Bock starts off by going to work with punches and shots to Martel's chest and is really aggressive. He ends up missing a corner charge and bumps his knee allowing Rick to take over on his leg. Martel hits a nice monkey flip counter, but Martel kicks off and takes right back over on the leg. I really liked Bock trying to fire back from the ground with punches and Martel just snapping and punching him in the face which sort of led to the momentum switch with Bock rolling free and hitting a bunch of JYD style crawl headbutts to Martel's ribs. Awesome spot as Bock throws a knee to the midsection and it floors both guys! Martel hits one of the better shin breakers I've ever seen which Bock sells the fuck out of. Martel gets punched in the face and Bock sort of rolls him to the floor in desperation. Martel sells his ass off on the floor and Bock does a better than normal job with the "heel keeps the babyface at bay" spot. Naturally Martel takes over with a posting and working the knee but Bock cuts him off with a sick looking eye gouge. Martel fights back with kicks to the knee and goes to lock Bock's legs away but ends up in a body scissors. Martel starts to make a comeback but Bock evades a reverse crossbody with a side step that was really well done and made the impact look sick. Bock hits a really stiff shot to break up a sunset flip and follows up with a really nice looking body slam for a nearfall. I am usually not a fan of the Bock staple "double punch" spot but both goes sell it so well here that it is forgiveable. Martel wins a punch exchange but goes for his slingshot splash and eats the double knees on his hurt ribs for a good near fall. Martel sneaks in a nice backslide near fall and Bock follows up with a small package of his own. Bock goes for a slam but his leg gives out for a near fall. They go into a sequence where each guy is telegraphing moves leading to near falls. Martel starts throwing these kidney forearms and locks on an ab stretch but Bock escapes with a judo throw of sorts that knocks out the ref in the process. Martel locks on the Boston Crab but the ref is down. Saito hits the ring and throws salt into Martel's eyes and Bock wins with a body slam of all things. Naturally the finish is over turned. The body of this was really great and some of the best use of near falls and body part work I've seen out of the AWA. Finish was a bit annoying just because you wanted to see something definitive but it's hard to shit on a match of this quality for a finish that was so common for the time and era.

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Rick Martel © vs. Nick Bockwinkel (9/20/84)

 

It kinda boggles me that we never got a Martel/Bock extended series of matches for the title. Saito is at ringside with Bock before the match but the referee kicks him out because he wants it clean. Bock starts this blazing with some great knees to Martel's gut and just pounding him from pillar to post in general. Bock would miss a running knee smash in the corner though allowing Martel to start working on the leg setting it up for the figure-four. Martel is relentless here but Bock fires a headbutt in the gut to go back on offense. Bock then goes back to working on the gut even using his bad knee which hurt him and allowed Martel to go back to work on the knee but Bock would shove Martel to the floor. Bock then attacks Martel each time he tries to come back in the ring before Martel takes his leg out and wraps it around the post a couple of times. Bock would come back with a rake in the eyes and then again went back to work on the gut as Martel punched him in the knee eventually taking him back down to the mat. This turned into a war of attrition with Martel missing a reverse cross body off the middle rope but Bock couldn't get the 3 count. They have now gone from strictly working a body part to trading nearfalls and punches before Martel went for his springboard splash and caught all knees but still Bock couldn't put him away. They went back to trading nearfalls before Martel locked on an abodminal stretch which Bock countered by tossing him over on the referee. Martel got the Boston Crab which brought out Saito who threw salt in Martel's eyes. Bock would pin Martel after a bodyslam and afterwards Martel is selling the salt like crazy as Bock gets the belt but Wally Karbo comes out and demands the decision be overturned. Martel then goes nuts attacking the heels running them off by swinging the belt around. This was simply a fantastic match and one of the best I've seen on this set even with the finish. Slam dunk nomination.

AWA World Heavyweight Title: Rick Martel © vs. Nick Bockwinkel (9/20/84)

 

It kinda boggles me that we never got a Martel/Bock extended series of matches for the title.

They had a run from November 82 - March 1983 in St. Paul pre-Martel title win, plus they met three times between 8/84 and 3/85 in Winnipeg for the title (plus 4/84 and 7/84 bouts in St. Paul). I'd consider Martel challenging for the title in 82-83 a good run. I know what you're saying, but it would have been pretty hard to have the type of run you mean without giving the title back to Bock at the end of it...and I think they considered Bock done as champ by then, believe it or not.