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Independence Day Spectacular from the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, July 4th (as shown on ESPN Super Cards) Al Perez vs. The Super Destroyer The Latin Heartthrob had gotten a number of victories over members of Col. Robley’s Army through a combination of luck, speed and cunning. Super Destroyer was clearly determined to not let that happen again as he used his size advantage to pound Perez with lefts and rights. Perez fought back with his own punches , as well as working to wear Super D down with arm and leg locks, but the masked man kept coming at him full bore. Super Destroyer whipped Perez into the ropes and ducked down for a back body drop, but Perez came back off the ropes and went for a Sunset Flip. Super Destroyer blocked it, though, by grabbing Perez by the hair and pulling him up by the head through his legs and up onto his feet. He then went for a huge short lariat, but Perez blocked it, reversed into a waistlock, and in an impressive feat of strength, deadlifted him over into a German Suplex to get the pinfall. A very impressive win for Al Perez. AWA American Title Match : Tito Santana © vs. "Bruiser" Bob Sweetan After successfully defending his belt against one of his foremost rivals at the Canada Day show, once again Tito Santana was stepping into the ring with someone who had taken him to the limit several times. Sweetan pummeled Santana, trying to set him up for his trademark piledriver. Santana kept fighting out of it and came back swinging . One time Sweetan seemed close to hitting it, but with Santana’s thrashing about he ended up catching the heel of his boot in the eye and started bleeding from above the eye. Santana took advantage of this and came off the ropes with the Mexican Hammer forearm to get another hard fought victory. Street Fight : The Road Warriors vs. The Cuban Commandos The Road Warriors have had their hands full with the Cuban Commandos for the past while after the Caribbean team cost them the World Tag titles. For this match, however, it looked like they were fed up with them once and for all. The Road Warriors charged to the ring clad in jeans, t-shirts and weight belts and ploughed straight through the Commandos. The Cubans had no idea what hit them as they were blasted with a series of double tackles, slams and clotheslines. Animal gorilla pressed Angel Acevedo above his head and tossed him out of the ring like so much garbage before hoisting up Gerry Morrow for Hawk to come off the top rope with the Doomsday Device and the pinfall. It looks like the Road Warriors have put the final period at the end of this feud in decisive fashion. AWA Southern Title Match : Buddy Rose © vs. Greg Gagne Buddy Rose came to the ring with the Southern Title belt in tow, looking well pleased with himself. One he was there, AWA President Stanley Blackburn came out and got on the mic, announcing that , owing to injuries suffered at the Canada Day show in Calgary, Greg Gagne would not be able to compete tonight. Laughing out loud and figuring he was now done for the night, Rose looked like he was about to leave, but Blackburn told him to hold up, the AWA had been able to find a suitable replacement for the Southern Title match. He cued the back and the lights went out for a few confusing seconds. When the lights came up, who should be standing across the ring from Rose but …. RICKY STEAMBOAT! He was wearing a conspicuous bandage on his throat, but it was quite clearly the handsome Hawaiian superstar. Rose immediately protested but Blackburn ordered him into the match or he would be immediately suspended. The bell rang and Rose charged across the ring and tried to bowl over Steamboat but was met with a blistering series of chops and strikes. Steamboat outclassed Rose from the get go with his smooth as silk offense. Rose tried to sneak in a few cheap shots to his bandaged throat, but Steamboat deftly dodged out of the way. In desperation , Rose signaled to the back and summoned the rest of the Playboy Club to charge to the ring, but they were intercepted by Tito Santana and the Mothership Connection who proceeded to slug it out with Oliver, Wiskowski and Sweetan. Distracted by the failure of the cavalry to arrive, Rose was easy prey for a running karate chop from Steamboat, who followed up with a top rope crossbody block and got the one two three. The crowd exploded as Steamboat held his newly won Southern Title belt over his head. Paul Orndorff vs. One Man Gang Ever since Orndorff left the Sinister Syndicate, the remaining member have been gunning for his hide. To that end, they sent out the huge One Man Gang to collect some dues from Mr. Wonderful. The 747 was too big to use most of his power based offense, and Gang took advantage of this as he wore down Orndorff. Orndorff was able to battle back when he blindsided Gang with a running elbow to the head. He then hit a dropkick and a couple of running kneelifts to stagger Gang before finally hitting a clothesline that knocked him out of the ring. Gang was on rubber leg street but recovered enough to make it back into the ring before the 10 count, dragging his chain in with him. He promptly punched Orndorff in the face with the chain around his fist, leading to an immediate DQ, but Gang didn’t seem to care. He started to throttle Orndorff with the chain and fought off any attempt to get him off. Paul eventually