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

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
That was a perfectly fun little main event match. Nord bumped big. Groovy Greg was face in peril. Verne got in 2 high points and didn't have to sell for a moment. Snuka got to hit his marks. The heels tried to cheat but good foiled them for the victory.
The only issue was the LIGHTING! Holy cow. They made the fans watch a whole live event with a spot light actively following the guys?!?! Where the heck was the stationary over head light?

Bockwinkel had just put Nord over on ESPN to set him up as a challenger, so Verne must have planned on getting the belt off Hansen but failed to not spring it on him.
--
9/7/86 – Chicago, IL
Midnight Rockers defeated AWA Tag Team Champions Buddy Rose & Doug Somers to win title.
Decision later reversed as the wrong man (Somers) was pinned
Curt Hennig (sub Nord The Barbarian) defeated Nick Bockwinkel to win AWA Title when Larry Zbyszko hit Bockwinkel with nunchakus
Later announced, Curt returned the AWA Title to Bockwinkel because Hennig could not accept winning it in an unjust manner.
Greg Gagne & Jerry Blackwell & Jimmy Snuka defeated Sheik Adnan & Ali Khan & Boris Zhukov
Scott Hall defeated Colonel DeBeers
Curt Hennig dcor Larry Zbyszko
Earthquake Ferris defeated Tom Stone
Stoney Burke defeated Rick Gantner
Reported Attendance: 1,000

TWO Dusty finishes on one show! Did Verne see he was down 10K fans year over year and think not enough BS finishes was the problem?
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6

Interesting booking/editing notes from the AWA's syndication in St Louis:
You get Mean Gene plugging the NWA's Missouri title tournament (Race gave it up when he won the NWA world title)
Heenan even plugs Lanza going after Race.

Patera/Blackwell were about to win the AWA tag belts, but the St Louis Crusher Blackwell isn't in his Sheik gimmick for his promo and Patera has Heenan for his squash match the same weekend as he was being sold to Sheik Adnan on AWA's Minnesota TV.

In St. Louis, Blackwell and Patera teamed up at the end of '81, then broke up in June of '82, and they feuded for the next few months with Patera in the babyface role. They began teaming as The Sheiks in the AWA in May of '83. It doesn't look like Adnan El-Kaissey appeared in STL until mid-'84, when he teamed with Blackwell against the Blackjacks in June and he went one-on-one against Lanza in August. (Again, data is from Cagematch, FWIW.) I guess the SLWC didn't want to acknowledge the Sheiks team or Adnan at that point.

Bonus: Verne gives his usual stumbling good ol' boy promo where he talks about Groovy Greg's NFL prospects and how he chose wrestling.... Greg was an 8 year pro by this point!!! Verne also mentions how he owns a race horse or some shit. Oh Verne...

Here's Heenan selling Patera to Sheik on June 26th

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySL66vxT8sQ

And the title tourny being pushed:
7/15/83 St. Louis
Tournament for the Missouri State Title
Round 1
Bob Orton Jr. defeated Manny Fernandez
Jesse Ventura defeated Emile Vachon
Blackjack Lanza defeated Jerry Ho
Bruce Reed defeated Baron Von Raschke
Crusher Blackwell defeated Buzz Tyler
Dick the Bruiser defeated Bobby Duncum
Ric Flair defeated Bulldog Bob Brown
Dewey Robertson defeated George Wells
Hulk Hogan defeated Kortsia Korchenko
Round 2
David Von Erich defeated Bob Orton Jr.
Bruce Reed defeated Jesse Ventura
Blackjack Lanza defeated Dick the Bruiser via DQ
Ric Flair defeated George Wells?
Hulk Hogan nc Crusher Blackwell
Round 3
David Von Erich defeated Blackjack Lanza
Ric Flair defeated Bruce Reed
Ric Flair defeated David Von Erich to win the Missouri State title
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6

See~ Ol' Verne wanting Nick to come back in the AWA for more matches vs 64 year old Gagne in 1989 would have been great!!!

