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Thanks for the feedback. Past few weeks have been a bit challenging, with both Hulk Hogan and my World champ away in Japan. They will be back in time for my next shows and I can start heading full throttle on the road to the Canada Day/Independence Day shows.

AWA show at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, June 8th (as shown on ESPN Supercards) Great Gama Sing vs. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong Sing won with the Camel Clutch “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell vs. Jose Lothario Blackwell won with a running splash The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino, Javier Cruz & Al Perez) vs. The Wild Bills & The Super Destroyer The Latin Lovers won when, after Perez tripped Irwin while coming off the ropes, Cruz hit a swinging neckbreaker AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Iceman Parsons Parsons won with the Inside Out Backbreaker The Road Warriors vs. The Cuban Commandos The contest was thrown out after the match broke down into in and out of the ring brawling AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Connection © vs. Badd Company The Nor-Am Connection won when Zenk dropkicked Tanaka into a Cobra Clutch Suplex by Lafon AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. Bob Sweetan Both men went to a 30 minute time limit draw The Garvins & Paul Orndorff vs. Mr. Olympia, One Man Gang & Sheikh Adnan Kaissie The Sheikh and his crew thought they had it all sewn up as then had Jimmy Garvin trapped in their corner , relentlessly working over his right arm. But the Sheikh got cocky, taking time to grandstand and jaw with the ref, not taking in that Ron Garvin and Paul Orndorff had knocked his partners from the ring. He turned around to find he was facing all three members of the opposition, who took him down and hit a spike piledriver for the victory.

AWA All-Star Wrestling on ESPN, June 8th Tom Zenk vs. Paul Diamond As one half of the AWA Southern Tag Team champions the Nor Am Express, Tom Zenk has mostly been dealing with the challenge of the Latin Lovers. However, Badd Company has felt like they have been overlooked for title contention, and in this match they would get in the ring with the champs, albeit in a singles match between two rookies. This was a predictably fast paced and dynamic match that could have gone either way, but as it wore on, it seemed clear that the coaching Zenk had gotten from Phil Lafon and Jose Lothario was paying off. Zenk was gradually able to assume complete control of the match and was able to duck a desperation superkick from Diamond, countering by locking him in the Sleeper. This was the cue for Pat Tanaka to dash into the ring and take Zenk down with a vicious legsweep, leading to the DQ decision that cost Zenk a decisive victory over Diamond. The Wild Bills vs. The Latin Lovers The Wild Bills clearly were more interested in getting revenge on the third member of the Lovers, Al Perez, for his recent string of victories over them in singles matches. As it stood, they settled for battering his partners, Vinnie Valentino and Javier Cruz. There seemed to be an extra thread of viciousness to their attacks and the ref had his work cut out for him just trying to keep one of the Bills in the ring at a time, not to mention Col. Buck Robley making his presence felt whenever he could. While Billy Jack and Robley were pummeling Valentino in one corner, Bill Irwin was setting up Cruz for the superplex in the opposite corner. Little did he know that Al Perez had snuck down to ringside and wound the Bills’ own bullrope around Irwin’s ankle and when he went for the superplex, he was thrown off by the bullrope and awkwardly crashed to the mat. An exhausted Cruz draped an arm over Irwin and got the pin. Perez proceeded to laugh at the Army but his partners seemed puzzled that he would resort to such a tactic. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong vs. Angel Acevedo One again, Armstrong gets caught in the crossfire of the war between his good friends, the Road Warriors, and their current rivals, the Cuban Commandos. This was pretty much a bare knuckled slug fest between two brawlers where the momentum of the match swung back and forth. It looked like Armstrong was about to polish off Acevedo with a mighty running clothesline, but the Cuban Assassin ducked at the last moment and came back with a running neckbreaker drop that flattened the Wild Man. He then picked him up and hit an over-the-shoulder neckbreaker that finished Armstrong off for good. AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. Rip Oliver Of late, Santana has had his hands full with Bob Sweetan challenging for his American title, but this time out it was Sweetan’s fellow Playboy Club member Rip Oliver taking on the popular Mexican firebrand. Oliver looked to be trying to soften Santana up for his teammate, with moves that looked more likely to injure than win the match and focusing particular attention on the neck of Santana. Santana was able to rally with a series of lightning quick dropkicks followed by hitting the Mexican Hammer Forearm that got the pinfall in a successful title defense. Paul Orndorff vs. “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell Mr. Wonderful was making his first appearance in a match since being kicked out of the Sinister Syndicate, and the fans seemed ready to accept his change of heart as they cheered on his quest for revenge. The Syndicate, for their part, seemed determined to nip his threat right in the bud by sending out their biggest gun, the huge “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell. Blackwell presented a considerable challenge to Orndorff, as his incredible bulk curtailed any attempt to slam him. Orndorff adapted to this by instead rocking him with big tackles and clotheslines to try to take him off his feet. Blackwell, on the other hand, felt free to slam Orndorff to his heart’s content, dropping several meaty elbow drops to wear down his former cohort. Seeking to get rid of Orndorff once and for all, Blackwell held the exhausted Mr. Wonderful in a waistlock while Sheikh Kaissie entered the ring and unleashed a huge fireball. Orndorff, however, was able do break loose just in time, and the Crusher caught to fireball square in the chest. Orndorff tossed the mortified Sheikh out of the ring then hit a big running kneedrop on the felled Blackwell for the win.

