Nick Bockwinkel/Mr. Saito promo.

 

King Kong Brody/Abdullah The Butcher v. Crusher/Baron Von Raschke

 

JIP. Wild brawl with basically just the finish shown. Ends with chaos and dudes getting coming out to break shit up.

 

Buck Zumhoffe promo.

 

Greg Gagne promo

 

The High Flyers v. Mr. Saito/Nick Bockwinkel

 

The opening of this was interesting as neither team really did anything of note but they set up the importance of stuff by really getting over the fact that they were struggling to get basic things done. I was annoyed by Saito not turning over on the Scorpion but they got some good heat out of the heel leverage spots they worked with it. Holy shit the crowd is molten for Brunzell trying to crawl to the corner only for both heels to grab a leg and pull him back. Saito's Boston Crab looked cool and they end up targetting Brunzell's back. There is a great moment in here with Brunzell isolated in the heel corner and being double teamed and Gagne just comes in and murders Nick with a right. They do a couple of "tag behind the refs back" spots which get huge responses from the crowd. Greg gets the hot tag and goes crazy on Bock while Brunzell holds up Saito. Gagne ends up locking in a Boston Crab mid-ring but the ref is busy with Brunzell and Saito. Bock gets punted to shit by Gagne at one point and it sounded really sick. Then Gagne follows it up with a nasty as fuck forearm to his kidney. Brunzell hit a great dropkick and locked on the figure-four but Saito runs in and breaks it up. Saito comes in and ends up in Gagne's sleeper. Saito passes a foreign object to Bock and Bock punches Greg. Bock tries to throw salt in Greg's eyes but he ducks and Saito takes it and gets rolled up. This was pretty great.

 

Buck Zumhoffe v. Steve Regal

 

pretty good feeling out segment early. They end up working a headlock base which was actually fairly well done. Buck screaming at Regal about hearing Rock N Roll was classic. Regal coming back and laying out Buck with a short elbow actually was pretty cool. Buck goes FIP and hey look here is Regal sitting on the mat with his headlock which Buck didn't do. Buck ends up coming back after Steve misses his big elbow which is apparently always his transition spot. Buck showed a lot of fire on the comeback and hit some nice offense. Buck misses his Vader Bomb finisher but ends up winning with a small package. This was good but I didn't like it quite as much as the Lane match and that was really marginal as a nomination.

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Andre The Giant

 

JIP. This comes in at about the 13 minute mark. For some reason Larry Matisyk was announcing. Andre was fun in this deliberately choking Bock in the ropes, hitting a sweet back body drop and actually taking a corner charge bump. Bock ends up hitting special ref Larry Hennig for the DQ and they brawl. The Heenan Family hits the ring and starts destroying Hennig. Andre eventually runs them off. EXTRA

 

Interview with Adnan and Masked Superstar. This was a really fun promo.

 

Jerry Blackwell v. Masked Superstar (If Blackwell wins he gets Five Minutes with Adnan)

 

Blackwell works the fuck out of a headlock early, cranking the shit out of it and really getting the crowd riled up. Superstar bails to the floor and comes back in and manages to avoid a Blackwell corner charge. He bites at Blackwell's head and starts to take over but Blackwell gets pissed and fires back eventually getting a nearfall with an elbow drop. Superstar fights back and throws a really sick shot to Jerry's throat. Blackwell gets tossed to the floor and Superstar stomps on his hands and pummels him on the apron. Blackwell really sells his ass off but throws a huge forearm that knocks Superstar on his ass and comes back in. Fun punch exchange that leads to a really good looking double clothesline spot, with Blackwell rolling over onto Superstar for the clean pin. Normally that fall would have been super awkward but it actually did look pretty stiff and you really bought that both guys were beaten to shit and this was a last gasp. Post-match Adnan comes in for his five minutes and just starts punching the shit out of Blackwell who sells his ass off and collapses in a heap. Adnan foolishly locks on an ab stretch which Blackwell slowly hip tosses his way out of which was a really awesome spot. Adnan gets licks in with his cast but Blackwell straight up hulks up and sets Adnan up for the avalanche when Superstar runs into the ring. They beat on Blackwell and tie him up in the ropes. Sarge shows up in jeans and starts beating dudes down but fucking Haku runs out and fights back! This turns into a wild brawl with everyone getting punches to the face. Awesome.

 

Rick Martel v. Jimmy Garvin

 

Martel opened up with some cool spots and Garvin briefly took over but missed a knee drop and then Martel opened up on his leg. Really dug Martel's various attacks to the leg as he mixed in leverage spots, holds, strikes to the joint, et. Garvin is really great selling his shin breaker and desperately stretching for the ropes. Garvin comes back in and immediately takes a backslide for a nearfall. Martel also hit a nice backbreaker in here and thre some nice punches. Really great spot swings momentum to Garvin as Martel goes for a rana and Garvin just falls backward with Martel taking a sick snake eyes bump into the turnbuckle. Garvin tosses Martel to the floor and then hits a legdrop once he's back in the ring. I normally don't like Garvin's camel cluth spot that much but here he really hooks it nicely and Martel sells the fucking hell out of it. Really cool hope spot as Martel powers up and shoots Garvin into the ropes only for Garvin to hit a nice rebound forearm smash. Garvin goes to the ribs with some nice body blows and Martel sells it well but Garvin misses a big knee corner charge and gets tied up upside down. Martel lays the boots to him and then punched the shit out of him before hitting a nice suplex. Martel goes for a slingshot splash but Garvin gets his knees up. Martel hits locks on a cradle for a nearfall but Precious distracts him. Garvin ends up going up top but gets caught and takes a huge bump down leading to an elbow drop from Martel and the finish. This was a great match on par with or better than any Garvin World Class match.