hit an elbow to the midsection that double over One Man Gang, then went after him swinging the chain. The two kept fighting until the AWA officials finally separated them. Doesn’t look like it is over between Orndorff and the Syndicate by a long chalk. AWA Southern Tag Title Match : Nor-Am Express © vs. The Latin Lovers (special stipulation : if the Wild Bills show up during the match, they will be suspended for 90 days) These two popular teams have had a series of exciting but inconclusive matches for the Southern Tag titles, not helped by the interference from the Wild Bills. The champions were the first to the ring , slapping palms with the fans on the way there. The Latin Lovers were out next, but they were immediately ambushed from behind by the Wild Bills. The Bills knocked down Valentino with a double clothesline, then lifted up Javier Cruz and dropped him, ribs first, on the barricade. As Cruz writhed in pain, an angry Stanley Blackburn once again got on the mic and said that the Bills had violated the contract and would be suspended for 90 days. Col. Buck Robley, however, told Blackburn that the stipulations clearly stated that they would only be suspended if they showed up during the match, and since the match had not yet started, the stipulation did not apply. He then said that Javier Cruz was now clearly in no condition to compete, there were no challengers for the Southern Tag titles , a role the Wild Bills would be more than happy to fill. Blackburn said that, if Valentino could find a partner for the match, the Latin Lovers would still get the title match. Valentino rushed to the back and came out with Al Perez in tow. Perez was clearly reluctant to be in another match after the tough fight he had earlier in the evening, but Valentino persuaded Perez to be in his corner for the match. Showing consideration for his already tired partner, Valentino took on the Nor-Am’s by himself, using his dropkicks and high speed to keep them off balance. Gradually, though the numbers advantage took over, as the Nor-Am Express started tagging in and out and hitting combination moves to break down their Italian challenger. It finally got to be too much for Valentino as he ducked under their attempt at a double clothesline and dove to his own corner for the desperation tag. This tag was not forthcoming , however, as Perez simply stared at him before jumping off the ringside apron. Valentino looked at him helplessly as the Latin Heartthrob slowly walked back to the locker room. Valentino was thus distracted when Tom Zenk dropkicked him into a Cobra Clutch Suplex by Phil Lafon. The Nor-Am Express successfully defended their belts, but the real story was the seeming dissent in the Latin Lovers. What exactly is Al Perez playing at? AWA World Title Match : Ken Patera © vs. Jimmy Garvin In recent matches, Patera had targeted Garvin’s right arm, trying to take out the DDT before it could be used. Patera continued that tactic in this match , wrenching it with big arm wringers and dropping painful looking knee shots onto it every chance I could. Garvin stayed in the fight and looked like he just might hit the DDT on a number of occasions. He looked like he had it completely set up, but Patera showed his immense strength by powering out, back body dropping Garvin out of the ring. He tried to go out after Garvin to continue his attack but the ref sent him back. While the ref was thus distracted, someone rushed down to ringside and attacked Jimmy Garvin. Mike George is back in the AWA! George grabbed Garvin and hit a huge shoulder breaker that left Garvin in agony. He then threw Garvin into the ring to Patera who locked the Gorgeous one in a full nelson. Garvin tried to hold out, but it was just too much for his injured shoulder, and he had to give up. Clearly, Patera will do anything to keep his grip on the world title belt. The Final Showdown - Hulkster's Farewell Match : Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Olympia The crowd were in great anticipation for this match, as they knew it would be Hogan’s final match in the AWA. Mr. Olympia came out first, and the crowd loudly booed him for turning his back on his best friend. Hogan was next and the fans exploded in cheers. Hogan came out to the ring at full speed, tossing Sheikh Kaissie out of the ring and knocking over Olympia with several mighty clotheslines. Nothing Olympia did had any effect as the big Hulkster bounced him around the ring. Olympia decided dirty tactics were what was called for, as he slipped something inside his mask and hit a headbutt on Hogan, staggering the Hulkster. Olympia then began to work over Hogan’s legs, trying to set him up for the Power Lock. Hogan bravely pushed off any attempt to have that Figure Four put on him, so Olympia changed his approach and hit several nasty knees to the back of Hogan’s head before sinking in the Sleeper hold. It looked like it was lights out for Hogan as the ref dropped his arm once … twice … but the third time, his hand came up in defiance, to the appreciation of the fans. He showed his incredible strength by lifting Olympia up and driving him back first into the corner. He did this two more times and Olympia finally let go of the hold. He knocked Olympia down with a big boot before hitting the Big Leg Drop for the final one two three. The crowd screamed themselves hoarse as Hogan raised his hand in victory and bade farewell to the AWA fans.