It's been been a roller coaster week in the AWA, but it looks like things have turned around for the mid-west promotion. After the news that they were not able to sign a new contract with former champion Hulk Hogan, word has trickled back that they were able to cut a deal with another promotion to pick up Hogan's option, in exchange for sending a major talent their way. This, along with the rumor of a major talent deal with the newly re-opened PNW territory, seems to have provided the AWA with the leverage they needed to finally close the long in the works deal with ESPN. That's right, they have finally closed the deal and from here on in, AWA All-Star Wrestling will be broadcast nation wide in the sports cable channel. This will definitely help expand the AWA and help re-establish them after all of the recent changes.

Awesome kickoff for the promotion. Can't wait to see where this goes.

AWA Show at the Met Center, Bloomington, June 1st Gama Singh vs. Jose Lothario Singh won with the Cobra Clutch The Latin Lovers vs. Badd Company The Latin Lovers won when they hit the Love Missile on Diamond Ed Wiskowski vs. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong Wiskowski won by getting Armstrong with the face first pile driver Da Crusher & Al Perez vs. Super Destroyer & Manny Fernandez Crusher & Perez won when Perez caught Super D in a German Suplex AWA World Tag Team title match : The Heavenly Bodies vs. The Road Warriors The Road Warriors won by DQ when they were attacked by the Cuban Commandos, but did not win the titles. AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. Bob Sweetan In an intense match that had Santana just barely escape getting hit with a piledriver at several points, both men went to a 30 minute time limit draw Ron & Jimmy Garvin vs. Mr. Olympia & One Man Gang In an extremely chaotic match, the end came when Sheikh Kaissie took advantage of a ref distraction to throw a huge fireball at Ron Garvin, followed by Gang hitting a running splash for the pin. Gang then brought his chain into the ring and the three members of the Syndicate proceeded to attack both of the Garvins until suddenly, somebody charged into the ring tossed them to the outside. PAUL ORNDORFF? Mr. Wonderful , who had not been seen since he had been beaten down and kicked out of the Syndicate, made his return to the AWA ring to rescue the Garvins, grabbing One Man Gang’s dropped chain and swinging it wildly when the villains tried to get back in the ring.

AWA All-Star Wrestling for June 1st Announcement : Mean Gene Okerlund stands in the AWA Control Room, his face looking very grave. Mean Gene : Folks, as some of you know, former World champion Hulk Hogan is coming to the end of his contract with the AWA. The Board of Governors and the Hulkster’s agents have been in constant communication to try to reach an agreement for a new contract, but Hulk Hogan has just communicated to us from Japan that …. He will not be signing a new contract and instead will be pursuing an opportunity in another promotion. While this breaks the hearts of us in the AWA, as I am sure it does for many of you fans at home, we understand if he feels it is his time to move on. Rest assured, while this is a loss for the AWA, we will keep on striving to provide you, the great AWA fans, with the very best in professional wrestling entertainment. We wish Hulk Hogan the very best of luck in his new situation. Jose Lothario vs. Chick Donovan With that bombshell out of the way, we head to the ring for action. With their respective teams involved in an off and on feud, it now fell to the third men of the Nor-Am Express to square off in a singles match. The tough Lothario went at it, toe to toe, with the muscular Donovan in a match that looked like it could go either way until Lothario made the mistake of turning his back on Donovan and Donavan blindsided him with a brutal clip from behind to the knee. Donovan then put Lothario in the Figure Four until he was forced to submit. The Golden One seemed well pleased with himself but nobody in the audience was. Ron and Jim Garvin vs. Badd Company Speaking of Badd Company, the rookie team found themselves in the path of the Garvins, who were gearing up for their challenge to the Sinister Syndicate. Full credit to Badd Company, they gave the Garvins a run for their money with fast paced offense and lots of quick in and out tags. They tried to finish them off when Tanaka got Jimmy in a waistlock and Diamond tried to come in with a superkick, but Garvin was able to leap up and kick Diamond back, then turn his position around to hit Tanaka with a DDT for the pin. A tough loss for Badd Company but they managed to look good in spite of it. Gama Singh vs. Master Gee This was a mostly technical match based around Master Gee working over Singh’s legs to set up the Master Lock (Fuller Leglock) and Singh trying to set up Gee for either the Cobra Clutch or the Camel Clutch. At one point , the Great Gama did get Gee in the Camel Clutch but Master Gee was able to inch over to the ropes, causing the ref to force a break. When he was able to recover, Gee was able to take down Singh and tried to apply the Master Lock, only for Singh to get him in a small package, assisted by a fistful of trunks, that finally got him the pin. Al Perez vs. Col. Buck Robley Perez has managed to pick up a lot of surprising victories over various members of Robley’s Army, leading to the Colonel himself to take direct intervention. He was clearly out to hurt Perez and make him pay for showing up his men, frequently attacking him with his thick leather forearm pad. Perez made use of his technical skills to duck and dodge out of the way of many of his shots, but eventually Robley got him in the corner and started whaling on him. The Colonel then slid something into his forearm guard and tried to hit Perez in the head with it, only for Perez to duck out of the way and Robley hit the turnbuckle instead, his forearm bouncing back and hitting himself in the forehead. Perez then swiftly caught Robley in a rollup to get the quick one-two-three. AWA World Tag Team title match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Cuban Commandos The Bodies certainly had their work cut out for them, defending their belts against a team that had even less regard for the rules than they did. Jim Cornette was in a constant state of panic during the match as his men tried to get control of the match though double teams and judicious use of the tennis racket, only for the Commandos to come raging back with ferocious brawling. It must have come as a relief to Cornette when the Road Warriors charged the ring and attacked the Commandos, leading to a DQ finish. Cornette and the Bodies grabbed the title belts and headed back to the locker room, leaving the Road Warriors and the Cuban Commandos to settle things among themselves.

