July 4^th aired an episode of Verne Gagne's AWA All-Star Wrestling from 1987.

Tom "Rocky" Stone & Mike Tolos versus Chief Wahoo McDaniel & DJ Peterson

DJ pushes off Stone¢s headlock to powerslam him. DJ rolls free of Stones roll-up, then monkey flips Stone. DJ is kneed in the back, but gets a sunset flip on Stone. A tagged Wahoo slaps a tagged Tolos on the ropes, then body slams him. Tolos` head is rammed down into Wahoo¢s knee, Tolos is then chopped down.

A tagged DJ hip tosses Tolos, then takes him to the mat with a headlock. A cornered DJ is jammed in the mid-section by Tolos` shoulder. A tagged Wahoo turns Tolos from the ring apron into the ring. Wahoo tomahawk chops the head of a seated Tolos, then chops Stone off the ring apron.

Wahoo back chops a whipped Tolos down, a tagged DJ snap suplexes Tolos, then flies off the middle rope in the corner for his TNT move (flying shoulder tackle). A tagged Wahoo knocks down Tolos with a knife edge chop, and covers Tolos for the pin as referee Marty Miller counts. DJ dropkicks Stone away as the count reaches 3, ending the match after three minutes.

At AWA studio, Greg Gagne told Larry Nelson that he was never more excited about a match in his career, as he is for an upcoming match with AWA world champion Curt Hennig. Gagne quoted Hennig in saying that Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant couldn¢t beat Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA world championship, but Hennig did. Gagne said that he had gotten a lot of calls from family and friends concerned about his Greg's involvement in a match against Hennig. Gagne said he was not looking for an easy match, and Hennig comes out with his AWA world title to confront Gagne.

Hennig said that Gagne had been moaning and groaning, but thsi would be Gagne¢s last match against Curt hennig for the world belt. Hennig mentioned that Greg¢s father Verne had called Hennig a smart punk, and Verne being a phoney was Hennig¢s retort. Greg slapped the sunglasses off of Hennig, before walking off. An irate Hennig calls Greg a no good son of a bitch, and threatens to kill him, as he storms off the set.

Lance Allen versus "Mr. Magnificent" Kevin Kelly

Madusa Miceli was in a white leather mini skirt as she accompanied her protege Kelly (a.k.a. WWF/WWE Nailz). Commentator Rod Trongard mentioned that Madusa was a replacement for Kelly previous manager Sherri Martel (who left to become WWE ladies¢ world champion). Allen and Kelly engage in a pose down before wrestling. Kelly lulls Allen into a handshake, which has Allen getting kneed in the stomach, and thrown from the ring.

Allen gets to the ring apron and Kelly holds Allens back against the top rope to forearm club Allen¢s chest. Kelly then knocks Allen away from entering with a knee to the head. Kelly goes to the floor to slam Allen¢s head against the apron. Back in the ring, Allen shoulder jams Kelly in the stomach, gives him an inverted atomic drop, but Allen is dropped from Kelly¢s back elbow strike. Kelly goes from a wristlock to an arm bar, then winds up on the twisted left arm, causing Allen to flip to the mat.

Allen takes a knee in the corner, but reverses the whip to the opposite corner. Allen crashes into a cornered Kelly with a shoulder attack, then hip tosses over Kelly. Allen gets punched in the stomach, then given a short clothesline. Kelly executes a snap suplex and cover Allen for referee Gary DeRousha's 3. This match was over four minutes. Kelly flexes again before leaving the leaving. On the slow motion replay of the finisher, Verne complained that Kelly used Allen¢s trunks for the suplex, and Verne said that was illegal (though this is common way to suplex among baby faces too).

Professional boxer turned AWA referee Scott LeDoux was jumping rope in front of a wall that had pictures of Larry Zbyszko on it. Donna Gagne was nearby to talk about the incident at the St. Paul Civic Center in 1986, where Larry Zbyszko broke LeDoux¢s arm. LeDoux explained that Zbyszko's ninja Mr. Go tried to interfere, and LeDoux right fisted punch made sure that Go wasn't seen again. LeDoux said that he didn¢t know who interfered the second time, but Zbyszko caught LeDoux off guard and caused the broken arm.

Donna asked LeDoux why Zbyszko would do this, and LeDoux said that "Zbyszko wants me out of the way because he know can't beat me!" LeDoux said he wanted his revenge, adding that professional boxers Larry Holmes, Ken Norton, Micahel Spinx and George Foreman couldn't end his athletic career, and Zbyszko won¢t either. LeDoux said there is no question that he is ready, then delivers a left punch to a black and white picture taped to a heavy punching bag.

Larry Zbyszko versus Greg Gagne

Gagne chases Zbyszko back and out of the ring. Zbyszko complains about Gagne`s closed fists, then backs Gagne to the corner. Gagne clenches his fists again, and Zbyszko backs off. Referee Gary DeRousha warns Gagne that closed fists are not allowed. Zbyszko gets Gagne in a hammerlock, Gagne reverses the hold and Zbyszko goes to ring apron, causing referee DeRousha to make Gagne break the hold.

