AWA WRESTLING REPORT FROM ESPN CLASSIC 3/1/08
- 03/01/2008 (5:57:46 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
….
March 1st 1:33 am
After the replay of the CIAA basketball game that saw Fayetteville State beat Bowie State 67-65, the July 22nd 1986 episode of AWA Championship Wrestling promptly aired. This episode was the first tv show since the July 15th episode. Most of the matches came form the Showboat sports pavilion in Las Vegas Nevada.
The first match has heavily tattooed Don Fargo (I believe the same Don Fargo that teamed with Mid South legend Jackie Fargo) from Hell’s Kitchen New York. Fargo is already in the ring as we see the entrance of Curt Hennig. This was before Curt’s rulebreaking days, and more specifically before he took on the moniker of Mr. Perfect. Larry Nelson, whom I’ve been calling Larry Miller for the past two articles (Sorry Larry), does the introductions. Doing the commentary with Rod Trongard, Lord James Blears and another Larry, who is Curt’s father, wrestling legend Larry "The Axe" Hennig. After a few minutes of rough housing by Fargo, Hennig gets enough. He sees that this isn’t to be just a wrestling match and brings the fight back to Fargo. A bit of a seesaw battle, until Hennig delivered the Axe (a variation of the clothesline that his father was known for) a middle rope missile dropkick, an elbow drop and a cradle roll up. Thus closing the match after 6 minutes of action.
This was a big week for Boris Zhukov fans (..crickets chirping) as this episode offers another match from the Siberian bully. His first two were main events that saw him fall victim to a Crusher Blackwell splash, then to a dropkick cradle combination from AWA champion Nick Bockwinkel. Here he faces Tim Patterson, a young up and comer that provided very little offense against the adamantly aggressive onslaught of Zhukov. After a middle rope splash, referee Earthquake Ferris counted a quick three count, but he could have counted to thirty. This was another 10 minute match that end in 6 minutes. Boris continued to stomp the downed Patterson until Ferris stepped in the way.
After the commercial was Larry Nelson’s interview segment that saw Sheik Adnan Alkaissie unveil the newest member to his army, the madman from Afghanistan, Ali Khan. Nord the Barbarian entered the camera view with a stretcher that Adnan said was a present from the Arab people. Zhukov was there complaining that he had Bockwinkel pinned and that Nick needed to sneak up from behind in order to win. He issued another challenge, and one also on the behalf of Nord. Then Nord folded up the stretcher and charged a bit towards Larry Nelson, who shrieked away into commercial.
Oddly enough this next match wasn’t called the main event. Introduced by Larry Nelson, this was a historic AWA championship bout, it took place about a month before, and was the last AWA title defense of Stan "The Lariat" Hansen. The setting was Oakland California on June 28th 1986 and the opponent was the nearly 500 lb mountain from Stone Mountain, Georgia, Jerry "Crusher" Blackwell. The challenger is coming into this match with an injured ankle, a result of a recent automobile accident. After the announcements, Hansen scares Nelson out of the ring, then goes right after Blackwell with heavy blows.
Blackwell showed that he is certainly on the same page, as he returned with heavy shots of his own. So heavy that Hansen was knocked out of the ring, and when he returned his head was busted open (looking to be the results of blading). Hansen was unrelenting, as was Crusher Blackwell, who again knocked Hansen out of the ring. Still, this did not slow down Hansen’s offense much, until Blackwell applied the bear hug. This was the only wrestling hold the match had to offer, as this was an all out brawl.
At one point, referee Rick Fritz was too close to the action and found himself squashed in the corner. He was unable to get up and count the pin attempt by Blackwell who had just nailed Hansen with the big slash. As Crusher Blackwell’s attention was diverted, Hansen took that opportunity to remove his boot and used it to beat Blackwell over the head with, which opened up Blackwell. Now with both men gushing, Hansen continues to use the boot on Blackwell.
Another referee Gary DeRousha courageously rushed in and tackled Hansen. This was also incredibly stupid, as Hansen flings DeRousha across the ring, and floors him with a punch for his troubles. Blackwell recovers the boot, and uses it to knock Hansen out of the ring. As he is restrained momentarily by an ailing DeRousha, officiating referee Fritz gets to his feet and signals for the bell, ending the match with a disqualification loss to Hansen at the nine minute mark.
After the commercial, a bloodied Hansen was interviewed by Larry Nelson in the ring. Hansen called out Nick Bockwinkel. He also called out Blackwell, mocking his injury and complaining that his opponent used the boot on him and wasn’t disqualified for it. Hansen was still looking hungry for a fight and said that he looked forward to kicking more ass across the country. Hansen would soon forfeit the AWA title, due to switching his commitments to All Japan Pro Wrestling.
The next match was a return to the July 22nd 1986 event at the Showboat in Vegas. Announced first was the debuting Ali Khan, accompanied by his manager Sheik Alkaissie. His opponent is Brad Rheingans, former NCAA champion who coached the US Greco Roman wrestling team to gold and silver medals in the 1984 Olympics. On the larger Khan, Rheingans implemented some basic take downs, leg and arms locks. Khan showed some wrestling technique, that would be reinforced by his brawling and size.
During the match, there was some audio and video difficulties, and the commentary at times sounded like it was occurring underwater. Khan had Rheingans tied up in the ropes, from there, Khan proceeded to kick and punch the incapacitated Rheingans. At one point, it looked like Khan may be reaching for a foreign object in his knee pad. As Rheingans was released from the ropes, Khan was choking him on the bottom rope. Sheik Adnan moved in closer, and he looked as if he was going to take his shots. Brad got a glimpse of Adnan, and took a swing, missing but making Adnan move back.
Ali would go outside the ring and attack, looking to score a count out victory over Rheingans. Brad walked around the ring and got himself fired up, with help of the cheering audience. He got to the apron and repelled Khan’s attacks. Amidst the action, Khan reverse whipped Brad into referee Gary DeRousha. Khan tried to take advantage but found himself flat on his back after a middle rope shoulder tackle by Rheingans. The referee was still down, and Khan was spared a potential pinfall.
As Brad went to help the ref, he noticed Khan was on his feet. He went back and attacked Khan, whipping him in the ropes. When he dropped down for a back body drop, Khan lowered the boom to Brad’s back with a foreign object. The referee caught this and disqualified Khan, ten minutes into the contest.
Khan and Adnan would go on to both attack Rheingans. Khan knocked down referee DeRousha, and referee Earthquake Ferris entered the ring and held off Adnan. Khan took the fight to Rheingans outside the ring and ran him into the ring’s corner post. Larry Nelson went inside the ring to interview Sheik Adnan, Ali Khan and the just entered Boris Zhukov, but the show went to credits.
David
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