Sweet deal, works well for both sides.

Good point, Slaughter was still on the Big Time roster when it was acquired by Montreal. It was Masa Fuchi who was dropped to make way for Lefebvre, so Slaughter is still technically on the roll call for International.

Wow, lots of moves and even new territories opening up. Exciting stuff. I am almost caught up and will be making my own big announcement , hopefully in the next couple of days. Another promoter and I have been sitting on this for a while, it will be good to make the big reveal that will sure to generate a lot of excitement. If you can get things worked out with your friend Sutton, please get him in touch with me with regards to the Heavenly Bodies. I am definitely up to work things out with them, just need to know his plans.

AWA Show at the Winnipeg Arena, May 25th Al Perez vs. Super Destroyer Al Perez won when he got the huger Super Destroyer in a German Suplex AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Express © vs. The Latin Lovers Both teams went to a 30 minute time limit draw The Road Warriors & “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong vs. The Cuban Commandos & Great Gama Singh The Commandos won when they hit a spike piledriver on Armstrong AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Greg Gagne When the Playboy Club rushed the ring and attacked Gagne, Greg won the match by DQ but did not win the title The Garvins & Adrian Street vs. One Man Gang , Mr. Olympia & Sheikh Adnan Kaissie The Garvins & Street won when Jimmy Garvin hit a DDT on Kaissie, followed by a running splash from Street for the pin AWA Canadian Title match : Rick Martel © vs. “The Tank” Mike Shaw In an intense and bloody fight, Martel was finally able to get the win with a top rope splash on Shaw

AWA All-Star Wrestling for May 25th Mr. Olympia vs. Da Crusher Mr. Olympia continues the reign of terror he has been on since joining the Sinister Syndicate by taking on the always unpredictable veteran, Da Crusher. Crusher was clearly not intimidated by Olympia’s aggressive tactics and came out with both guns blazing, overwhelming the masked man with a flurry of punches. Olympia struggled to find his footing in this match, every time he would start to gain the upper hand, Crusher would come back with big rights and lefts. So of course, the moment the ref took Crusher to task for his constant brawling, Olympia slipped something into his mask and, once Crusher turned back to him, blasted him with the loaded head butt. Not content with stunning Crusher, he kept up with head butts until Crusher dropped to the ground and then, for good measure, hit a falling head butt to the skull of the prone veteran. He then applied the Power Lock (Figure Four) on the unconscious Crusher for the win. Dirty pool, Olympia. Sheikh Adnan Kaissie vs. “Exotic” Adrian Street With the Garvins going to war with the Sinister Syndicate, this match sees their good friend, Adrian Street, taking on the Syndicate’s manager in a one on one match. Like most of Street’s opponents, Kaissie found it very difficult to get cope with the Exotic One’s mix of technical wrestling, deadly punches and flamboyant prancing. Street seemed to have it all wrapped up when he caught Kaissie in the Sleeper, but was robbed of a clean victory when One Man Gang charged into the ring and attacked him. While the ref called for the DQ, the Garvins rushed the ring and ran off the Syndicate. Greg Gagne & The Mothership Connection vs. The Playboy Club (Rip Oliver, Ed Wiskowski & Bob Sweetan) While both Gagne and Parsons have been gunning for the AWA Southern Title held by Buddy Rose of late, Rose was very conspicuous by his absence in this match. Instead, his partners in the Playboy Club looked to ensure that Gagne and Parsons were in no shape to challenge for the belt, with moves seemingly aimed to injure rather than win the match. It seemed like they were about to put Parsons out for good when Sweetan and Oliver got him in the corner for a spike piledriver. Gagne and Master Gee made the save with a double clothesline that bowled over Sweetan while knocking Oliver off the turnbuckle. Gagne then dropkicked Sweetan into a belly-to-back suplex by Parsons that gave the win to the Iceman. Vinnie Valentino vs. Phil Lafon The Latin Lovers and the Nor-Am Express have been having some exciting matches of late, both singles and tag team, with Javier Cruz getting the nod over Tom Zenk last week. This time out, their partners would square off in a fast paced singles match that would end when Valentino whipped Lafon into the ropes and leapfrog him, only for Lafon to come to a sudden stop and hit the Cobra Clutch Suplex for the victory. Both teams are now even going into their big title match in Winnipeg. Rick Martel & Al Perez vs. Super Destroyer & Mike Shaw It’s always exciting when the AWA Canadian champ, Rick Martel, comes to town, and this time out he was teaming with the hot new up-and-comer, Al Perez. After a fast start with some rapid fire double-team moves from Martel and Perez, the Army decided to cut the ring in half, blocking off any attempt to tag in Martel as they worked over Perez. It looked like it was all over for the Latin Heartthrob as Super Destroyer hoisted him onto the top turnbuckle for the superplex. But Perez was able to pivot as they came off and it was instead Perez who was on top as they landed on the mat. While Martel shot in and intercepted Shaw from breaking up the pin, Perez hooked the leg to get the one-two-three in what had to be an upset.

