Posted June 16, 201114 yr comment_5473557 Buddy Rose/Doug Somers v. Jake Milliman/Champ (?) Bordeaux Milliman is always amusing but his segment with Rose early was really about Rose interacting with referee Scott LeDoux. Fun stuff but nothing outstanding. Surprised to see Rose and Somers do a Hart Attack variation. Decent squash. Rose/Somers promo. Jimmy Snuka v. Dennis Stamp Match up between two guys that still work out on their trampolines and wait by the phone for calls from Vince. These guys did some decent matwork, then Snuka did the double leapfrog bit and hit his big splash in a pretty nasty looking fashion. Snuka promo. Col Debeers v. Jesse Hernandez I love how seemingly every disc has a Col. Debeers squash. Anyhow this was fine mainly because of Hernandez' fired up offensive run which was not well executed but got a huge pop and a smile from my face. Nick Bockwinkel v. Boris Zhukov Babyface Bock is good fun. He just really connects with the crowd. His fist bumping motion while they chant USA was just indicative of this but he also adapts well in general and he knows how to make a test of strength or full nelson or headlock sequence fun even against Boris Zhukov. The opening of this really does go on too long though. Eventually Bock taste the steel on a corner charge and the bump was not that convincing, but I have to give it to Boris who's follow up targetted offense was actually good stuff. I bought the headbutts to the arm, I thought his hammerlock slam was really fucking great looking and of course Bock's selling put all of this over the top. I fucking loved Bock breaking an arm stretcher with a speedy slide back into his trusty headlock as a hope spot. I mean that does not sound like a great hope spot but it really was. Bock fires back up but gets tied up with the ref and Boris hits his falling headbutt followed by a good near fall with Boris feet on the ropes and the ref spotting it before he counted the fall. Then Bock hits a blindside dropkick and hits a nice rollup for the finish. The biggest problem with this match was that they could have done all of this in half as much time. Still a really fun match. Adnan promo.
August 7, 201114 yr comment_5478973 AWA on ESPN Classic 3/27/08 All-Star Wrestling on ESPN 1986 6/15/86 Buddy Rose/Doug Somers v Jake Milliman/Chad Bardeaux Fun little squash. Milliman is like a garden gnome. I really like LeDoux's interactions with Buddy. I'm not even sure if Bardeaux or Somers tagged in for any length of time. Jimmy Snuka v Dennis Stamp I really liked this but it wasn't quite enough to nominate. Stamp grounds Snuka and the matwork is real nice, but he can't hold him down forever and once Snuka is able to move around things go south for Stamp. Col. DeBeers v Jesse Hernandez Odd they have Earthquake Ferris as the ref, but nobody mentions anything about it. It's odd to have a ref tower over everybody. Hernandez gets some nice fiery comeback offense, mainly clubbing shots to the chest and the crowd gets really amped for it. I always like DeBeers squashes, and the crowd always seems to get extra fiery when faces make comebacks against him. Nick Bockwinkel v Boris Zukhov I really really liked this, but it was missing something to get a nomination. I don't think this would look out of place on the AWA set, though. Part of it is that Boris is pretty awful, but moreso that he just doesn't really do anything. Crowd was loud and going crazy the whole time though, so obviously Bock as a face and Boris as the heel was working great, no matter how boring Boris is. I think that's a testament to how great Bockwinkel was as a babyface, as he's able to work around Boris and although they didn't really do much they always kept it interesting. Finishing run is real hot as Boris hits a headbutt out of the corner and gets the pin with the feet on the ropes, only to get caught. He argues with ref, Bockwinkel knees him in the back, bouncing him into the ropes, and Bockwinkel gets a tight schoolboy for the win. Real fun match.
