AWA War In The Windy City

Tommy Jammer v. Johnnie Stewart

Johnnie Stewart is a bump freak, bumping through the ropes to the floor, flip bumping into the corner, getting tossed off of pinfall attempts into the ropes, et. Stewart's offense actually looks really sharp too until a weird dropkick spot that didn't connect very well. Jammer wins with a shitty looking body press. Well Stewart was good at least.

Larry Zbyszko interview. He cuts a promo on Greg Gagne

Mike George v. Rockin Randy

Rockin Randy looks like Weird Al. George is just stiffing this guy with forearms, a gutwrench suplex, shoulder breaker, et. Kid takes an insane head bump off a lariat. The end. Fun wimpy.

Akio Sato v. Paul Diamond

Pre-match they interview Diamond. Diamond rushes the ring to attack Sato and gets taken out and slammed into some chairs on the floor. Sato opens up on Diamond and he really looks impressive. He starts targeting the ribs with a gutbuster and a standing double stomp, but Diamond moves to avoid a diving double stomp, so Sato grabs his eyes and just gouges the fuck out of them. Sato keeps up the attack and Diamond back drops out of a piledriver attempt. They go to a rope running exchange that looked pretty great and Diamond takes over tossing Sato to the floor after hitting a stiff looking clothesline. Sato briefly tries to gain control again on the floor, but Diamond reverses his efforts posting him and smashing him on a table. Sato tosses a chair into the ring and Diamond hits him with it leading to a DQ. This was fucking awesome with really good looking spots, a great pace and hate until the shitty finish. Still really good for a brief match like this.

The Destruction Crew v. Ken Patera/Scott Norton

Good Destruction Crew interview pre-match. Bloom gets flipped into the ring and takes a sharp elbow from Patera and a suplex before getting isolated and worked over by the heels with a pair of avalanche splashes. Enos ends up taking a ridiculous bump off of a short kick and then another one off of Scott Norton clothesline. Norton's suplex looked brutal. Patera ends up getting worked with a double suplex and a nasty punch to the face from Enos. Enos ends up caught in a bearhug while Bloom is in a full nelson. Johnny Valiant runs in and gets his ass beat by Scott Norton and they DQ the heels. This was a fun little match, but no real structure to speak of.

Ken Patera/Scott Norton interview

Candi Devine v. Wendi Richter

Sloppy as piss but it was short and they tried hard so I didn't loathe it.

Col. Deebers promo. RACISM!

Bizarre segment with Johnny Valiant going ballistic on the announcers and Bob Ryan the AWA's "legal" rep who explains they were not going to allow Johnny V announce given his previous interference.

The Texas Hangman/The Executioner v. Hector, Mando, Chavo Guerrero

Guerrero's confounding the heels by rolling around on the mat pre-match was amusing. This starts with an awesome rope running exchange that flows right into a series of excellent deep Chavo headscissors. Then the Guerrero's follow up on the Executioner with a bunch of double team splashes that looked awesome. Mando backflips over one of the Hangman and Hector hits his outside in splash for a nearfall. Series of standing splashes from the Guerreros. Guerreros hold up one of the Hangman while Chavo hits a huge monkey flip. Guerroros end up hitting a fucking barrage of crazy shit at the end including headlock/headscissors takedowns, a surfboard/flip senton combo, and a wild dive sequence, before a powerbomb attempt is reversed into a sunset flip for the finish. This is basically the World's best highspot squash. Awesome stuff for what it was.

Derrick Dukes v. Col. Debeers

This is a ten minute challenge match. If Dukes last ten minutes or wins he gets to pain Debeers black. If the Col wins..well...Dukes is fired up early rocking spinning back elbows, leg pressing Debeers in the corner, et. Boy Debeers bumps big in this match taking these wild theatrical leaps around the ring and coming back with cheapshots and standard heel tactics. Dukes powering out of a backbreaker and hip tossing Debeers was a pretty good cut off spot. Debeers with a huge bulldog for a nearfall. Debeers with a sleep which Dukes escapes by walking him to the corner and dropping Debeers face first into the turnbuckle. Holy shit Dukes running off a series of headbutts which you know is going to kill the White Supremacist. Debeers gets caught in the ropes and Dukes charges at him for a dive but Debeers moves and Dukes crashes to the floor. Dukes tries to slingshot in for a sunset flip but Debeeers casually moves out of the way. Dukes makes a comeback and hits a big diving shoulderblock for a nearfall. Dukes with a roll up attempt but Debeers kicks out sending Dukes into the ref. Debeers goes to the trunks and knocks out Dukes for the finish. Debeers starts painting Dukes white so Tommy Jammer hits the ring and starts painting Dukes black. Then Dukes chases Debeers around ringside with black paint. The gimmick is so ridiculous that it has to make the set one way or the other, but I'm going to nominate this because I actually liked the match a good bit.

Sgt. Slaughter v. Kamala

Slaughter almost immediately goes into peril mode, bumping big into the corner, selling his ass off for Kamala's chop, taking the splash onto the back, et. Kamala gets a foreign object from Akbar and starts working over Sarge's throat with it. Slaughter eventually fires up with punches and hits a dropkick and then a really great looking delayed slam where you really thought Sarge might collapse under his weight and JUST gets him over. Sarge hits his clothesline and locks on the Cobra Clutch. Akbar gets involved and gets accidentally nailed by Kamala and they go to the DQ. Post-match Sarge beats an Arab and whips a black man cause America is great. This was fun.

Larry Zbyszko v. Greg Gagne

Lots of standard matwork early, but some of it was a lot of fun. I liked Greg's evasion of a headlock attempt, Larry's headstand sit out of a headscissors, and Larry getting booted to the floor coming out of an escape. Larry keeps bailing after every Gagne flurry, including a good headscissors takedown for a nearfall. Larry backs Greg into the corner back in the ring and spins around with a short back kick to the ribs. Greg is down and Larry goes and exposes a turunbuckle smashing Gagne into it for a nearfall. Larry settles into a headlock and is screaming "ring the bell." Gagne misses a dropkick when they come up but regains the advantage with a suplex. They slightly botch another roll up and Gagne starts slamming Larry into every turnbuckle and then hits a diving knee for a nearfall. Gagne with the sleeper but the "television" time limit expires and Larry retains. Really awful finish to a mach that I thought was a surprisingly spirited effort. If you hate Greg you probably aren't going to like this, but I don't think Greg is that bad, and Larry is pretty awesome in this.

Post-match promo with Gagne/Zbyszko. Gagne insists that it should have been a 60 minute time limit. Larry is screaming at ringside kids calling them brats. Larry slaps Gagne and they tease a big brawl but Larry runs away.