Nick Bockwinkel v. Wahoo McDaniel

 

Wahoo is knocking Nick all over the place with chops and body shots. Nick

spills to the floor and takes over with a totally out of the blue chairshot

to Wahoo's face and then a corner posting. He follows this up by bashing

Wahoo's skull right into the top of the metal poll that is holding up the

roped barricades around ringside. Back in the ring and Wahoo is bloody and

getting peppered by Bock. Wahoo fights back out of the corner with sick

blows and Nick takes a Hennig like rotating bump on his head while holding

the top rope. Nick is on his knees and eats a few chops for a nearfall.

Wahoo charges at Nick but takes a big over the top bump to the floor. Nick

sticks his head out for a cheap shot but Wahoo pounds him with a chop and

comes back in on the offensive. Wahoo ends up getting reversed going into

the turnbuckles and caught with the Bockwinkel sleeper. Wahoo staggers

backward into the corner two times to break the hold but Bock goes back to

it so Wahoo comes in face first sending Bock's head into the top

turnbuckle. Bock gets tossed out to the floor and then face planted into

the table and into the post. At this point something wierd happens with the

edit on the DVD as it goes back to earlier in the match and repeats

everything leading back to the point where Wahoo is beating up Bock on the

floor. Wahoo catches Bock with a chop coming off the ropes and you really

start to feel like Bock is on the ropes, though all the while Wahoo is doing

a good job selling the toll of the match and the blood loss so this never

feels like a real steamrolling. There is a double shoulder tackle spot with

Bock falling to the floor. He picks up a chair and absolutely murders Wahoo

with a shot to the head, before coming in the ropes and hitting him with one

last knockout punch for the finish. This is complete and was an absolute

war of a match. One of my favorite things I've watched so far.

 

Hulk Hogan v. Mr. Saito

 

Naturally Hogan ambushes Saito during his pre-match salt ceremony to a

massive pop. Funny to watch Saito scurry around in terror running away from

Saito who is literally sliding across the floor he's moving so quick. Hogan

decks him with a chair, rakes his back, rams him into the ring post and then

struts around the ring like he's Jackie Fargo. Saito comes back into the

ring and bows at Hogan but then pops up and immediately hits him with a

bunch of sucker punches which Hogan no sells. Saito takes a big theatrical

bump in the corner, but comes back with low blow and then argues with the

ref (who looks like a young Jeff Jarrett kinda) about the placement of the

punch. He ends up locking on the Scorpion right away and at the five minute

mark the crowd is fucking exploding. Hogan pushes up out of the Scorpion

sending Saito into the ropes, but sells his leg and can't stand up. Saito

goes right back to the Scorpion after bashing Hogan's face into the mat, but

this time when saito powers out his face hits the turnbuckle. Saito still

beats Hogan to his feet and hits a double thrust but now Hogan is pissed.

He starts to Hulk up and in a funny spot makes his comeback by stopping

Saito's momentum with an eye rake. Hogan hits a big boot, a slam and a

legdrop, but pulls up Saito on the nearfall. He hits an atomic drop but

pulls up Saito again. He hits a vertical suplex but now David Shultz has

hit the ring and is screaming some shit into the house mic. Hogan lunges at

Shultz but in the process knocks the ref out. Saito's secon reaches into

the ring and throws salt in Hogan's eyes. Shultz comes into the ring and

they work over Hogan. The ref comes to and disqualifies Saito. I really

liked this a lot for what it was and could see really going to bat for this

if it had a real finish. Even still I'll toss it out there as something the

rest of the committee should watch as I liked it better than the Andre v.

Hogan match that made the NJPW set.

 

Sportscaster narrating highlights from one of the St. Paul shows.

 

High Flyers v. Jerry Blackwell/Ken Patera

 

Great match, nominated off of Blackwell #6

 

Mad Dog Vachon v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

Bock ambushes the Dog and sends him onto the announce table. This just

pisses Vachon off as he tosses a chair wildly and then when Bock tries to

grab him he rakes his back and pulls him onto the announce table where he

chops him. Mad Dog does not have the most vicious looking offense, but his

delivery is so much fun. Love his running fish hook on Bock. Bock eventually takes over when Mad Dog misses a corner charge, but Vachon takes back over and locks in a nice Boston Crab. Bock breaks an ab stretch with an eye rake which I actually thought looked pretty awesome. Bock gets a slam off and a nearfall but Vachon reverses a piledriver. We get a wild ref bump and Heenan breaks up a piledriver with a cheapshot with a foreign object and then Bock scores the fall. This was really high energy stuff and deserves a look.