AWA show at the Mecca, Milwaukee, May 18th Badd Company vs. Jack Armstrong & Jose Lothario Badd Company won when Diamond superkicked Lothario into a Tanaka German Suplex Al Perez vs. Billy Jack Haynes Perez won with a Small Package Greg Gagne vs. Bob Sweetan Gagne won when Sweetan submitted to the Gagne Leglock Road Warriors vs. Cuban Commandos Road Warriors won with a double flying shoulder tackle on Morrow AWA World Tag Title match : The Heavenly Bodies © vs. The Latin Lovers The Heavenly Bodies won when Prichard hit Valentino with Jim Cornette’s tennis racket, followed by an Alabama Jam flying legdrop by Eaton Falls Count Anywhere AWA American Title match : Tito Santana vs. Mike Shaw Santana won when he came off the top rope to hit a flying clothesline on Shaw on the ringside mats Da Crusher vs. Manny Fernandez In an out of control brawl where both men were busted open, Crusher won with a wild running Bolo Punch Mr. Olympia & One Man Gang vs. Ron & Jimmy Garvin The Garvins won when Ron hit the Hands Of Stone Punch on One Man Gang, followed by a DDT by Jimmy

AWA All-Star Wrestling for May 18th “Cuban Assassin” Angel Acevedo vs. “Wild Man” Jack Armstrong The Cuban Commandos are currently feuding with the Road Warriors, this time out the Cuban Assassin was taking on the Roadies’ good friend, Jack Armstrong. Acevedo immediately went to the bag of dirty tricks, keeping up a steady stream of eye rakes and low blows. This only served to rile up Armstrong, who fired back with slams and big tackles. After a fairly crazy brawl, Armstrong sent Acevedo into the ropes for a big back body drop, only to duck his head too soon, and Acevedo nailed him with a nasty DDT for the one-two-three. Badd Company vs. The Mothership Connection Of late, the Connection had been focusing on singles matches, including challenges for the Southern title, but they showed no signs of being out of practice as they took on the always dangerous rookie team of Badd Company. For their part, Badd Company kept pace with the Connection, matching them in high flying and double team moves, but after Master Gee ducked out of the way of a Tanaka spin kick that instead hit Diamond, he then followed up with a huge flying tackle on Tanaka that got the victory for the Mothership Connection. Tom Zenk vs. Javier Cruz The Latin Lovers have come out of nowhere to challenge for the Southern Tag titles , currently held by fellow fan favorites the Nor-Am Express. After a rapid fire, highly technical match, Zenk went up top for a flying cross body press. Cruz ducked down to dodge it, but Zenk adjusted and instead went for a flying sunset flip. In turn, Cruz hooked both of Zenk’s legs and reversed it to get a quick pin on Zenk. An impressive win that helps solidify the Lovers’ claim to be top contenders for the Southern Tag titles. Al Perez vs. Billy Jack Haynes Speaking of the Latin Lovers, Al Perez has been picking up more and more steam with a truly impressive win streak over much bigger opposition. Having already beaten “Wild” Bill Irwin, Perez now faced his Wild Bills partner, Billy Jack Haynes, who clearly had vengeance on his mind. Haynes looked set to get vengeance for his partner’s loss, taking Perez down with brutal slams and wrenching moves. Perez, for his part, used his technical expertise to lessen the impact of Haynes’ offence and keep pace with his bigger opponent, but Haynes looked set to finish off the Latin Heartthrob when he hoisted him over his shoulder and got ready to powerslam him into the corner turnbuckle. Perez, though, was able to slide down Haynes’ back, instead sending Billy Jack into the corner and, when the Wild Bill came shooting back out, got him in a schoolboy roll up to get the pinfall. “The Tank” Mike Shaw vs. Jose Lothario The Tank has been rolling through most of his opposition in his quest to win the American title from Tito Santana. In this match, he was facing the well liked veteran Jose Lothario and held nothing back, using his incredible size to devastate Jose before finishing him off with a running splash. Mr. Olympia vs. Ron Garvin With World Champion Ken Patera currently in Japan, Mr. Olympia was filling in to take on the Garvins in their war with the Sinister Syndicate. This put him in the path of Ron Garvin, the man with the Hands Of Stone, and for his part, Garvin didn’t seem to be intimidated by the masked man. He peppered Olympia with hard punches and stretched him with some painful looking arm and leg locks, while Olympia countered in turn with high impact slams and dropkicks. At one point, Garvin had Olympia trapped in the corner and was firing away with punches until the ref interceded to separate the two. Olympia took advantage of this distraction to slip some sort of object into his mask and, when Garvin came back to engage with him, he nailed Garvin with a loaded headbutt. This staggered Garvin enough that Olympia was able to grab him and hit a belly to belly pile driver for the pin. A dirty victory, but par for the course for Olympia and his new attitude.

