Curt Hennig v. Boris Zhukov

 

Boris trying to burn an American flag pre-match was entertaining. Some fun back and fourth, but this was really short. Nice dropkick win for Hennig and you get the feeling he could have gotten something better with Boris if they had given him time.

 

Buddy Rose/Doug Somers/Despina Montegues v. Midnight Rockers/Sherri Martel

 

Well I loved this. Opening Buddy/Shawn rope running was the stuff of the God's. Then Buddy gets the ropes shaken on him while he is standing on them jawing and takes a huge crotch bump to the floor. This is followed up by Doug pinballing around including getting work over by the Rockers lady friend. The heels isolate Shawn in the corner and we get a great bloody face in peril that included Shawn trying to pick up Sherri and carry her away AND Sherri BITING the cut! Great punches in this from Somers and Rose and Buddy's bumping for Shawn and Marty off the hot tag was excellent. Marty makes a big run but then gets back dropped wildly to the floor for a huge bump and Buddy just runs in and decks Shawn knocking him off the apron. Marty's FIP is a lot of fun too as they do a fun bit with him and Sheri, a sweet suplex and slingshot/forearm combo from Rose and Somers and then Sherri misses a splash and Marty makes the hot tag to Despina . Buddy actually breaks up a pinfall attempt by kicking her in the head and then all hell breaks loose with the Rose/Somers eventually bumping to the floor and The Rockers pressing Despina onto Martel for the finish. Extremely entertaining match. Sort of comparable to the great Heenan six-man.

 

Col. Debeers v. Jerry Blackwell (Ladder Match)

 

I think because of the novelty of this, this is something that almost has to make the set in some capacity so long as it is watchable. This was more than watchable. Deebers ambushes Blackwell early beating him to the punch and tries to climb for the money bag but ends up getting cut off. Blackwell fires back with stiff shots and made use of the ladder in some nasty ways. This is a really solid looking ladder and the shots look pretty tight. Debeers takes some great bumps in this including a sick throat bump off the ladder onto the ropes and a flip bump over the ladder as it is laid on the ropes. They brawl to the floor and Debeers takes a nasty face first shot from the ladder and then Jerry busts out an elbow drop on the floor. Billy Robinson is reffing this in his tracksuit and is sort of funny throughout begging Blackwell to abide by the rules. Really fun finish as Blackwell climbing the ladder is almost scary in the sense that you fear if he falls he will die. He goes up one side and Debeers goes up the other and ends up taking a huge flying back bump to the ground. Visually it looked like the opening credits of Duck Tales with Glomgold and Scrooge racing for his number one time, except in this live action version Scrooge decks Glomgold and takes his whole bag of dimes. This is pretty much what you wanted out of these two guys fighting with a giant ladder.

 

Nick Bockwinkel v. Larry Zbyszko

 

I liked this more than I should have. I thought it had a unique dynamic as there is no Larry stalling and they just go straight to it. Bock takes over right away and does the typical AWA tactic of keeping the babyface at bay by driving shots to him while he is on the apron, cept Bock was the baby and Larry was the heel. Larry ends up cutting him off with a lowblow from the floor and then returns the favor by keeping Bock at bay, including a huge Bock bump off of a neck snapper on the top rope. Was shocked to see the reaction Larry got for an ab stretch. Larry hits two rib breakers for near falls, then a third and goes for a diving knee but Bock moves and he takes a pretty wild looking bump on it. Bock locks on the figure-four but Super Ninja hits the ring. Bock attacks him but the tide is reversed. Crazy finish as Blackwell attacks the Ninja, Larry goes for a piledriver but Bock backdrops down for the fall. I thought this was a super fun sprint and deserves a good look.

 

Col. Debeers v. Jimmy Snuka (Diamond Miner's Glove)

 

Is Rick Renslow reffing this? This has some good action actually. I liked Snuka going to the headbutt as his default cut off. The piledrivers looked good. Debeers took some fun bumps. The side suplex off the top on the first run for the glove was a cool spot. God damn, I actually really was enjoying this til Zhukov hits the ring. The finish with Debeers having his own miner's glove to combat Snuka's was clever, but you really wish these guys could have had a match with this gimmick that was marred by interference or absurdity.