Just a heads up, I am on vacation so running a bit behind but will get my big Metrodome show up as soon as possible.

They also did some shows in Brandon, Manitoba, I believe. In my home town of Ottawa, while they never did any shows here, they had syndicated TV as well as the show on TSN (the cable sports channel). There was also a presence in Quebec, I do recall the Road Warriors and Rick Martel on Lutte International TV being referred to as AWA champions. I wanted to do a Canada Day show as a tip of the hat to the first AWA show I ever did, and since I was already doing a show in Winnipeg the week before, I held it in Calgary for a one off as nobody is running shows there right now.

Hart and Neidhart vs. Barbarian and Viking sounds like it would have been a fun match, sort of like the Hart Foundation vs. Twin Tower match I enjoyed.

AWA Canada Day Spectacular from the Saddledome in Calgary, July 1st (as shown on ESPN Super Cards) Greg Gagne & The Nor-Am Express (Phil Lafon, Tom Zenk & Jose Lothario) vs. The Playboy Club (Buddy Rose, Rip Oliver, Ed Wiskowski & Bob Sweetan) From the get go, it was clear that the Playboy Club’s goal was not to win the match, but rather to make sure that Greg Gagne was in no shape to challenge for Rose’s Southern Title. They trapped him in their corner of the ring, took every opportunity to cheap shot or gang up on Gagne, and blocked every attempt by the Nor-Am Express to come to the rescue. Gagne, for his part, fought back like a lion and seemed almost on the verge of breaking out of the trap and tagging in one of his partners when the Playboy Club charged over and knocked the Nor-Am Express off the ring apron. The ref was incensed and ordered them back to their corner of the ring, only to meet a solid right hook from Rip Oliver. The Club then dragged Gagne over and Rose, Wiskowski and Sweetan hit a brutal double spike piledriver on Gagne. This was not enough for them, as they picked up the limp form of Gagne and hit the same move again. Who knows what they might have done next, but the Nor-Am express rushed over and shoved them away from their partner. Gagne was in very bad shape and had to be taken from the ring in a stretcher. His team had won by DQ, but at a very great cost. The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino, Javier Cruz & Al Perez) vs. The Wild Bills & Super Destroyer The Latin Lovers have had some communication problems as of late, but everything seemed to have been straightened out in this match as they worked together seamlessly against their much larger opposition. The members of Buck Robley’s Army tried to pound down the Latin Lovers, but their quick tags and combination moves kept the momentum on the side of the fan favorites. The Wild Bills decided to take matters into their own hands as they brought their bullropes into the ring and whipped Javier Cruz into the ropes, coming off the opposite side for a bullrope assisted double clothesline. Cruz ducked down at the last moment, and as the Bills rebounded from the other side, Al Perez grabbed Billy Jack’s leg and trapped him while Cruz came back and hit a Thesz Press on Wild Bill Irwin to get the upset win for the upset victory. AWA American Title Match : Tito Santana © vs. "The Tank" Mike Shaw These men had crossed swords several times before, but this time Shaw seemed well and determined to wrest the American Title match from Santana once and for all. The big Tank waged an all out war on Santana, using his impressive bulk to wear him down and blast him with huge elbow smashes, slams and avalanches. Santana showed the courage and resilience that were a big part of making him so popular with the fans and he weathered out the storm and fought back hard with dropkicks and tackles. He ultimately hit a running forearm smash that caught Shaw unawares and stunned him. He then followed up by nailing Shaw with the Mexican Hammer flying forearm that left the Tank staggered and goggle eyed but, incredibly, Shaw managed to stay on his feet. Realizing that more extreme measures were called for , Santana ascended the top rope and came off with a huge flying clothesline. That proved to be the trick, as Shaw went crashing to the mat like a felled oak. Santana draped an arm over Shaw for the one two three. The Road Warriors & "Wildman" Jack Armstrong vs. The Cuban Commandos & The Great Gama Singh The Road Warriors have stepped up their campaign to get revenge on the Commandos for costing them the World Tag titles. This would be their last match before the big street fight in the Metrodome and they went all out in their offense, as did their good friend Jack Armstrong. The always tough Commandos gave as good as they got, but this was a real coming out for Singh, who not only took it to Armstrong (whom he had faced several times before) but both members of the Road Warriors. He even got Animal in the Camel Clutch, only for it to be broken up by Hawk giving an elbow smash to the back of his head. The Warriors decided enough was enough and hoisted up Singh up to hit the Doomsday Device and end the match. The next stop would be the Metrodome and their would be no backup for the Cuban Commandos. Last Man Standing Match : Da Crusher vs. Manny Fernandez These two have had some knock down, drag out brawls over the past several weeks and this was no different. Not a great deal of scientific wrestling on display, this was an out and out fight that left both men bleeding heavily. A couple of times , Crusher hit the running Bolo Punch to knock down the Ragin’ Bull, only for Fernandez to make it back up by the ten count. Similiarly, Fernandez managed to catch Crusher with the Flying Burrito forearm but was unable to keep him down. Crusher finally tried to take Fernandez out with the Crusher Clutch (double stomach claw) , but Fernandez was able to inch his way to the ropes. The ref tried to get Crusher to break the hold, but Crusher backhanded the ref and sent him sprawling before re-applying the hold. Col. Buck Robley took advantage of this by grabbing a steel chair and clobbering Crusher in the head with it, and Crusher toppled unconscious to the mat. When the ref recovered, he saw Crusher laid out and made the 10 count on him before awarding the tainted victory to Fernandez. AWA World Tag Title Match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Mothership Connection The Heavenly Bodies have had a good run at holding onto the AWA World Tag titles, but were facing an extremely determined Mothership Connection. The Connection clearly had the whole crowd behind them as they went all out against the ever sneaky Heavenly Bodies and their devious manager, Jim Cornette. The battle went back and forth, with the Bodies just barely able to wriggle out of some tight scrapes. It did finally look like the belts would be within the Connection’s grasp when Master Gee was able to get Tom Prichard in the Masterlock (modified Fuller Leglock). The always wily Cornette, however , had aims to cut that short , as he was able to distract the referee with his antics while Eaton snuck into the ring with the tennis racket. Before he could get to Master Gee, Iceman Parsons came off the top rope with the flying Rumper Stumper ( leaping butt bump) and sent Eaton out of the action. With no rescue coming, Prichard had no choice but to surrender and the Mothership connection were the new AWA Tag champs, to the huge cheers of the crowd. Hulk Hogan & The Garvins vs. Ken Patera, Mr. Olympia & One Man Gang This would be the Hulkster’s final AWA match in Canada, and he would be teaming up with the Garvins against his hated rivals, the Sinister Syndicate. He fought with all of them but struggled to keep his hands on Mr. Olympia, as his former friend would bail out of the ring when things got too hot for him. The Syndicate, for their part, were focused on Jimmy Garvin, ruthlessly working over his right arm to damage it before the Independence Day show. On a couple of occasions, it looked like he might be able to take down Patera or Gang with the DDT, but was too badly hurt to apply it and they were able to inflict more damage. Ultimately the match broke down, with Hogan slugging it out with Olympia, Ron Garvin with Gang, and Jimmy and Patera (the legal men) battling on the outside. Patera tried to powerslam Jimmy into the corner post, only for Jimmy to slid off his back and sending Patera chest first into the outside corner. He was then able to hit the DDT with his left arm on the exposed concrete that knocked Patera for a loop. He was able to make it back into the ring to beat the count and got his team the victory by countout.