All is in chaos in the AWA as, with Hulk Hogan away on a tour in Japan, word has spread that the former champ has not signed a new contract. Hogan has made it clear that he is not happy with his position in the AWA and may well be looking to make an exit. There have been a lot of long distance calls between Hogan in Japan and Wally Karbo in Minnesota but it is looking increasingly likely that the Hulkster's days in the AWA are numbered.

AWA at the Cow Palace, San Francisco, May 10th Great Gama Singh vs. Wild Man Jack Armstrong Singh won with the Cobra Clutch Al Perez vs. Wild Bill Irwin Perez won with the Backlund Bridge Da Crusher vs. Manny Fernandez This match went to a double count out when both men were brawling at ringside AWA Southern Title match : Buddy Rose © vs. Iceman Parsons Parsons had sent Rose into the corner and followed up with an elbowsmash, but Rose got out of the way at the last second and Parsons hit the turnbuckle instead. Rose then rolled up Parsons with a fistful of trunks to get the win. AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Express © vs. The Cuban Commandos When the Road Warriors distracted the Commandos by coming to ringside, Zenk hit the top rope missile dropkick on Morrow for the win. Post-match, the Commandos proceeded to brawl with the Warriors. Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Olympia Hogan fought hard despite his injuries and managed to power out of both the sleeper and the Power Lock as the match went to a 20 minute time limit draw. Both men kept fighting after the match had ended. AWA World Title Match : Ken Patera © vs. Gorgeous Jimmy Garvin w/ Precious Garvin won by DQ when One Man Gang entered the ring and attacked him. Ron Garvin then charged the ring to even up the sides which led to a brawl between both sides.