Gagne pushed off Zbyszko`s headlock, and Gagne is charged down from Zbyszko`s off the ropes momentum. Zbyszko charges again, but Gagne leapfrogs over him and takes Zbyszko down with a drop toe hold. Gagne wrenches Zbyszko¢s left ankle back with a scissors hold, but Zbyszko would grab the bottom rope to have the hold released. A cornered Gagne blocks a strike by Zbyszko, then punches Zbyszko back.

Zbyszko goes to the ring apron again to complain about the fans. Zbyszko takes down Gagne from the left leg, Gagne brings his right leg down in guillotine fashion on the head of Zbyszko. Against the ropes, Gagne pushes on Zbyszko's face and Zbyszko retaliates by shoving down Gagne. Zbyszko goes back to the apron when Gagne gets up quickly to pursue. Gagne locks his arm behind Zbyszko and takes Zbyszko down with a variation of the arm drag.

Gagne stomps Zbyszko¢s head, then takes Larry to the mat with a headlock. Zbyszko shoves off Gagne to the ropes, where Gagne charges down Zbyszko twice, but Gagne is hip tossed on a third charge attempt. Zbyszko gets Gagne in a head scissors hold, with the help of some hair pulling. Gagne breaks the hold and jumps on Zbyszko to apply a headlock. Zbyszko hair pulls out to re-apply his head scissors. Gagne does a head stand and twists to release himself.

Gagne regains the headlock, but again Zbyszko pulls the hair to get the head scissors back on. Referee DeRousha then counts Gagne's shoulders on the canvas for 2. Zbyszko grabs at Gagne's hair in plain view and protest by DeRousha, then Gagne grabs Zbyszko's hair. Zbyszko headbutts Gagne down to his knee, then Zbyszko pulls Gagne's hair to escape a headlock, and return to a head scissor on Gagne. An escaped Gagne is kicked against the ropes, Zbyszko troes to monkey flip Gagne on his off ropes momentum, but cartwheels away from Zbyszko's legs.

Gagne leaps up and flips Zbyszko over with a flying head scissors. Gagne takes the left leg of a now hopping Zbyszko, then kicks the right left out from under him. Gagne yanks himself to the mat while holding Zbyszko`s left leg, to hyper extend the hamstring. Zbyszko holds the back of his leg and Gagne kicks him off his feet near the ropes. Gagne then twists and ties up Zbyszko`s legs into the Indian Death Lock (a variation of the figure four, where the aggressors puts pressure on the prone subject by using sit down pressure on the tied up ankles).

Gagne sits back and presses the sole of his left boot on Zbyszko` right knee. Zbyszko pulls Gagne¢s hair to break the hold, then backs him to the corner and delivers a spinning karate kick to the abdomen. Zbyszko nails Gagne in the head with a right fist, then repeatedly knees Gagne in the head and back. Zbyszko picks up Gagne for a backbreaker and covers, getting the count of 2. Gagne is Irish whipped to the ropes and into Zbyszko's abdominal stretch.

When DeRousha`s attention is away, Zbyszko pulls on Gagne¢s trunks. Gagne has Zbyszko hangs from his arm, as he eventually takes him over with a hip toss. On three attempts, Zbyszko is too winded to hoist Gagne up for a suplex. Gagne quickly takes that opportunity to roll up Zbyszko for an inside cradle fro the count of 2.

Zbyszko back suplexes Gagne, gets a 2, then misses a dropkick on Gagne. Zbyszko favors his back, then picks up Zbyszko for a body slam, but falls back. Referee DeRousha counts Gagne`s shoulders to the count of 2. Off the ropes, Zbyszko collides with Gagne, and both men fall to mat. Gagne hits Zbyszko in the stomach and face, then slams Zbyszko¢s head to the mat.

Gagne gets up, jogs in place to try and psyche up that second wind. Gagne kicks Zbyszko into the corner, then corner whips Zbyszko to a back body drop. Gagne knocks down Zbyszko with a dropkick, and his second dropkick takes Zbyszko out of the ring. Gagne slams Zbyszko`s head on the ring apron, then body slams Zbyszko on the mat less concrete floor.

Referee Gary DeRousha signals for the bell, as both men have been counted out, ending the match after eighteen minutes of match time. Zbyszko punches Gagne in the stomach, Gagne slaps Zbyszko and throws him in the ring. Zbyszko rolls out and sits on a chair at ringside. Zbyszko stands on the ring apron as Gagne calls him on. Zbyszko gets off the apron to walk around the ring. Gagne goes out to walk in front of him, but Zbyszko walks the other way around the ring.

At the opening of the show, Larry Nelson said that they would air the controversial footage of Larry Zbyszko looking to be assisting Curt Hennig in winning the AWA world title, and putting out the champion Nick Bockwinkel. ESPN Classic must have edited it out of that segemnt for this airing. Nelson announced Anne McEvoy from Ireland as AWA "Fan of the Week" In her letter, she wanted to see what program producer Polish Joe looked like, and I guess she won the Ninja Star wars game.

Catch the legends of AWA Monday to Friday at 12am est on ESPN Classic.

David  http://www.myspace.com/unrulyghouly