Confirmed with JHawk, AWA sends The Mongol to the WWA for Mike George.

Dang, that leaves me as the last original. Sorry to see you go, JHAwk, you did a great job with the WWA.

AWA picks up The Mongol (Gene Petit) to be our +1.

Backlund and Robinson makes for such an awesome team.

There were some Four Corner matches in the 80s, notably this one : Rock N Roll Express vs. Freebirds vs. Road Warriors vs. Dirty White Boys (New Orleans 3/30/85) I'm still ahead of the pace, but figured this sort of match would be the best way to forward the rise of the 3 man factions in the undercard as well as showcase multiple angles.

AWA show from the Winnipeg Arena, June 21st (as shown on ESPN Supercards) Four Corner Match for the new AWA Six-Man Tag Match : The Latin Lovers vs. Badd Company & Chick Donovan vs. The Nor-Am Express vs. The Cuban Commandos & Great Gama Singh The first elimination happened when Pat Tanaka thrust kicked Jose Lothario into a Paul Diamond German Suplex, eliminating the Nor-Am Express. The second elimination occurred when the Road Warriors showed up at ringside to brawl with the Cuban Commandos, leading to the elimination of the Commandos by countout. Finally, Javier Cruz was setting up Diamond for El Volantin while Valentino tied up Chick Donovan, only for Tanaka to take him down with a brutal legsweep and put Diamond on top, giving the victory to Badd Company. Strangely, Al Perez saw Tanaka come in but did not stop him. Badd Company and Chick Donovan are now the AWA Six Man Champions The Wild Bills vs. Ron Garvin & Paul Orndorff Garvin and Orndorff won when Orndorff hit the Piledriver on Bill Irwin while Garvin gave the Garvin Stomp to Billy Jack Haynes AWA World Tag Team title match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Mothership Connection The Mothership Connection won by DQ when Jim Cornette hit Iceman Parsons with the tennis racket. The Heavenly Bodies retained the titles. AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Greg Gagne The match ended in a draw when it went to the 30 minute time limit. Gagne had the bloodied Rose in the Gagne Sleeper as the clock ticked down, but Rose was able to hold out long enough until the bell rang. Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Garvin & Rick Martel vs. Mr. Olympia, Ken Patera & One Man Gang Hogan’s team won when Martel dropkicked OMG into a schoolboy trip for Garvin to roll up Gang