AWA All-Star Wrestling for May 11th Al Perez vs. Pat Tanaka All three members of Badd Company came out for this match, determined that the Latin Heartthrob’s surprising win streak would go no further. The ref was having none of that and immediately sent Diamond and Donovan out of the ring. While the ref was doing that, Perez immediately grabbed Tanaka in a waistlock and hit a crushing German Suplex. When the ref turned around, he quickly dashed over and made the three count for an incredibly quick win for Perez. Badd Company were furious at the fast result while Perez seemed well pleased with himself. Manny Fernandez vs. Adrian Street Adrian Street, accompanied by Miss Linda, has been frustrating the Colonel’s Army of late and this time it was Fernandez’ turn to bring him down. The notoriously short tempered Ragin’ Bull tried to unload all of his frustrations into attacking the Exotic One, but Street always seemed to be one step ahead of Fernandez and was always able to counter out of his moves. It got worse when Da Crusher showed up at ringside to harangue Fernandez. Street took advantage of the distraction and dropkicked Fernandez out of the ring, and while Fernandez and Crusher brawled at ringside, the ref counted the Ragin’ Bull out of the ring. Mr. Olympia vs. Jose Lothario Mr. Olympia was all business as he took on the popular veteran, Lothario, brutalizing with power moves and keeping his new aggressive attitude on display before finishing him off with the belly to belly pile driver. Olympia has been steamrolling over the opposition but he had better keep looking over his shoulder for Hulk Hogan, because you know the former champ is going to be out for vengeance. The Mothership Connection vs. Buddy Rose & Rip Oliver Last week, Buddy Rose managed to defeat Iceman Parsons in a Southern Title defense, but now they would square off in a tag match and the advantage seemed to go to Parsons and the Mothership Connection, who kept the Playboy Club befuddled with their fast paced, double team moves. This led to the Playboy Club taking more and more shortcuts, cheating as much as they could get away with to get out of tight spots. They looked to permanently gain the upper hand when Oliver whipped Master Gee into the ropes and Rose yanked down the top rope, intending to send Master Gee crashing to the outside. Gee had this spotted, though, and hit a sliding dropkick on Rose that shot him out to the ringside area. He then took Oliver off his feet with a big tackle before cinching in the Masterlock (Fuller Leglock) for the victory. Interview : Mean Gene Okerlund stands in the ring. Mean Gene : Folks, my next guest shocked and upset a lot of people when he took the AWA world title from Hulk Hogan. Accompanied by the Sinister Syndicate … AWA World Champion, Ken Patera! The fans explode in a chorus of boos as Patera makes his way to the ring, followed by the rest of the Sinister Syndicate (Sheikh Adnan Kaissie, One Man Gang, “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell, Mr. Olympia and Paul Orndorff). Patera, for his part, drinks in the boos like fine wine, grinning smugly all the way. Mean Gene : Ken Patera, I can’t say I agree with your tactics, but the did prove effective. You and they Syndicate managed to wear down Hulk Hogan until you were able to take the AWA world title. But sending out Mr. Olympia to cost him the top contender match, that was just petty! Patera : Call me champ, Okerlund! You did it for Hogan, but I hold the belt now! I could have taken the title from Hogan any time, but I had him run our gauntlet to make an example of him. And as for him losing the top contender match, well that was sending a message to him and everyone else. Hogan will not get a shot at my belt for as long as I have anything to say about it. Mean Gene : Even with the Hulkster off the table for now, it looks like you have both of the Garvins gunning for your belt. Patera : Just a couple of punks who need to be taught a lesson, as far as I am concerned. I’ll take them both out without breaking a sweat and they will know not to stick their noses in my business again. Orndorff : And that’s when I will get my title shot, right? Patera and the rest of the Syndicate laugh jovially. Patera : Paul, Paul, Paul. You didn’t take that Top Contender jive seriously, did you? It was never about a title shot. It was about keeping it out of the hands of Hogan. Your whole purpose is to break down Hogan for me. Everyone else in the Syndicate gets that. Why don’t you get that? Orndorff : (getting more and more upset) Don’t blow me off, Patera. My whole reason for joining the Syndicate was to get a shot at the belt. Your crew already cost me one chance at the title. I’m top contender , I deserve the next shot at the belt. Patera : You don’t seem too quick at picking up the obvious, Orndorff, so I am going to say the real clear and I am only going to say this once … never take sides against the Syndicate! Orndorff : Well then, I am only going to say this once … screw you, Patera! Orndorff punches Patera in the face as Mean Gene scrambles out of the way. Patera fires back and Kaissie, One Man Gang and Mr. Olympia join him in beating down Orndorff. Patera and Olympia then hold down Orndorff as Gang came off the ropes with a big splash to his ribs. He was about to give him another one when the Garvins charged into the ring, swinging chairs, and ran the Syndicate off. Orndorff wound up having to be taken from the ring on a stretcher. AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Nor-Am Express © vs. The Latin Lovers In this rare title match between two sets of fan favorites, both teams were without their third men at ringside, Jose Lothario (still recovering from his match with Mr. Olympia) and Al Perez. This wound up being a fast paced and exciting match, with the momentum switching back and forth and neither team letting their respect for each other stop them from going full throttle . It looked like the Nor-Am Express would take the match when Tom Zenk went up top for a flying cross body press, but Javier Cruz rolled through with the move and ended up on top for a 2 and ¾ count. He then picked up Zenk and went for El Volantin (a spinning over-the-shoulder neckbreaker submission), but Zenk in turn countered with an inside cradle for another 2 and ¾ count. They were still going at it when the bell rang , signaling the 15 minute time limit draw. Both teams shook hands after the match, but this was clearly not the last we would see from this match up.

