I never really thought of Bock as a brawler, but he was laying it in here, including some nice body shots. I also liked how Bockwinkle would throw wrestling moves into to stem the tide of Hansen. Hansen is fun as always coming straight at Bockwinkle all the time. Crap ending but fun match.

 

WWE 24/7

It was a damn shame that they didn't let Bock get the title in this match, as opposed to the ridiculousness of June 29th.

 

It's hard to remember that this was a building block in theri feud and not really the blow-off, but it makes the non-finish easier to swallow. It has the feel of a blow-off sort of bout given the scope of the event, but it's not.

Hansen clobbers Nelson pre-match and they end up doing some fun stuff in the ring pre-match with both guys moving forward and sort of dancing around each other. Hansen throws Bock to the floor pre-match and starts to smash him. The grappling looked really intense and Stan throws some great shots. Loved his dismissive kick off the ropes and some of his elbows looked concussion level stiff. Bock hits a really nice arm drag that sort of surprised me. Really awesome sequence of chops leading to a series where they exchange headbutts/reversals/takedowns/et. Bock ends up getting a great looking sleeper locked in off of a corner charge and they tumble to the floor. Hansen smashes his face into the steps and kicks him in the head. Bock blocks a posting and fights his way back in. Great punch exchange and Hansen hits a sick looking hot shot for a nearfall. Hansen and Bock trade nearfalls and the ref gets knocked out on a slam attempt by Hansen's leg. Bock hits a cross body but there is no ref. Bock hits a dropkick and a piledriver but the ref is still down. The ref gets up and DQ's Hansen for an over the top back body drop onto Bock. Stupid finish and there were some "off" moments in this which is isn't surprising considering how these guys thought about each other. Still this was a big time fight.

Stan Hansen vs. Nick Bockwinkel

- Yeah, I was surprised to see Bock get his stuff in because Hansen can be someone who eats an opponent up but this was a true clash of the titans. Man, I was afraid they would have a countout ending when they brawled outside but was happy to see them get back in the ring. Man, hot, hot stretch run before the shit ending. Solid nomination hurt by the finish.

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Stan "The Lariat" Hansen © vs. Nick Bockwinkel (4/20/86)

 

Hansen attacking Larry Nelson before the match was great. Stan is just a machine here on offense using his power advantage while Bock fights back using his grappling and speed advantage. Bock to his credit though showed some fire as well using some hard knees to the chest to setup his sleeper hold. Bock then would trade punches with Hansen holding his own before Hansen just drops him throat first on the top rope for a nearfall. Both men would then trade nearfalls until we got a ref bump as Bock picked up Hansen for a bodyslam. Bock would hit a cross body block but there was no ref then hit a dropkick before hitting a piledriver. Hansen would backdrop Bock over the top rope and Steve O would call for the DQ in a shitty finish. This was a fun hard hitting match and even with the shitty finish moves forward.