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN for June 29th Four Corners Match : Chick Donovan vs. Great Gama Singh vs. Jose Lothario vs. Al Perez Just before this match, it was announced that there would be a Four Corners match at the Winnipeg show for the newly minted AWA Six-Man Tag titles. Before that would occur, though, this match would feature representatives from each of those four teams. Donovan and Singh focused most of their attention Lothario, seemingly concerned about drawing in Perez with his impressive recent win streak in singles matches. The two men worked over Lothario until Donovan whipped him into the ropes, looking to polish him off with a big lariat. Lothario ducked the lariat and made the blind tag to Perez, who came in and flattened Donovan with his own lariat for the first elimination. Perez then swiftly tagged out and Lothario went at it with Gama Singh. The two battled back and forth until Singh looked set to lock him into the Cobra Clutch, only for Lothario to trap in an inside cradle and get the second elimination. No sooner had Lothario stood back up than Perez dashed into the ring and got him in a schoolboy rollup for the third and final elimination and victory in the match. Unusual tactics for the well liked Perez but it did give the Latin Lovers the momentum going into the title match. The Road Warriors vs. Rip Oliver & Ed Wiskowski The Warriors are currently gunning for the Cuban Commandos but before they could get to them, first they had to go through the Playboy Club. Oliver and Wiskowski tried their usual dirty tactics and double teams but the Warriors were clearly in no mood to be trifled with as they pretty much overwhelmed the Playboy Club and tore through them like a hot knife through butter before finishing off Oliver with the Doomsday Device. If Acevedo and Morrow weren’t concerned about being in the Road Warriors crosshairs before, they certainly should be now. Greg Gagne & Tito Santana vs. Buddy Rose & Bob Sweetan This match saw American champ Tito Santana teaming with Southern title contender Greg Gagne , to square off with the Southern champion Buddy Rose with American title contender Bob Sweetan. Both of the fan favorites have had a hard time getting decisive victories over Rose and Sweetan in their recent matches, but had no trouble working well as a team, for all that the Playboy Club was the more established partnership. They knocked Rose and Sweetan all over the ring with big dropkicks and befuddled their opponents with rapid fire, in and out tags and combination moves. Santana was able to blast Rose with a Mexican Hammer forearm that sent him flying out of the ring. As Rose struggled to his feet, he clearly decided that there was nothing to be gained from the match and it was time to cut bait. Sweetan wanted to stay and fight it out but Rose ordered him to follow him back to the locker room, leaving Gagne and Santana to get the unsatisfying countout victory. Mr. Olympia vs. Da Crusher With his betrayal of Hulk Hogan, Mr. Olympia has drawn the ire of not only the Hulkster but half of the AWA roster. This time out, it was the pub crawling veteran Da Crusher who was looking to get some lumps to avenge his good buddy Hogan. This was fierce brawl where Olympia found it extremely hard to keep Da Crusher contained. At one point , Crusher caught Olympia with a running Bolo Punch that knocked him out of the ring. Whenever Olympia tried to get back in the ring, Crusher came at him with haymakers, forcing the ref to separate the two. With the ref so distracted, Olympia slipped something into his mask and when Crusher came back, Olympia nailed him with a headbutt that sent him flat out onto the mat. Olympia then went up top and hit a flying headbutt for the win. Rick Martel & Jimmy Garvin vs. Ken Patera & One Man Gang The Sinister Syndicate has been incredibly focused ever since Ken Patera has returned from Japan. Their goal has been clear : destroy Jimmy Garvin before his July 4th World Title shot. Garvin needed to bring in some big guns to back him up and made a great choice in the Canadian champ, Rick Martel. Martel had Garvin’s back throughout the match, always there to disrupt any double team attempts or break up any submission holds. Garvin was able lock Patera in a sleeper hold and when One Man Gang tried to break it up, Martel was cut him off with a cross body block that took him down to the mat. Any hope Garvin had of taking down Patera in this match was shot down, however, when Mr. Olympia rushed in and attacked him. As the ref called for the DQ, the Syndicate used their numbers superiority to beat down Garvin and Martel until Hulk Hogan came to the ring to run them off.

