Heenan/Bock promo on Tito

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Tito Santana

 

JIP at about the 8 minute mark. Starts off with Tito on a legscissors but Tito reverses and locks on a nice Boston Crab. Bock gets the ropes and Santana takes over with some work on the back and a big atomic drop. Bock goes to the floor and nothing of note happens for well over a minute. Bock ends up pulling Tito to the floor and wrapping his leg around the post. Santana is held at bay on the floor, but ends up coming back and posting Bock's leg. Tito goes to work on Bock's leg and locks on an Indian Deathlock with a bridge. They end up going into a lengthy segment with Tito doing rollups and avoiding Bock's figure-four attempts. Nothing really looks bad, but these guys look totally gassed and there doesn't appear to be a lot of rhyme or reason to what is going on. Santana got some decent nearfalls in there. This match got better as it went along, but it really felt like they were pacing themselves with the opening ten minutes or so being pretty shaky.

 

Jim Brunzell v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

JIP at about the four minute mark with a fun back and fourth "feeling out" exchange. Bock takes over with eyerakes and such, but ends up missing a corner charge. Nice working of leverage holds on the mat with Brunzell and Bock bridging out to avoid falls. Bock slides to the ropes and breaks a hold but takes Brunzell down and immediately works on his leg. I imagine the mat stuff in this would bore a lot of people, but I liked the way Brunzell reversed Bock, but still ended up exposed and having his leg battered again. Brunzell takes a big bump to the floor and then a punch to the throat knocking him back to the floor. Bock runs to attack Bock again, but Brunzell grabs him and posts his legs, then jumps in the ring and lights him up. Crowd is really apeshit here, especially for Brunzell dropkick nearfall. Brunzell works a spinning toehold and goes for the figure-four, but gets kicked off. Stevens comes out and hits the apron but in the melee Brunzell ends up hitting two more dropkicks and taking the shock pin. This was a good match, but I THINK this might be from the 70's.

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Dino Bravo

 

JIP right at the five minute mark. Bock is controlling Bravo with a headlock and while I like the up and down, it really came across as Bock trying to pace himself against a guy he didn't have confidence going long with. Bravo finally takes Bock down with a toehold and works on the legs. Bock gets up but hits the turnbuckle knee first and Bravo locks on a nice Indian Deathlock variation, with them doing a neat spot where Nick tried to lean forward and Bravo would just headbutt him down. Some decent back and fourth and Bravo ends up getting Bock in a figure-four. Enjoyed Bock slugging his way out of another figure-four attempt. Some solid nearfalls for Dino and Bock ends up tossing him to the floor. Brief edit and we come back with Dino hitting a dropkick and an airplane spin for the fall but Bock's foot is on the rope. Dino leaves with the title and gets counted out. Well, at least that was a creative bullshit finish. Fun match, but the opening was a bit tedious.

 

Bockwinkel/Heenan promo on Martel.

 

Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

JIP. This is clearly late in the match and starts off with Martel escaping a sleeper. They go into a really hot, great run of stuff. Heenan gets bumped off the apron. There is a great stretch run with kind of a bleh double pin finish. This should be an EXTRA assuming it's not in a more complete format.

 

Nick Bockwinkel interview on Rick Martel. He's pleading his case for being the top contender. Really good promo EXTRA

 

Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

JIP. Sounds like this started about 7 or 8 minutes in. Bock punching Martel in the gut off the ropes ruled. Love the early nearfall off the Martel crossbody as the crowd total bout into it. Martel works a sharp armbar, but Bock comes underneath and sinks in a toehold and builds into an STF variation. Martel powering out was really well done and I love how he pops up and Bock takes him right back down and locks on the figure-four. Bock is really great taunting Martel and raising his hand in victory as Martel flails around selling the hold. They sit in the hold for several minutes before Martel gets to the ropes but you don't really mind because they were working it so well, then right after Martel gets to the ropes Bock just stands up and punts him as hard as he can in the ribs. Bock goes for another figure-four but Martel just fires with punches from below and hits a piledriver for a nearfall. Martel goes for a dropkick but Bock holds onto the ropes and Martel crashes and burns. Bock goes into a series of nearfalls that ends with Bock hitting a knee and thinking he wins but Martel's foot is on the rope. He argues with the ref and gets hit with a back suplex with a bridge for the fall even though Bock's foot was on the bottom rope. This is a little over half the match, and I didn't care for Bock's nearfall segment at the end, but I thought the rest of this was really good.

 

Nick Bockwinkel post-match interview. EXTRA

 

Rick Martel v. Ray Rogeau

 

JIP at about the 23 minute mark. I'm not certain this is an AWA match. Starts with Ray on the floor. Ray is working FIP but gets a nice nearfall off of a sunset flip and then a crossbody. They do a double knockout spot which is quickly becoming the bane of my existence. Really nice dueling ab stretch spot. Ray's punches look really good. Really good nearfall off of a suplex, and then they go into a punch exchange on their knees that looked great before the bell rings for a time limit draw. What was shown here was really good, but it's not even a third of the match.

