This is from the Cow Palace/Super Clash II. Lots of touch and go mat exchanges early though they serve their purpose and work well enough. Bock slaps Hennig which is how these matches always go. Curt works a headlock as a base and they do some decent up and down work out of it. Henning ends up taking a HUGE bump through the ropes all the way to the steel on a corner charge. Bock traps Curt's arm on the bottom rope and knee dropped it which looked really sick. Curt takes a huge bump into the corner and gets locked into an arm stretcher by Bock. Hennig comes back up and sneaks in some offense but then takes a nearfall after a boot and Bock goes back to the arm. Curt fights out of a short armscissors and goes to work on Bock's leg, locking on a figure-four to a big pop. Bock is really great selling at this point which makes it seem even bigger. Bock fights out of another leg hold by punching Curt in the face and Hennig takes a huge bump of of a Bock running knee. All this ends up resulting in a huge strike exchange with both guys really laying it in and Hennig taking a massive back bump into the turnbuckles that actually results in a believable nearfall. Great Hennig sunset flip for a nearfall. Curt with a great nearfall off of a crossbody and another nearfall after a minor edit. Curt hits "the Axe" but Bock grabs the bottom rope to break the count. Piledriver by Curt, followed up by a dropkick and another nearfall. Bock is reeling but manages a clothesline coming out of the corner and a back suplex. Curt of course wins this with the roll of quarters passed from Larry Z who was at ringside. Post-match controversy is a lot of fun. The finishing run of this was really great, and while this has some slow moments before it, overall this was a hell of a match.

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Nick Bockwinkel © vs. Curt Hennig (5/2/87)

 

Zbyszko comes out before the match and challenges the winner so the table is set for him to get involved. Some good back and forth action early with Hennig pinballing around including a great bump to the floor off a missed shoulderblock into the corner. Bock would then work on the left arm relentlessly before Hennig breaks out of a short arm scissors and starts working over Bock's left leg. Hennig would then lock on the figure-four for a while before Bock would break free and this is where the match kicks into high gear with both men pulling out all the stops trying to put the other away. This was very fun as Bock is working his ass off to hang with Hennig and after a double collision, Zbyszko gives a roll of coins to Hennig who KO's Bock to win the title. The fans are sorta conflicted here as they were cheering Curt and still did afterwards but some were booing. Ray "The Crippler" Stevens came in afterwards to tell the referee that something was used and pulled coins out of Larry's coat in front of Stanley Blackburn. There would be a conference in the ring between everyone as Hennig poses around the ring like a dick which is awesome. Blackburn announced that the title would be held up to everyone's anger. This was a very solid match and a fairly easy nomination.