 

Midnight Rockers v. Buddy Rose/Doug Somers

 

This is the Rockers title win which we already have.

 

Road Warriors v. The Hennigs

 

This is the full version of the Starrcage 85 match. I wrote up some of it before but I'm gonna repeat myself in saying this is a good match. I actually liked the early Larry stuff better on first watch and the Curt shine stuff was a lot of fun with the Warriors working hard to make him look good. Hennig's escape on the gorilla press and hope spot near fall fucking ruled hard on second watch as well and the cut off spots were really well done. Curt takes some really awesome Curt style bumps in this and he makes a fucking great FIP for the Warriors. Loved the hot tag with Larry coming in off of a big Animal bump onto Curt's knees on a splash attempt. Curt comes right back in and hits his diving dropkick for a near fall that Ellering breaks up. Ellering gets pulled into the ring by Larry and the match gets thrown out. I was hoping this match would have more to it, but it is still good enough to nominate.

 

Jerry Blackwell/Sgt. Slaughter v. Masked Superstar/King Tonga/Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie (Cage Match)

 

We have this already nominated.

 

Sgt. Slaughter v. Stan Hansen

 

Before this there is a clip of Hansen losing via countout in some sort of Bunkhouse match to Sarge and I pray to God it exists in full though I doubt it does. Hansen gets jumped with his chaps on and you think this is going out of control brawl but it settles into more of a straight match. Hansen actually targets Sarge's "canon" arm and the work he brings is pretty nasty and builds to a really moment where Sarge uses Hansen's momentum to drive him into the corner but ends up missing a follow up corner charge for a big bump. Sarge ends up botching a leap frog attempt but they recover well and it doesn't really hurt the match or Sarge's subsequent offensive run. Fucking LOVE the spot with Sarge going for the sunset flip and Hansen just crushes his face with a double axe and then follows up with a big dropkick for a near fall. Sarge takes over briefly and goes for his big canon clothesline but takes a huge bump over the top to the floor. Hansen goes for a lariat, but Sarge locks on a cobra clutch while standing on the apron. Hansen drags him into the ring but they go with the lame countout finish on Sarge. This was good, but not as good as the handheld we have from these two.

 

Brad Rheingans v. Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie

 

This is the Brody re-debut and not really a match. I do think this is the most complete version of the angle we have though. EXTRA

 

The Road Warriors vs. Nord the Barbarian/Boris Zurkov/Doug Somers

 

Holy fuck I really want the pre-tape Ellering promo with hilarious Japanese overdubs to be an EXTRA. Holy fuck the Somers press, into bearhug, into Hart Attack style clothesline spot was fucking awesome and impressive as hell. Animal and Nord have a hilarious miscommunication shortly after that that almost adds to the match as Animal ends up hitting a leaping clothesline Nord's leg. I actually kind of liked the Nord control segment on Hawk and thought Somers was awesome throwing his douchy little short jabs and just getting chucked around like a piece of trash. Loved the atomic drop/diving lariat finish on Somers. This was a shitload of fun and made me want to see Roadies v. Somers/Rose match that surely doesn't exist. EXTRA

The Road Warriors vs. Nord the Barbarian/Boris Zurkov/Doug Somers

 

This was a shitload of fun and made me want to see Roadies v. Somers/Rose match that surely doesn't exist. EXTRA

Roadies never faced Rose and Somers, as you correctly guessed.

 

Note on this match: Nobody can find the correct date for it. It's from St. Paul, and I assume that Somers is filling in for Mongolian Stomper (who was a member of Sheik's army before getting tossed out), but any of the listings for that period do not have this match in it. At this point I'm assuming that the listings for St. paul from mid-85 (when this likely would have happened) have a Roadies vs. Sheik's Army match incorrectly listed.

 

Sgt. Slaughter v. Stan Hansen

 

Before this there is a clip of Hansen losing via countout in some sort of Bunkhouse match to Sarge and I pray to God it exists in full though I doubt it does.

I'll have to look again but I think this is pretty much complete:

 

AWA Super Mix #7

NOTE: All matches are taken from broadcasts of WORLD PRO WRESTLING and have Japanese commentary.

1) Stan Hansen (AWA World Champion) vs. Sgt. Slaughter (BUNKHOUSE MATCH, St. Paul Civic Center, 1986).