King Kong Brody/Abdullah The Butcher v. Crusher/Baron Von Raschke

 

JIP. Wild brawl with basically just the finish shown. Ends with chaos and dudes getting coming out to break shit up.

What a great way to sell your AWA World tag Team Champs...get them squashed by two monsters in a no-DQ, non-title match. The heels beat on the champs so bad it was ridiculous. If you get a chance, go back to the very end when Crusher comes back in to chase off the heels. Crusher had thrown a chair into the ring and was going to use it to clean house, but the ref thought it was thrown by a fan and tossed it outside the ring. Crusher comes in and with no chair has to use his fists, but not before giving the ref a playful "you fucked up" slap on the cheek. it's subtle until you see it and then it stands out like crazy.

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Andre The Giant

 

For some reason Larry Matisyk was announcing.

I think this may have been Steve Olsonowski ("Steve O"), not Matysik. Steve O had numerous long-term injuries to his wrists and Verne used him at various times to announce and interview on the various TV shows.

This starts with a fun promo by Bock & Saito.

 

Abdullah the Butcher & King Kong Brody vs. Da Crusher & Baron Von Raschke (6/14/84)

 

Yeah like khawk said what a way to showcase your tag champs than to squashing them with two guys who weren't regulars in the promotion. The stuff at the end with Crusher and the chair was hilarious though. It was wild though seeing the Baron work in regular tights not with the pants.

 

Then we get promos by Zumhofe & Gagne.

 

#1 Contenders Match for the AWA World Tag Titles: The Hi-Flyers ("Jumpin" Jim Brunzell & Greg Gagne) vs. Nick Bockwinkel & Mr. Saito (3/7/85)

 

I dug the armwork by the Flyers as they really wrenched away at Bock's left arm with quick tags and used various ways to punish the arm. Bock would trap Brunzell in his corner and Saito would come in to start the attack with Brunzell doing a good job of selling the punishment. I liked the struggle that Saito had with Brunzell trying to lock on the sasorigatame with the crowd going nuts for Brunzell so Saito would just tag in Bock who went to an inverted Indian Death Lock. Brunzell would break free with punches and tried to get to Gagne but the heels would drag him back to the corner. Brunzell was very good here working FIP and the struggle he had to get to Gagne was well done as the crowd was eating it up. Gagne would come in and get his shots in when he could before finally getting the tag which drove the crowd into a frenzy and he cleaned house on Bock then Saito. Gagne would work over Bock's back before locking on a Boston Crab but the referee is occupied with Saito & Brunzell. Gagne lets it go and continues to pound on the heels with Bock working his ass off here making Greg look good. Brunzell would come back in hitting his great dropkick and got the figure-four but Saito would break that up and Saito would get the tag but so would Greg who would lock on the Gagne Sleeper with Bock coming in to hit Gagne but he would throw salt in Saito's eyes by mistake causing him to lose. This was a damn solid match and a fairly easy nomination.

 

"Rock n Roll" Buck Zumhofe vs. "Mr. Electricity" Steve Regal (3/7/85)

 

Okay match nothing more although I loved the story of Regal weighing 3 pounds over the limit so he wasn't able to defend his title.

 

Then we get clips of Bock vs. Andre from 11/10/82 and this is extra material. Matysik was the announcer here as well.

 

Crusher Blackwell vs. Masked Superstar (3/7/85)

 

If Blackwell wins he gets 5 minutes against Adnan so you can guess the result here. This was a damn good hard hitting match with Superstar taking punishment well and dishing it out on Blackwell who was great here firing away with shots. Nothing pretty here just two guys taking it to each other in a slugfest with Blackwell just hammering Superstar to win. Adnan would come in after Superstar would attack Jerry and he would pound on him using his cast until Blackwell would finally come back with the crowd going nuts and he would have Adnan ready for the kill but Superstar would run in for a 2-on-1 until Slaughter runs in to even the odds and it's a wild brawl before King Tonga runs out as well. This was a blast and another easy nomination and all that was missing from this was blood.

 

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Rick Martel © vs. "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin (3/7/85)

 

Baron is with Martel here as Bertha von Raschke which is hilarious and Bertha spraying with an early bottle of Arrogance is classic. Bertha looks a lot like Larry Sharpe here and them doing the Garvin opening match schtick is awesome. Martel was just so damn good at this stage of his career that it was hard for him to have a bad match with anyone and Garvin was a good hand who got a bad label for his AWA run but in his matches with Martel he showed the goods that he showed in World Class. Garvin was solid on offense with Martel being awesome at selling the punishment which always helps before Martel would make his comeback and kicked off a hot finish run that ended nicely. This was as good of a Garvin match I've seen from him in the AWA for sure and a slam dunk nomination in my eyes.