wanted to Brod-splain a comment McAdam made about Verne being unlikely to go for a Jesse Ventura face turn in order to replace Hogan, when that is exactly what was proposed according to the sheets from the time. Ventura likely saw that his bread was buttered as a WWF heel and resisted as he would be jumping within weeks. McAdam apparently doesn't post his pod link on twitter and his facebook group I found is 4 years dead.
They are clearly not fans overall and crap on beloved and/or campy long time members of the roster. (Mad Dog/Adnan, etc)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top