Posted January 4, 201114 yr comment_5461474 Rick Martel v. Billy Robinson This match is on another one of the "Rarities" discs. Boom Boom Bundy/Jerry Blackwell v. Road Warriors Already on two previous discs. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie v. Greg Gagne Already on previous "Rarities" disc. Medley of highlights from local newscast. Larry Hennig/Curt Hennig v. Mr. Saito/Nick Bockwinkel Curt really was a much better worker as a babyface and really connects with the crowd here. He works with the sort of youthful naivete that his character demands so you expect him to win punching exchanges with Bock, but you also expect him to be caught with a single shot and trapped by the heels. When he makes the hot tag he is really fun to watch firing up like Ultimate Warrior on meth on the apron while the Axe batters the heels around. Bock screaming in Hennig's face when he comes over to try and help his dad was pretty awesome. Curt makes the tag and comes back in but is immediately victimized. Takes a nice Saito suplex and a crazy bump off of a slingshot style move from Bock. Really awesome sunset flip hope spot as Saito draws out the inevitable nearfall with this great staggered sell. Bock tosses Curt to the floor and he just takes a defeated face first bump into the ringside table. Larry has enough and comes over and just bashes Bock over and over into the table. Curt comes back with a suplex but then there is an edit/jump cut and there is a weird non-finish. With a better finish I could see this as a low level nom, but not with the one we got. High Flyers v. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie/Masked Man JIP. Starts with Brunzell in peril. This is actually a pretty good match but the heel team is really one that you struggle to give a shit about. Structurally they work a few FIP segments and work in some nice comeback spot. Pin comes out of nowhere. Far from bad, but totally forgettable. Road Warriors/Paul Ellering v. Fabulous Ones/Crusher I was not enamored with the opening face shine segment though watching Hawk sell an eye rake like a shotgun blast was amusing. Lane ends up taking a huge throat first bump to set up the the FIP and then gets caught by Animal on a high cross body attempt, leading to a huge jumping elbow for a nearfall. Lane took a dangerous bump on a strange suplex variation from Hawk and then Ellering tagged in. Lane does a good job selling the beating throughout but Man the Warriors ran out of shit to do early. Lane hit a nice hope spot uppercut at one point and then Ellering came back in which led to a double bump off the ropes. Sorta breaks down from there and we get a lame finish. Eh. Jimmy Garvin v. Rick Martel Garvin really is an outstanding prick and Martel is always really great as a babyface. Really liked Garvin floating straight over into a camel clutch of all things at one point and his selling of the big bump of the top and Martel's punches was really great stuff. Garvin ends up tied up in the ropes and Martel batters him and hits two nice looking flying headbutts/crossbodies. Martel hits a nice slingshot splash for a nearfall. Ref gets bumped which leads to Garvin tossing Martel over the top. Martel hits a really bad ass delayed rana. Martel is DQ'ed when he accidentally tosses Garvin over the top. What was shown here was great, but this is less than half a match and that is sort of my cut off mark. King Kong Brody v. Jerry Blackwell This is the match with Slaughter/Adnan tethered together and we already have it. Medley of News Footage/Highlights. Nick Bockwinkel v. Greg Gagne JIP. Starts with Gagne in peril but pretty quickly transitions with Gagne opening up on Bock on the floor. Bock takes a cheapshot at Greg's leg putting him back down and locks on a figure-four. Bock takes it to Greg on the floor, but Greg lands a haymaker and ends up waffling Bock with a chair. Back in the ring he manages to lock on the sleeper. Gagne knocks Bock out and hits his diving knee for a nearfall. They end up doing a shitty double pin finish. Post-match Verne fights off Saito and Bock from attacking Greg.
January 4, 201114 yr comment_5461496 High Flyers v. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie/Masked Man Masked man = Masked Superstar (aka Demolition Ax later on). He was brought in by Kaissie on the Thanksgiving card as the newest member of his Army. Also notable is that this was the Flyers first match back together since April when brody put them both out on TV, so it was billed as a "Reunion match" of sorts. Jimmy Garvin v. Rick Martel Martel is DQ'ed when he accidentally tosses Garvin over the top. What was shown here was great, but this is less than half a match and that is sort of my cut off mark. Mora available is possible...I think there may be a fuller version on one of the World Pro sets. Nick Bockwinkel v. Greg Gagne Post-match Verne fights off Saito and Bock from attacking Greg. This was the beginning of the build for the Gagnes vs. Bockwinkel/Saito at StarCage 85, in April.
January 4, 201114 yr Author comment_5461506 I thought that was Masked Superstar at first but I had no recollection of him ever working for Gagne.