AWA at the Met Center in Bloomington, May 4th Greg Gagne vs. Ed Wiskowski Gagne won with a top rope knee drop Gama Singh vs. Jose Lothario Singh won with the Cobra Clutch Tito Santana & Adrian Street vs. Mike Shaw & Super Destroyer Santana and Street won when Santana dropkicked Super D into a rollup by Street AWA World Tag Title match : The Road Warriors © vs. The Heavenly Bodies After a crazy back and forth match, it looked like it was all over for the Bodies when Jim Cornette’s attempt to interfere backfired as the Road Warriors blasted him from the ring apron, sending him and his tennis racket crashing to ringside. As the ref checked on Cornette, the Road Warriors got Tom Prichard up for the Doomsday Device. While that was going on, the Cuban Commandos snuck down to the ring and grabbed Cornette’s racket, clobbering Hawk with it and knocking him of the top rope. Bobby Eaton then came in and took Animal down with a knee lift before hitting a top rope Alabama Jam leg drop. One … two … three? The Heavenly Bodies won the AWA World Tag Titles! The crowd were open mouthed with shock at this defeat for the seemingly unstoppable Roadies. AWA World Title top contenders match : Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Orndorff In spite of the injuries that have plagued the Hulkster of late, Hogan was clearly focused on taking out his rival to get a shot at winning back the AWA World Title. Mr. Wonderful seemed just as determined to earn the title , mercilessly attacking Hogan’s damaged neck and ribs. Hogan kept fighting like the titan he is and finally had Orndorff staggered, setting him up for the Axe Bomber. At this point, Mr. Olympia, who had made his was unnoticed to the ring, yanked down the top rope, causing Hogan to tumble to ringside. In his battered state, he was not able to make it up and into the ring in time, leading to a count out. Paul Orndorff was now the top contender and Hogan was even further away from his return title match. Ken Patera & One Man Gang vs. Ron & Jimmy Garvin Just when everything seemed to be going the way of Ken Patera and the rest of the Sinister Syndicate, along come the Garvins to spoil their day. Although they tried, as usual, to bully the Garvins, they were stymied by Jimmy’s speed and sneakiness on one side, and Ron’s toughness and rock hard fists on the other. When Gang finally tried to squash Jimmy when he got him up for a big power slam, Ron came off the ropes with a double axe handle, knocking Gang on his back with Jimmy on top for the pin. After the result was announced, Ron and Jimmy pointed at Patera, indicating that both men were now gunning for his belt.

AWA All-Star Wrestling for May 4th Al Perez vs. Wild Bill Irwin Al Perez has come out of nowhere to go on a bit of a run in the AWA of late. He would face a stern test of his ability in one half of the Wild Bills. Perez sensibly tried to wear down the big man, putting his lariat arm in a series of arm locks and scissors to take out that key weapon. For his part, Irwin kept trying to bowl over Perez with slams and tackles. Irwin was ultimately able to loosely hit a lariat with his damaged arm, and it looked like he would take the match. But when he went to pick up Perez, possibly to set him up for the Super Plex, Perez caught him in an inside cradle to get the quick one-two-three. Perez quickly dashed to the outside to celebrate his victory and avoid Irwin coming after him with the bullrope. Bob Sweetan vs. Greg Gagne Gagne has had his hands full, just trying to get a clear shot at Buddy Rose and his Southern title, as it seems every time he tries the rest of the Playboy Club will get in his way. This time the blocker was “Bruiser” Bob Sweetan, who did everything he can to injure Gagne and prevent him from getting to Rose. Gagne stayed with Sweetan every step of the way, weathering out the storm and ultimately sinking in the Gagne Sleeper. It was then that Rose decided to strike, rushing to the ring and coming off the top with a flying elbow smash. As the ref called for the DQ, Sweetan and Rose proceeded to put the boots to Gagne. Da Crusher vs. “Ragin’ Bull” Manny Fernandez Hoo, boy. This match between the beloved veteran Crusher and the always deranged “Ragin’ Bull” never really got out of “Out Of Control” mode. These two brawled all over the ring as well as the ringside area before they both crashed into the referee, and even then there was nothing the AWA officials could do to separate the two. Ultimately, the match ended up being thrown out and the two kept fighting all the way back to the locker room. AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. The Great Gama Singh Singh is a relative newcomer to the AWA but seemed determined to make the most of his first shot at an AWA title. He worked hard to try and break down Santana and get him in position for either the Cobra Clutch or the Camel Clutch. He did manage to put Santana in the Camel Clutch but it was right by the ropes and the champ was able to force a rope break. Tito Santana, initially caught off guard , was able to rally and, after a surprisingly close match, finally hit the Mexican Hammer Forearm to get a hard fought win. Santana held onto the title but has probably not seen the last of The Great Gama. AWA Southern Title match : “Playboy” Buddy Rose © vs. Iceman Parsons Give him credit for this much, Rose has taken on a variety pack of challengers for his Southern title. This time out it would be the always popular and enthusiastic Iceman who would look to take the Southern crown. Parsons was the proverbial house afire as he opened up his fast paced offense in a back and forth match. It looked like he might just take the title when he went up for the Rumper Stumper, but Rose was just enough aware that he was able to stagger into the corner and knock Parsons off the top rope. After Parsons crashed into the mat, Rose picked him up and got the Inside Out Backbreaker to secure the win. AWA World Tag Title match : The Road Warriors © vs. The Cuban Commandos In a show that has had a lot of brawling, this match looked to set a new standard for slugfests. The Commandos, newly bereft of the AWA Southern Tag titles, attacked the Warriors with savage ferocity, and the big Roadies were more than eager to pay them back in kind. The Commandos put up a hell of a fight but in the end the Road Warriors were able to power through and got Gerry Morrow up in the Doomsday Device for the win. The Commandos kept on fighting with the Road Warriors, even after the final win.

So glad to see Mad Dog go to a good home.