 

Curt Hennig/Nick Bockwinkel face-to-face interview. EXTRA

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Curt Hennig

 

Billy Robinson is reffing this in a track suit! The opening of this is one of the great "feeling out" sequences I've ever seen, as they are stretching, galloping around, jockeying for position, et. Then there is this moment where they both sort of release off of a collar and elbow break in a nasty fashion and go straight into a rope running spot that ends with a Hennig powerslam and Bock going to the floor. As soon as they get back into the ring they tie up again and Bock slaps Hennig and just struts around like the biggest douchebag you've ever seen. Really simple, but effective, and a good way to set up the dynamic of the match. Bock controls with an overhead wristlock, but after a minute or so Curt reverses it and digs in a hammerlock. Curt slaps Bock, locks in a pinning combo and then they do a really fun spot where Hennig comes in and Bock reaches back for a punch to the gut but Hennig backs off. they stand back up an dwe get a FOREARM BATTLE. This is fucking awesome as Curt gets tagged, flies over the top and comes right back in insanely pissed and throws some huge ones of his own. Bock retreats to the floor and when Hennig tries to pursue him he pulls him down and posts his leg a few times. Awesome spot back in the ring as Bock wildly leaps and just smashes all of his weight onto Hennig's leg and ties him up in an Indian Deathlock variation, then starts forearming Curtin the face every time he leans forward. Hennig tries everything to escape and settles on a series of headbutts as the crowd chants "Curt." Curt gets back to his feet and Bock kicks his legs leading to Hennig doing his infamous flying backward head bump. Curt coms back and Bock ends up flying out to the floor. Bock gets himself in trouble now as Hennig drags him down to the mat and posts his arm which is something I really don't recall seeing an awful lot. He tries to go to work on the arm but Bock takes over with an eye rake. Man Hennig is SOOO much better as a big bumping face than he is as a big bumping heel, as he is just flying along bumping his ass off for every little thing Bock is doing, which leads to a really good nearfall. Bock goes for what looked like a neckbreaker, but Curt comes underneath it and takes down Bock by his arm and starts going back to work on it. Curt starts punting him, stands on his throat and then punches the shit out of him with Bock taking a Flairesque, dazed and confused bump for a nearfall. Bock comes back and locks on the sleeper. Curt gets to the ropes and ends up locking on his own sleeper. Bock ends up going sternum first into the turnbuckle, and Curt starts working on his midsection with a big legdrop and a series of knee drops to the guts. Hennig goes for a piledriver, but Bock gingerly takes him down and they end up doing a double punch spot that ends with both men going down and Bock crawling on top for a nearfalls. Bock for a slam but falls over and Curt gets a nearfall. hennig takes a wild bump through the middle ropes and then Bock just starts slamming Curt's head onto everything around the ringside area with Hennig selling his ass off. Bock fucking winds up like Roger Clemmons and forearms the shit out of Hennig for a nearfall. Hennig with a GREAT sunset flip for a nearfall. Amazingly Hennig is still selling the leg even though Bock hasn't worked on it in ten minutes. Hennig with a beautiful dropkick for a nearfall. Hennig winds up and hits the "Axe" for a nearfall that was sort of fucked up by a Robinson slow count. Sure enough Billy takes a ref bump a couple of seconds later and isn't there to count the fall for Curt. Bock goes for a piledriver, but Curt back body drops Nick over the top ONTO Robinson. Curt hits a flying dropkick but Robinson comes back in and taps him on the back and DQ's Curt for the over the top bump Bock took. Hennig is on his knees talking to the camera "for all the hard work is that the justice I get? That's bullshit refereeing that's what that is!" The opening of this is really great and destroys their more famous match from the Showboat, though the finishing run isn't nearly as good and there are moments in here that were a bit to "your turn, my turnish." Still this was a great match.

 

Brad Rheingans v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

JIP with Rheingans fighting back into the ring and going on an offensive run. Rheingans gets a teased win but Bock's foot was on the bottom rope. Rheingans goes on a huge run of nearfalls, including multiple really good looking suplexes. Badly choreographed ref bump. Ridiculous double pin finish. Shame this isn't in full.

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Bret Hart

 

This the last six minutes or so of their draw from Stampede.

Jim Brunzell v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

This was a good match, but I THINK this might be from the 70's.

No, it's from 1981, from Winnipeg. It either precedes their 60 minute draw or comes the month after it. This was a non-title match.

 

Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

JIP. This is clearly late in the match and starts off with Martel escaping a sleeper. They go into a really hot, great run of stuff. Heenan gets bumped off the apron. There is a great stretch run with kind of a bleh double pin finish. This should be an EXTRA assuming it's not in a more complete format.

This I think is available complete or nearly complete (possibly/probably on World Pro). It's Martel's first title defense against Bockwinkel in Winnipeg after Rick won the title.

 

Rick Martel v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

JIP. Sounds like this started about 7 or 8 minutes in.

This is from 3/28/85, Winnipeg. Martel hade just come off a series of defenses against Jim Garvin. Not sure why they went back to Bockwinkel so quickly. Also available in full or near-full, probably on one of the AWA TSN Tapes.

 

Rick Martel v. Ray Rogeau

 

JIP at about the 23 minute mark. I'm not certain this is an AWA match.

This is actually Bockwinkel vs. Rougeau, right? This is from late 1984 in Quebec City, so it's an International Montreal match.

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Curt Hennig

 

Billy Robinson is reffing this in a track suit! The opening of this is really great and destroys their more famous match from the Showboat, though the finishing run isn't nearly as good and there are moments in here that were a bit to "your turn, my turnish." Still this was a great match.

This was from 12/25/86 in St. Paul, the "Brawl from St. Paul", a closed-circuit AWA event.

 

Brad Rheingans v. Nick Bockwinkel

 

JIP with Rheingans fighting back into the ring and going on an offensive run. Rheingans gets a teased win but Bock's foot was on the bottom rope. Rheingans goes on a huge run of nearfalls, including multiple really good looking suplexes. Badly choreographed ref bump. Ridiculous double pin finish. Shame this isn't in full.

Never have found a fuller version of this but it stems from a 10 minute draw the two did on TV that is available in full.