Posted March 26, 201213 yr comment_5498586 High Flyers/Hulk Hogan v. Jesse Ventura/Ken Patera/Bobby Heenan - Already nominated Battle Royal - JIP. Andre The Giant/Hulk Hogan v. Nick Bockwinkel/Bobby Heenan/Bobby Duncum/Ken Patera JIP. This was fun to watch as you have Hogan working as Ricky Morton and doing armdrag hope spots to set up the hot tag. This was novel to watch, but not a nomination. Buck Zumhoffe v. Bobby Heenan Ten minute challenge, if Heenan can't win he has to where the weasel suit. Heenan is so fucking great that he makes a really telegraphed dropkick spot look awesome. Buck keeps fleeing to kill time which of course is driving Bobby nuts. Buck landing on his feet on the back body drop, dropkicking Heenan to the floor and then slingshoting Heenan in was a cool sequence. This was pretty heated but it was put together strangely as they didn't want to make Buck look like Heenan's bitch, so the normal heel heat section you would expect in a challenge like this really didn't exist. think this is the most complete version of this we have, but I don't really see it as a nomination. Baron Von Raschke v. Dizzy Ed Boulder JIP. I think Boulder is Beefcake. I don't hate the Baron, but Baron v. Beefcake is damn near my all time nightmare match. Boulder works a headlock base and at times seems unsure as to how to execute it. No I'm not exagerating. This wasn't very good and isn't the Baron match tomk is looking for. Woman's match from Japan (looked like Madusa v. Nagayo, but I sped through it). Rick Martel v. Billy Robinson Really incomplete and chpppy VQ. Notable mainly because Al Hayes comes into the ring and somehow convinces both men to take a draw. Kind of odd. Road Warriors/Ellering promo Baron promo. Nick Bockwinkel/Mr. Saito v. Fabulous Ones This is the complete match, with ring introductions that is on AWA Rarities 7 and is already nominated Curt Hennig v. Kevin Kelly This is fucking bizarre as it is difficult to tell who is working heel and face based on the crowd reactions and Trongard is talking about Curt's career working for Don Owen and Kevin Kelly's physical specs. Kelly throws a terrible looking clothesline, but Henning does a good job selling it to the point where I almost forgot how shitty it looked. They do the old kick out the legs spot with Curt who sells it like death. Kelly no sells a chop, so Hennig hits a single leg and attacks the leg. Kelly takes back over and is just fucking awful. I mean he cannot execute anything properly, including a powerslam. How the fuck do you mess up a powerslam? Curt steals the wins after a couple of good near falls. This was heel v. heel I think and is probably the worst Hennig match I've seen from this era (though it wasn't totally unwatchable). Curt Hennig v. Jerry Lawler JIP. This is from the Showboat and Lawler takes a crazed delayed bump onto the concrete seconds in. Lawler pulls him to the floor and hits some sweet shots. Hennig is reeling and takes an insane tumble through the ropes to the floor. He goes to post Hennig, but Lawler taste the steel instead. I assume this exist in full but the couple of minutes here rule. Sgt. Slaughter v. Larry Zbyszko We have this already.
March 27, 201213 yr comment_5498603 Boulder is Beefcake. Hennig-Kelly is from Minot, ND, I think from late 1987. I liked it much more at the time for the heel vs. heel aspect of it.
March 27, 201213 yr Author comment_5498605 Boulder is Beefcake. Hennig-Kelly is from Minot, ND, I think from late 1987. I liked it much more at the time for the heel vs. heel aspect of it. I think it is a very interesting match to watch because of the fact that it is heel v. heel. Also a cool comp to Blackwell v. Kelly which in my view was a better match, despite Blackwell's obvious limitations at that point in his career. Hennig tried hard, but Kelly was SOOO fucking bad it's unreal
March 27, 201213 yr comment_5498645 Woman's match from Japan (looked like Madusa v. Nagayo, but I sped through it). I forgot to mention, but this match occurred in Las Vegas at the Showboat on a 10/15/88 AWA card. I think that qualifies it as an AWA match, although I assume it was filmed for showing in Japan and not regular AWA TV, judging by the camera work and japanese commentary. I can't remember if there is enough there to review, just a heads-up. There is a similarly filmed Road Warriors vs. Bockwinkel/Saito clipped up match filmed for Japanese TV from 1985 from the Showboat that never aired in the U.S. They only aired the last few minutes of that one IIRC. I also just got in an AJ classics airing of the Baba/Wajima team on tour of the US when Wajima was brand new to the sport and one of the bouts is an AWA squash from Vegas, if you'd like to see that at some point.
March 27, 201213 yr Author comment_5498649 I'll go back and watch it. Usually I'm good at picking up where stuff is, but this was shot dramatically different than anything I've ever seen from the Showboat before
