Posted February 14, 201114 yr comment_5464522 Curt Hennig/Tom Zenk promo. Hennig gave a pretty spirited promo on his end. Longriders v. Curt Hennig/Tom Zenk The opening minutes of this are filled to the brim with Hennig working comedic spots with the Longriders off of rope running exchanges. At one point Hennig even leaps over a drop down and goes to a drop down which was..interesting. Zenk does a fun sunset flip spot when he comes in. When it's time for the heels to takeover thankfully it is Hennig who goes FIP. Hennig sells well and we get the big Hennig double knockdown collision bump. Typical AWA structuring here as Zenk ends up going FIP shortly after getting a hot tag. Actually Zenk is pretty decent at being ragdolled here. Zenk was getting killed by back breakers and suplexes. Irwin goes for another one and Zenk flips out of it and hits a nice roll through for a really good nearfall. Irwin ends up taking a huge bump into the ropes and Hennig comes back in. Hennig takes an elbow and ends up rolling around to try and avoid the Longriders. All hell breaks loose and Hennig/Zenk win with a crossbody. This was a good match but I can't see it making a final cut for a set. Buddy Lane promo. Buddy Lane v. Steve Regal JIP. Some nice headlock takeovers from Lane and a nice dropkick before Regal suplexes out of another headlock takedown attempt. Really good looking crossbody for a nearfall from Lane. Regal does a lot of stalling and sells the hell out of an Irish Whip to the buckles. Lane ends up missing a dropkick to set up Regal's run. Regal being Regal goes to a headlock of his own that is not nearly as interesting as the one Lane worked. They did come up for a really nice leapfrog into a clotheslline and follow up dropkick. lane gets in a cool hope spot by rolling through and hitting a slam but Regal cuts off his momentum and Lane takes a really cool bump off of a knee to Lane's gut. Regal ends up missing an elbow drop and Lane makes his comeback. Lane ends up breaking a piledriver attempt and then hitting a nice suplex for a nearfall. Lane hits a nice spinning back elbow for a really good nearfall. Regal ends up jumping over the top to get a DQ and avoid a loss. This had it's flaws but there should be some undercard representation on the set and this is one of the better down the card matches I've watched so far almost entirely due to Lane. Interview with owner of Winnipeg CFL franchise. Jim Brunzell v. Nick Bockwinkel We have this already and it is nominated. Jerry Blackwell promo Jerry Blackwell v. Michael Hayes hayes stallling in the early going was good but not as epic as you would hope. Cool spot with Hayes backing Blackwell into the corner and Blackwell just holds him with one arm, pulls him off and clubs him. Blackwell control section on Hayes is really week though I did like Hayes comeback punches. Finish kind of stunk. Overall this was actually really disappointing. Kelly Kiniski v. ? Don't know who the opponent was. He was really big. Pretty straight forward, largely inoffensive match. Kelly Kiniski promo. Nick Bockwinkel promo. Mad Dog Vachon/Nick Bockwinkel v. Boris Zhukov/Chris Markoff This was cool as the Russians run in and destroy the ref then throw powder in Mad Dog's eyes and toss Bock to the floor. Mad Dog makes a comeback and Bock rushes back in as a new ref hits the ring. Bock locks on a figure-four and they win quickly but then Boris headbutts dudes. They brawl out on the floor and the Russians end up fleeing. This whole thing goes less than five minutes but is really awesome.
February 16, 201114 yr comment_5464623 Jerry Blackwell v. Michael Hayes hayes stallling in the early going was good but not as epic as you would hope. Cool spot with Hayes backing Blackwell into the corner and Blackwell just holds him with one arm, pulls him off and clubs him. Blackwell control section on Hayes is really week though I did like Hayes comeback punches. Finish kind of stunk. Overall this was actually really disappointing. I think that Hayes was a sub for Gordy in this one, and if it was a last-minute sub situation, that would ahve largely contributed to this being bad. Building angles around Gordy hurt the AWA a couple of times throughout their run in the AWA due to his no-shows. I suspect it's another reason why the Birds weren't used better in the tag ranks during their time there.
February 13, 201213 yr comment_5494866 Curt Hennig & Tom Zenk vs. The Long Riders (Wild Bill & Scott Irwin) (9/19/85) Good match with everyone doing their job well but nothing special for the set. AWA Lt. Heavyweight Title: "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal © vs. Buddy Lane (9/19/85) This is JIP and we miss the first 4+ minutes of the match as Buddy has Regal in a grounded headlock on the mat and as Buddy keeps it on the mat there are some audible boring chants going on. Lane reminds me a lot of Mike Graham here in his style and his build/looks and it's almost uncanny. Regal is better than usual here and of course takes his hard bump flying into the corner. Lane works a headlock for a while so of course when Regal takes over what does he do...work a headlock although he would use some aggressive offense in between headlocks. The action would pick up as Buddy makes a comeback getting some nearfalls on Regal before he would throw Regal into the ropes and he jumped over the top rope to get the DQ. Terrible finish to a match that was finally starting to pick up. This was a decent match but it would have no chance on this set so no on a nomination. Next we get a Ken Resnick interview with the owner of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Then we get clips of Bock vs. Brunzell. Crusher Blackwell vs. Michael Hayes (9/19/85) Hayes is subbing for Gordy here which was a common thing in the AWA and while this had some good moments mostly from Hayes it wasn't a good match per se. Kelly Kiniski vs. Iron Duke (10/17/85) Squash. Then we get promos by Kiniski & Bock. Nick Bockwinkel & Mad Dog Vachon vs. Chris Markoff & Boris Zuhkov (10/17/85) This was a fun brawl and it was the perfect time for most of the guys in this match as it didn't even go 5 minutes as it hid some of the issues the guys had.