Special announcement about upcoming AWA progamming : Next week's progamming will be business as usual, AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN and the house show from the Winnipeg Arena which will be shown on ESPN Supercards. However, for the week following, instead of All-Star Wrestling there will be 2 special broadcasts of AWA Supercards, showing the July 1st Canada Day show from the Saddledome in Calgary and the July 4th Independence Day show from the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Here are the lineups for those cards : Canada Day Spectacular from the Saddledome in Calgary, July 1st Greg Gagne & The Nor-Am Express (Phil Lafon, Tom Zenk & Jose Lothario) vs. The Playboy Club (Buddy Rose, Rip Oliver, Ed Wiskowski & Bob Sweetan) The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valention, Javier Cruz & Al Perez) vs. The Wild Bills & Super Destroyer AWA American Title Match : Tito Santana © vs. "The Tank" Mike Shaw The Road Warriors & "Wildman" Jack Armstrong vs. The Cuban Commandos & The Great Gama Singh Last Man Standing Match : Da Crusher vs. Manny Fernandez AWA World Tag Title Match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Mothership Connection Hulk Hogan & The Garvins vs. Ken Patera, Mr. Olympia & One Man Gang Independence Day Spectacular from the Hubert H. Humprey Metrodome in Minneapolis, July 4th Al Perez vs. The Super Destroyer AWA American Title Match : Tito Santana © vs. "Bruiser" Bob Sweetan Street Fight : The Road Warriors vs. The Cuban Commandos AWA Southern Title Match : Buddy Rose © vs. Greg Gagne Paul Orndorff vs. One Man Gang AWA Southern Tag Title Match : Nor-Am Express © vs. The Latin Lovers (special stipulation : if the Wild Bills show up during the match, they will be suspended for 90 days) AWA World Title Match : Ken Patera © vs. Jimmy Garvin The Final Showdown - Hulkster's Farewell Match : Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Olympia

Hogan is still getting a push on his way out because his final match will be at the Metrodome on July 4th and that card is going to be a very big deal.

AWA show at the Mecca in Milwaukee, June 22nd (as shown on ESPN Supercards) Al Perez vs. The Great Gama Singh Singh thought that he had the match won when he got Perez in the Camel Clutch , but he failed to notice that Perez had gotten his leg under the bottom rope. When Singh prematurely celebrated victory, Perez got him in a roll up for the pin fall Mike Shaw vs. Jose Lothario Shaw won with a running splash Road Warriors vs. the Cuban Commandos The Road Warriors won with a double flying shoulder tackle on Morrow AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Express © vs. The Latin Lovers The match was thrown out when the Wild Bills attacked both teams AWA American Title match : Tito Santana ©vs. Bob Sweetan Santana won by count out after he hit Sweetan with a top rope flying clothesline to the ringside area Falls Count Anywhere Match : Da Crusher vs. Manny Fernandez In a bloody match that harkened back to Crusher’s feud with Toru Tanaka, Crusher won when he hit a running Bolo Punch on Fernandez in the concession area, followed by dropping a beer barrel on his chest Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff & The Garvins vs. Sheikh Adnan Kaissie, Ken Patera, One Man Gang & Mr. Olympia Hogan’s team won when Jimmy Garvin got the DDT on Adnan Kaissie followed by Hogan hitting the Big Leg Drop