January 4, 201213 yr comment_5491688 AWA World Heavyweight Title: Rick Martel © vs. Billy Robinson (11/22/84) This looked really good but there some issues with clipping and the cameraman in general wanting to get shots of the crowd and other incendiary things in the building. Martel was also a little too dominant in the match for my taste well at least from what we got to see. This left me wanting more. AWA World Tag Titles: The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) vs. Crusher Blackwell & King Kong Bundy (11/22/84) I always dug babyface Bundy and he makes a fun team with Blackwell plus Bundy has a history with the Roadies so they already have a blueprint of a match together. Bundy was fun using his power and brains to keep the Roadies at bay before bringing in Blackwell who is like a steamroller on offense. Hawk tries to slam Blackwell but he has no luck so Animal comes in and he doesn't fare much better and the fans are hot for the faces. Animal gets Blackwell up but he falls back on him for a nearfall and for well over 5 minutes the Roadies basically do nothing but take punishment from the faces which was odd at this time. Bundy would miss a diving elbow which would give the Roadies the window they needed to take control using their own power moves to take Bundy to the mat. Hawk would miss a diving punch off the middle rope allowing Bundy to get the hot tag to Blackwell at the 10 minute mark and he hits a powerslam on Animal for a nearfall as the place erupts but he would miss a running splash into the corner which allows the Roadies to take over again. I dug Hawk's ode to Jumbo running knee smash which caught Blackwell in the face and they were ruthless working Jerry over here. Jerry tries to fight back as the crowd goes nuts but Animal would come in and slammed Blackwell which got everyone cheering for a nearfall. Blackwell was really good here with his hope spots just standing there taking shots then hitting a bomb of his own before getting the hot tag to Bundy which leads to the 4-way brawl where they do a different criss cross spot leading to a double splash in the corner. Bundy would miss another one though hitting all corner and Hawk would fall on him for the 3 count. Very fun match here especially with the Roadies at this stage of their career and this moves forward. Steel Cage Match: Greg Gagne vs. Sheik Adnan Kaissey (11/22/84) Adnan has Masked Superstar in his corner but Stanley Blackburn orders him out of the cage. This was okay for what it was thanks to Greg because Adnan wasn't any good. Superstar would break in the cage for the DQ until Blackwell who got monster cheers here ran in to make the save. Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito vs. Curt & Larry "The Axe" Hennig (1/13/85) Curt was really good at this stage of his career as the young spunky babyface with lots of fight and he showed it here against the veteran heels. Saito really went to war on him which was good to see because you wanted that story in this and the crowd did too as they stomped and cheered for Curt as he tried to make the tag to his father. Larry comes in and the crowd goes nuts as he clobbers the heels while Curt gets his shots in from the floor on a down Bock but Saito would sneak attack the Axe allowing the heels to go back on the offensive. Curt is great here trying to protect his father but gets pushed away by the ref while Bock takes cheapshots from the floor. Larry finally slugs his way over to tag his son who comes in firing away on Bock and both Hennig's take turns working over Bock's leg setting up a figure-four until we get a clip to Saito being in with Curt and nailing him with a Saito Suplex. We get more clipping from here on which sucks and kills the momentum of the match which sucks. The Hi-Flyers ("Jumpin" Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne) vs. Masked Superstar & Sheik Adnan Kaissey (1/13/85) This was fair but again clipped up. Da Crusher & The Fabulous Ones (Steve Keirn & Stan Lane) vs. The Road Warriors (Animal & Hawk) & Paul Ellering (1/13/85) This was the last Fabs match in the Twin-Cities as they would quit 2 weeks later and they wore different color tights here which was odd. By this time the Roadies fanbase was growing and the Fabs were getting booed a little here. Lane would work FIP and the Roadies had some sloppy moments here while the fans chanted We Want Paul which was funny. Lane really got his ass kicked here until the others had enough and ran in making it a 6-way brawl. Crusher would KO Ellering then put Lane on top to win. This wasn't good. AWA World Heavyweight Title: Rick Martel © vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (1/13/85) What we saw was fun but this was clipped to shreds. No DQ No Time Limit: Crusher Blackwell vs. Bruiser Brody (1/13/85) Blackwell has Sgt. Slaughter who is making his return to the AWA here in his corner and to be handcuffed to Adnan on the floor. This is another match clipped up and it had some fun spots but something just seemed missing here to me. Lots of bullshit at the end with Sarge, Adnan, & Superstar getting involved and then you had Brody walking out for a countout. Not good although Blackwell getting the crowd to chant chickenshit was great. Greg Gagne vs. Nick Bockwinkel (2/22/85) Clipped up and this was basically a setup for the future Gagne's vs. Bock/Saito match.