In all seriousness, this being promoted as fake on the same show as other "shoot" fights in kind of nutty. I'm not sure I've read how the Apter mags covered this.
I know in like 1995 or so they suggested someone create a "Old Timers" belt or something like that because a bunch of indies booked Wahoo vs Dory Jr.
 

King Kamala

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Weirdly the one old school promoter who was unequivocally cool with pushing black talent is the one that got fired for saying racial discrimination should be legal. Life is strange.
 

King Kamala

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Genuinely did not know that AWA ran a show in Maine. LOL at the very idea of AWA having a ladies night. Women go wild over the technical expertise of Nick Bockwinkel.


During the initial height of the ‘80s wrestling boom in ‘84-‘85, WWF didn’t run in Maine. I wonder if they just let the Savoldis and Montreal have it cause who cares about a small state when you’re focusing on nationwide expansion?

Love that they properly spelled Zbyszko but misspelled Warrior (and Afa)
 

King Kamala

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BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
View attachment 1250
Genuinely did not know that AWA ran a show in Maine. LOL at the very idea of AWA having a ladies night. Women go wild over the technical expertise of Nick Bockwinkel.


During the initial height of the ‘80s wrestling boom in ‘84-‘85, WWF didn’t run in Maine. I wonder if they just let the Savoldis and Montreal have it cause who cares about a small state when you’re focusing on nationwide expansion?

Love that they properly spelled Zbyszko but misspelled Warrior (and Afa)
Looks like Afa was promoting, which makes the misspelling all the worse.

IIRC Rip Morgan wrestled as Big Foot. I wonder if it's him here?

Also interesting to see Jules Strongbow working an AWA card 7 years after escaping the jobber life.


Ellering is massive here. Sort of impressive how much girth he dropped in a few short years.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
Genuinely did not know that AWA ran a show in Maine. LOL at the very idea of AWA having a ladies night. Women go wild over the technical expertise of Nick Bockwinkel.
 

King Kamala

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Not crapping you... First time I watched wrestling with a romantic interest, we watched some Hulk Hogan collection (her suggestion in this instance FWIW) that was streaming on Netflix and there was a Nick Bockwinkel Vs Hulk Hogan match on there and I was talking about how Bockwinkel was actually way more physically fit than Hulk. And we DID end up ditching the Hulkster and bumping uglies not long after.

So there MIGHT be something to said about the erotic appeal of Nick Bockwinkel.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6

WTF if the dates are right, then the AWA had the Big K reveal Curt Hennig would defend against Lawler in Memphis roughly the same weekend as this would air. I know Memphis did 2 day turnarounds from TV angles to Memphis houses, but the national TV show? I am not sure the AWA ever touched on the fact that Jackie Fargo was named the ref in a contest where the fans had to call a 1900 number or something and pick Fargo or Larry Hennig to be the ref for the match. Jarrett, being a proper carny then had the Lance Russell announce on TV that Minnesota votes had poured in for Hennig, so Memphis fans better call so Lawler gets Fargo.
 

BruiserBrody

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[quote author=BRODY link=topic=7317.msg606823#msg6
Nothing specific in my notes, but with Eddy there, I would guess Funk did it as a favor the the family since Terry had drawn so well in LA vs Chavo in the mid 70s. Funk was working sporadically since leaving the WWF. He worked Kevin Sullivan in Florida in 1987 in a match where even the ref bladed. He worked Puerto Rico and Japan of course. Plus the WON notes from Feb 89 say Stampede was trying to get him and Dory in.
 

King Kamala

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Here’s another obscure wrestling podcast guest!
 

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I had no idea Martel and Zinc Zenk teamed up in AWA before the Can-Am Connection.

Edit- I guess this is more of a Montreal card. Which I guess makes since Vermont but I'm not going to start a Montreal Wrestling BS thread.
 
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