AWA All Star Wrestling on ESPN for June 22nd Ron Garvin vs. Rip Oliver Ron Garvin’s main focus of late, which he shares with his brother, has been World Champion Ken Patera and the rest of the Sinister Syndicate, but this time out he faced one of the members of the Playboy Club, Rip Oliver. The man with the Hands Of Stone pummeled Oliver with big punches but Oliver, a tough veteran himself, fired back with his own haymakers. While the battle waged back and forth, Garvin was ultimately able to knock Oliver of his feet with a shoulder block then pounded him into the mat with the Garvin Stomp. He then hoisted Oliver up in a piledriver to get the win. Tito Santana & Al Perez vs. Mike Shaw & Super Destroyer Interestingly, for this match with his rivals the Army, Perez brought in the American champion instead of his partners in the Latin Lovers. Regardless, Santana was no stranger to Shaw or the rest of Col. Robley’s Army and the two effortlessly worked like a well oiled machine, tagging in and out and hitting double team and combination moves on their much bigger opposition with ease. Super Destroyer finally had enough and tossed Santana over the top rope. He then directed his attention to Al Perez, grabbing him and hoisting him over his shoulder for a power slam, only for the Latin Heartthrob to slide down his back and grab him in a waistlock. He also failed to notice that Santana had grabbed the top rope on the way out and landed on the apron, then projected himself using the rope in a slingshot clothesline on Super D who then went into a German Suplex by Perez for the victory. Badd Company & Chick Donovan vs. The Latin Lovers & Greg Gagne One again, it is a bit surprising that Valentino and Cruz are rounding out their team with Gagne instead of their regular partner Al Perez. Regardless, the Lovers had the match well in hand over the rookie team of Badd Company , combining the Lovers’ speed and Gagne’s technical skill to dominate the less experienced team. The match took a turn for the worse, however, when Buddy Rose, likely looking for a chance to get at Gagne before he challenged for the Southern Title on July 4th, snuck down to ringside. When Gagne was coming off the ropes, Rose snagged his leg and sent him staggering. This left him vulnerable to a thrust kick to the jaw by Tanaka, who swiftly covered him for the shocking (if tainted) upset. AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Tom Zenk Rose was taking on the talented newcomer Zenk in this title defense and brought along with him Ed Wiskowski and Bob Sweetan of the Playboy Club, likely to watch his back against a vengeance seeking Greg Gagne. Perhaps he should have spent time focusing on Zenk, as the handsome rookie bounced Rose all over the ring with dropkicks and high flying moves. Zenk then ascended the top rope to try to win the title with the flying dropkick. It was now that the Playboy Club chose to strike, with Sweetan distracting the ref while Wiskowski shoved Zenk off the top rope, sending him plummeting to the mat. Rose then picked up Zenk for the inside out backbreaker but Greg Gagne, unable to take anymore, charged into the ring and attacked him, leading to a DQ win for Rose. The Playboy Club then swarmed Gagne and Zenk, beating them both down with force of numbers until the Mothership Connection and the rest of the Nor-Am Express ran in to clear them off. Hulk Hogan & Paul Orndorff vs. Mr. Olympia & Jerry Blackwell The fans came out in force to cheer on Hogan in one of their last chances to see him in the AWA, as he teamed with his former rival Orndorff to take on the Sinister Syndicate, including his former friend Mr. Olympia. For all that Olympia had been gunning for Hogan before, he could tell that Hogan was very hot for vengeance as he clearly wanted no part of the Hulkster, only entering the ring when he faced Orndorff or when he Blackwell had beaten down Hogan. The battle of titans waged back and forth and the Syndicate looked to be done with it when Blackwell got Orndorff in a Full Nelson, setting him up to be hit by their fellow Syndicate member the One Man Gang and his chain. Orndorff was able to free himself just in time and Gang hit Blackwell in the face with the chain. Hogan tossed Gang from the ring and Orndorff took Olympia down with a dropkick , followed Hogan dropping the Big Leg on Blackwell for the pin.

Heaven neeeeeeeeded a chaaaaaaampiooooooon!!!!! Great card coming up, looking forward to the steel cage match especially.

In retrospect, Patera heading to Japan actually worked out pretty well for me. I wanted to be able to build up challengers but at the same time keep the champ and his crew strong. With him away, the Garvins were able to pick up some wins and establish themselves as top contenders. Now that the champ is back, though, the Sinister Syndicate has regained focus and the babyfaces are going to find it a much steeper climb.

AWA show at the Denver Auditorium, Denver, June 15th (shown on ESPN Supercards) Gama Singh vs. Jose Lothario Singh won with the Cobra Clutch Al Perez vs. Manny Fernandez Perez won with a rollup after Fernandez was distracted by Da Crusher at ringside The Wild Bills vs. The Latin Lovers The Wild Bills won when they hit a double lariat on Cruz AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Greg Gagne Gagne won by DQ when he was attacked by Rip Oliver and Ed Wiskowski, but did not win the title. AWA World Tag Title match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Mothership Connection In a match that went over 29 minutes and looked like it might go to the time limit, Parsons was going for a piledriver on Prichard when Eaton came off the top rope and hit an elbow smash to the back of the head, then put Prichard on top of Parsons to get the win Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Olympia Both men were counted out when they were brawling outside the ring The Garvins vs. Ken Patera vs. One Man Gang In a match when the Syndicate kept working over Jimmy Garvin’s right arm, Garvin managed to get One Man Gang in position for the DDT but couldn’t sink it in, and when he went for it again, Patera leveled him with a massive lariat to give the victory to the Syndicate