 

News clips and highlights documenting the latest St. Paul show.

 

Mad Dog Vachon v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

Basically just a finishing run shown, with Mad Dog winning with the piledriver.

No fucking clue why this formatted this way. I feel like Jewett.

No DQ for the AWA World Heavyweight Title: Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Wahoo McDaniel (8/28/83)

 

Wahoo is on fire to start as he has had two controversial matches with Bock the past 2 months so in this he is firing shots early and often. Bock would whack Wahoo with a chair though on the floor then bashed him into the post and barricade to bloody him. Bock is relentless working over the cut but Wahoo comes back chopping like a madman. This is nothing but a slugfest when Bock locks on his sleeper but Wahoo pounds him into the turnbuckle numerous times before he breaks free and Wahoo comes back with more chops then takes it back to the floor where he posts Bock and then bashes his head into the ringside table. Wahoo brings it back to the ring where he continues his onslaught until a double collision sends Bock to the floor. Bock then grabs a chair and nails Wahoo for the pin. This was an all out war with both men juicing and a total blast. Easy nomination.

 

"Incredible" Hulk Hogan vs. Mr. Saito (8/28/83)

 

Saito does his salt ceremony before the match which Hogan breaks up to a volcanic pop. Hogan was so fucking over here it's not even funny Verne not giving him the AWA title is still one of the greatest mistakes ever in wrestling. Hogan is great as the super face but Saito is just as great as a chickenshit heel who just happens to be a tough motherfucker. Saito lowbridges Hogan and then breaks out the sasorigatame immediately but Hogan would spring him into the ropes to break the hold and they would repeat this sequence before Saito started going back to strikes. Hogan hulks up before hitting the big boot, bodyslam, and diving elbow before pulling him up on a pin attempt. Hogan wants to punish Saito until Dr. D shows up to shit talk with Hogan jacking his jaw and knocking down the referee so Shultz joins the action after Tiger Hattori throws salt in Hogan's eyes for the DQ finish. This was fun stuff but I'm not sure on a nomination.

 

AWA World Tag Titles - SR: Ray Stevens: The Sheiks (Crusher Blackwell & Ken Patera) © vs. The Hi-Flyers ("Jumpin" Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne) (11/24/83)

 

Hi-Flyers were fun early working over Blackwell's left arm showing good teamwork making quick tags keeping Blackwell in their area and then Patera gets the same treatment when he tags in. Patera would miss a kneedrop off the middle rope so the Flyers took to working the left knee over next. When it comes to babyface tag team offensive barrages to start a match, the Hi-Flyers was as good as anyone and showed it here as they were like dogs keeping the heels at bay. Brunzell would get caught though and Blackwell crushed him with a splash on his back to start the heel control section. The heels viciously work over Brunzell's back but Jim tries his best to fight back to get to Greg who was really good in the corner getting the crowd going. Brunzell finally gets some hope after Blackwell misses a big splash off the top rope but he goes for the cover instead of the tag with Patera throwing him off. Brunzell tries to crawl to Greg but Blackwell traps him and tags in Patera who eats a dropkick from Jim as Stevens tries to put Greg in the corner. Brunzell crawls through Patera's legs and gets the tag to Greg who runs wild as the crowd goes nuts. This becomes a 4-way brawl with Greg getting the Weaver Lock on Blackwell as Brunzell hits a fucking sweet dropkick on Patera who tries to interfere. Adnan jumps in the ring and assaults Stevens as this is going on then hits Greg with the cast as Stevens calls for the DQ. Cheap finish but this was very fun and an easy nomination.

 

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Mad Dog Vachon (11/24/83)

 

Vachon is old as dirt but the fans are apeshit over him. Bock comes out firing away immediately sending Vachon to the ringside table which pisses off Vachon who drags Bock from the ring to the floor where he clobbers him before bringing him back to the ring for more punishment. Vachon's offense is nothing pretty just strikes and biting but it's effective and the fans love it as Bock gets his ass kicked. Vachon would eventually work some holds like a boston crab and an abdominable stretch with Bock having to resort to his own biting and gouging to get the advantage. Vachon though still fights on and tries for a piledriver on Bock but Heenan would hit him with an object and Bock would cover him for the pin. This was fun for what it was and I'll back a low-end nom.