AWA show at the Winnipeg Arena, Winnipeg, April 27th The Latin Lovers vs. Badd Company & Chick Donovan The Latin Lovers won when Al Perez hit the Ally-Copter on Pat Tanaka “Wildman” Jack Armstrong vs. “Crusher” Jerry Blackwell Blackwell won with an Avalanche Buddy Rose, Ed Wiskowski & Rip Oliver vs. Greg Gagne & Mothership Connection Gagne got the win when he forced Oliver to submit to the Gagne Leglock Jimmy Garvin vs. One Man Gang In a shocking finish, Garvin hit One Man Gang with a DDT AWA Southern Tag Title match : The Cuban Commandos © vs. Nor-Am Express (Phil Lafon & Tom Zenk) Zenk dropkicked Gerry Morrow into a Cobra Clutch Suplex by Lafon to win the Southern Tag Titles which got a huge cheer from the crowd. AWA American Title match : Tito Santana © vs. “The Tank” Mike Shaw After an epic battle where both men were busted open, Santana hit the Mexican Hammer forearm on the bloodied face of Shaw in the middle of the ring to finally pin him and keep his hold on the American title. Rick Martel & Hulk Hogan vs. The Olympians (Ken Patera & Mr. Olympia) The Olympians spend much of the match working over the already hurt Hogan and rebuffing Martel’s efforts to make the save. In spite of an heroic effort by both Hogan and Martel, Patera got Hogan over his knee in a back breaker position and Olympia came off the top rope and hit the Hulkster with a top rope flying elbow drop to get the win.

AWA All-Star Wrestling for April 27th Al Perez vs. Paul Diamond Diamond came out with his partners, Pat Tanaka and Chick Donovan, in tow. The other two members of the Latin Lovers, Vinnie Valentino and Javier Cruz, looked to do the same to watch Perez’ back, but Perez sent them to the locker room, assuring them he had the situation well in hand. For most of the match, this was the case as Perez consistently held the upper hand on Diamond with a dazzling display of technical wrestling. As is their usual method, Badd Company decided to turn the tables with Pat Tanaka jumping on the ring apron to distract the ref while Diamond whipped Perez into Donovan who had jumped up on the other side. But Perez had this spotted as he knocked off Donovan with a forearm before the Golden One could strike. Diamond then tried to follow up with a superkick, but Perez ducked it and got a roll up on Diamond for a quick pin. Tanaka and Diamond scrambled into the ring for a post-match three on one, but Perez dashed out of the ring and headed to the locker room, having outfoxed Badd Company. Tito Santana & The Latin Lovers (Vinnie Valentino & Javier Cruz) vs. Mike Shaw, Super Destroyer & Manny Fernandez “The Tank” Mike Shaw has been making a concerted effort to wrest the American title from Tito Santana and looked to be making a statement in this match. He had some particularly vicious exchanges with Santana in this match and , later in the match, when he got Valentino in the Army’s corner, he rained down a flurry of nasty shots followed by a crushing avalanche that got him the pin. Santana is going to need to pull off a miracle to keep his title against the clearly determined Shaw. Rip Oliver & Ed Wiskowski vs. The Mothership Connection What started out as a fairly straightforward match between the Playboy Club and the Mothership Connection grew progressively more out-of-control as the match wore on, with tempers flaring on both side caused by dirty tricks on the part of the Club and double team moves on the part of the Connection. Even after Parsons got the win by hitting the Rumper Stumper on Oliver, both sides continued fighting post-match until several refs had to intervene. Jimmy Garvin vs. Sheikh Adnan Kaissie A rare in-ring appearance for the Sheikh, and he didn’t seem to be taking the Gorgeous One seriously as he spent much time pre-match grandstanding and trash talking Garvin. Bad move, as the moment the bell rang, Garvin hit him with the DDT and got the very quick pin. One Man Gang charged the ring to attack Jimmy but this just prompted Ron Garvin to come out and, rather than face both Garvins, Gang decided he would get his shots in another time. AWA Canadian Title match : Rick Martel © vs. Mr. Olympia Ever since his turn to the dark side, Mr. Olympia has been taking no prisoners and looking to do as much damage as he can. He was extremely aggressive in his challenge to the Canadian champ and Martel, normally able to keep it cool now matter what the provocation, was incredibly fired up in response. Both men seemed to be adjusting their moves for maximum impact, with the momentum switching back and forth. As the match wound down towards the 20 minute time limit, it looked like it just might go the distance, when Olympia managed to get Martel in the Sleeper hold. Would he be able to put Martel out in time to win the title? Would Martel be able to successfully break out? Martel managed to work his way to the corner, kick back with both legs and bridge over with Olympia’s shoulders to the match. The ref counted the one-two-three and Martel got the win at the very last second. Martel offered to shake Olympia’s hand after the match, but Olympia smacked it away before heading back to the locker room.

AWA Announcer / interviewer : Mean Gene Okerlund President : Stanley Blackburn AWA Directors : Verne Gagne, Wally Karbo