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN, June 15th Interview : Mean Gene stands in the AWA control center Mean Gene : Folks, the AWA recently has been shaken by some big news concerning one of its biggest stars. Here to give his side of that story is the former 2 time AWA World Champion, Hulk Hogan. Hogan comes out, more subdued than normal. Hogan : Thanks so much, Mean Gene, for you and the AWA board of directors giving me this chance to speak my piece. As you know, I am coming towards the end of my contract with the AWA. At the same time that my contract negotiation was approaching, a major new opportunity has been presented to me to enter another promotion and gain exposure to a whole new set of fans. Now this was a very tough decision for me, as everyone know how much the AWA fans mean to me, but as I was ultimately not able to come to terms with the AWA for a new contract, I came to the realization that it was time for the Hulkster to move on. I have accomplished almost every thing I have set out to in the AWA and at the July 4th show in the Metrodome, I will wrestle my last AWA match. Mean Gene : Hulkster, you said that you have accomplished *almost* everything … would you like to clarify? Hogan : Well, y’know, Mean Gene … I have one last bit of unfinished business to take care of. Before I left for my tour of Japan, I was having a lot of trouble with my former friend, Mr. Olympia. He betrayed me, he cost me my World title, he even cost me my shot at being #1 contender again. So in the Metrodome, I have signed for one final match, no excuses, no outside interference, mano a mano … and I will get my revenge on Mr. Olympia as my last statement to the great AWA fans. Mean Gene : Well, Hulkster, I understand your position but you will certainly be missed. Hogan : Thank you, Mean Gene, it has been a pleasure working with you. Super Destroyer & Manny Fernandez vs. Al Perez & Da Crusher Whether it was because they were wary of Perez and his recent string of victories over members of the Army, or it was because of the hatred between Fernandez and Da Crusher, the members of the Army looked determined to keep Perez out of the ring. They kept up a furious attack on Da Crusher, brawling with him while keeping him in their corner of the ring and preventing Perez from tagging in. On a couple of occasions, it looked like he had managed to tag in, only for Col. Robley and his men to distract the ref at the last second and Perez would be sent back into his corner. This finally caught up with the Army as, while Super Destroyer and Fernandez were brawling with Crusher and Robley was jawing with the ref, Perez simply strode into the ring, slapped his hands together behind the ref’s head, and then caught Super D unawares with an inside cradle. The ref, thinking that he had heard Perez legally tag in, rushed over and counted the pinfall as Fernandez and Crusher slugged it out. The Army was livid but the result stood. Paul Orndorff vs. Chick Donovan This match up of two muscular men showed how Orndorff was gaining momentum since moving over to the side of the fan favorites. Donovan tried to lure Mr. Wonderful into a pose down but Orndorff wouldn’t be drawn in, instead rocking Donovan with a clothesline and following up with several high impact power slams before finishing him off with a piledriver. The crowd cheered loudly as Orndorff stood tall in the ring. AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Express © vs. The Wild Bills The Southern Tag champs have been facing some pretty intense competition of late, but his was perhaps their toughest challenge in facing much larger opponents, namely the former World Tag champions the Wild Bills. The Bills came in with a reputation of bullying their opposition, but the Nor-Am Express were clearly having none of that. Zenk and Lafon dealt with the Bills’ attempts to overpower them by using their speed and technical expertise to out-maneuver, out-think and just plain out wrestle Irwin and Haynes. Every time the Bills thought they had the Express dead to rights, they would pull out some high flying or double team move to retake control of the match. The Wild Bills finally got so frustrated that they brought their bullropes into the ring and clocked Zenk with the cowbell right in front of the ref, leading to a DQ. Even then, their attempts to curb stomp Zenk were cut short by Lafon knocking them off with a flying double clothesline and he and Zenk attacked the Bills every time they tried to get back in the ring, playing King Of The Mountain with the much bigger team. The Nor-Am Express are clear that they are not intimidated by anyone, including the Wild Bills. Tito Santana & Greg Gagne vs. Buddy Rose & Bob Sweetan This match featured a champion on either side and continued Santana and Gagne’s individual wars with members of the Playboy Club. Gagne was clearly on fire and gunning for Rose, trying to take as much advantage to wear him down for their Southern title matches, to the extent that is was all Santana could do to keep him reigned in and under control. This wound up costing them as Gagne was able to get the Gagne Sleeper on Rose, but as the ref was ushering Santana back out of the ring, Sweetan was able to hit Gagne with a nasty clip to the back of the leg to break up the hold. Rose then made the cover on the badly hurt Gagne for the win. The Garvins & Adrian Street vs. Ken Patera, One Man Gang & Mr. Olympia This was Patera’s first match back on his return from Japan, where he had knocked off several challenges from both Japanese and American wrestlers in a series of very impressive title defenses. In his absence, the Syndicate had their hands full with the Garvins and Patera looked set to take command and get the Syndicate back on track. The Garvins and Street came at them full bore but this was clearly a Syndicate with a new focus to shut down any potential challenges, tagging in and out of the ring and double or triple teaming their opposition whenever possible. Street got more and more reckless as the match went on, ultimately staggering Patera with a pair of running clotheslines but the third time turned out to be too many as Patera caught him and then hit him with a brutal backbreaker. He got the three count and delivered a message to the Garvins and any other challengers : you want my belt, you better step your game up and be ready to pay the consequences.