Billy Robinson v. Rick Martel

 

Robinson laying in a slap only for Martel to return in short order was a good way to start this out. God damnit, the camera keeps panning away to shots of the crowd during the opening mat exchange. We come back and they go to a fired up strike exchange with Robinson ducking between the ropes to break the momentum. Robinson took a nice bump off of a monkey flip. Robinson does a really sweet looking ab stretch variation but ends up bailing to the floor after getting bested by Martel again. Martel hit a nice reverse cross body for a nearfall and then some more flurries with Robinson weathering the storm by bailing to the floor, crawling to the corner, et. Robinson took over and almost immediately hit his neat looking slingshot on the bottom rope and a sick neckbreaker. This doesn't last long as they go back to Martel on offense with Robinson avoiding him by hitting the floor. Martel cut off another Robinson offense run and went for his slingshot press but Robinson got his knees up. Robinson with a butterfly suplex and backbreaker for nearfalls. Martel takes the fall with a roll up off the the ropes. Both guys looked good in this, especially Robinson but the match was way too one sided. I would have liked to see Robinson get in a more extended run of offense as you never felt like Martel was in any danger of being hurt, let alone losing the title.Combine that with the stupid ass camera work in the early going and I can't endorse this.

 

Boom Boom Bundy/Jerry Blackwell v. The Road Warriors

 

Watching the Roadies get steamrolled early by two fat guys and then Blackwell send Hawk to the floor off of a dropkick was pretty cool. Both Warriors try and slam Blackwell but can't, with Animal taking a nearfall when Blackwell falls onto him. Weird criss cross spot with both Hawk and Blackwell teasing big lunging spots. Blackwell ends up hitting his avalanche and then a splash to the back of Hawk for a nearfall. Bundy comes in but misses an elbow off the ropes and the Roadies take over. Pretty cool sequence as Hawk unloads with offense on Bundy who sells it but doesn't go down for it until he gets hit with a big elbow off the ropes and then a leaping elbow smash from Animal for a nearfall. Hawk ends up missing a fist drop and Blackwell gets the hot tag where he hits a crushing powerslam for a nearfall. Blackwell ends up going FIP himself and Hawk is fucking desperate to knock him over hitting a jumping knee that he follows up with a wild leaping sleeper hold, dragging Blackwell to his corner in the process. Blackwell gets into a great punch exchange with Hawk but falls on the short end of it which brings in Animal who finally hits a slam. Animal's celebration of this slam is really awesome and when it doesn't get a pinfall Ellering goes fucking ballistic pounding his Wall Street Journal on the ring that he has crawled halfway into. Blackwell fights back to his feet and absorbs some blows. He gets the hot tag to Bundy and they hit stereo avalanches to massive pops. Bundy goes for a second one but Ellering pulls Hawk out of the way and Bundy gets rolled up for the finish. This was fun as fuck to watch as you had the Roadies working as chickenshits of sorts and small men to the bigger men on the opposite side. Strong dynamic for a match and everyone put in the work to make it look good in the end.

 

Greg Gagne v. Shiek Adnan Al-Kaissie (Cage Match)

 

Gagne standing on Adnan's face and driving it into the cage was a cool spot. Gagne hits two nice diving knees and goes for a dropkick but Gagne misses and Adnan takes over. Adnan actually targets Gagne's leg here which is semi-surprising. Gagne makes a mini-comeback and hits a middle rope splash for a nearfall. Gagne ends up locking on the sleeper. Masked Man runs in and makes the save and Blackwell saves Gagne.

These matches are all from the Thanksgiving 1984 St. Paul show. Robinson, at that time, was done as a legitimate contender even in the eyes of die-hard AWA fans, and I think this match was added just because they knewe they would get their gate maxed out with Bundy/Blackwell vs. the LOD, which in the AWA was a ridiculously hot matchup at the time.

Yeah you can tell that Robinson was not a serious contender and the match was really worked that way. I don't blame either guy for working the match they way they did but I also can't help but feel let down given the quality of the participants.

Already seen all this.