June 25^th aired a 1988 episode of Verne Gagne’s AWA All-Star Wrestling from Nashville Tennessee.  

Tommy lane & Mike Davis of the Rock N' Roll RPMs versus AWA world tag team champions Paul Diamond & Sensai Pat Tanaka from Badd Company (accompanied by Diamond Dallas Page with Diamond Dolls Jennifer & Torrie)  

Page brought two attractive young Diamond Dolls to the ring in sunglasses and Zebra striped robes. Page pushed aside announcer St. John and proclaimed "good is good..but Badd is better" Then as Page cracked the whip, Badd Company’s theme song hit and the ladies dropped their robes to reveal their skimpy swimsuits.  

RPM’s attacked before the bell, with Lane tossing Diamond from the ring, then assisting Davis in a back drop on Tanaka. Lane then twirled Tanaka in mid air with a clothesline, then Davis assisted in a double gorilla press drop. Tanaka took a high back body drop by Davis, then a tagged Lane leaped up for a flying leg drop. After Diamond kicked off a pin attempt, Tanaka wiped out on twisting middle rope body press, when Lane ducked out of the way.  

After a vertical suplex, Lane rushed to charge off the ropes and received a knee to the back by Diamond. Tanka made the tag, and Diamond fired away with fists, to continuously slam Lane¢s head to the top turnbuckle, before firing more punches while on the middle rope in the corner. After planting Lane with a forward drive suplex, Diamond struck Davis on the apron. Davis tried to enter the ring but was stopped by the referee.  

The distraction was long enough for Diamond to toss Lane over the top rope, which would have been a disqualification if witnessed by the referee. Tanaka landed shots on Lane on the outside, then Davis threaten Page back away from Lane. Back in the ring, a Diamond body slam would go to a flying double forearm strike by Tanaka on Lane.  

On the apron, Davis backed away from a lunging Diamond, and got suckered into tying up the ref again, by trying to enter illegally. Diamond draped Lane’s arms and throat over the top rope. Tanaka then charged off the ropes and leaped frogged over Diamond, for a splash in their double team finisher. Lane was able to kick out, because the count was delayed as the ref was still holding off Davis.  

Lane was then back body dropped by Diamond and Tanaka, to head smashes to the turnbuckle by Diamond. When Diamond shot Lane to the opposite corner, Lane moved away from a charging Diamond, whose feet missed placement on the middle rope. Diamond fell back after being crotched on the middle rope. A tagged Davis whipped Diamond to lift him up for a Lane powerbomb that Davis assisted on.

Tanaka clubbed off Lane’s pin attempt, and was knocked away by Davis. Lane Irish whipped Diamond into a Davis abdominal stretch, but Tanaka knocked out Davis with a back kick, earning Diamond the 3 count. Lane attacked Badd Company after the bell, and the RPM’s tried to whip Badd Company into each other.  

Badd Company locked arms to turn each other around, but their return charge found them double clotheslined down. Badd Company exited the ring, walking back to the locker room with Page and the Diamond Dolls. Michael St. John returned to the ring to announce Badd Company winning the match and retaining their AWA championships at the 5:55 mark. 

Colonel DeBeers, Soldat Ustinov & Teijo Khan versus Sgt. Slaughter with Ricky Morton & Robert Gibson of the Rock N¢ Roll Express in a six man tag team match.  

Sarge calls for DeBeers but Teijo steps in the way. Sarge slaps hands with his partners, then has DDP back off when Sarge threatens to leave the ring after him. Sarge backs Teijo against the ropes, then goes to DeBeers, who steps down from the ring apron. Teijo lands a stomach kick, but Sarge ducks a wild chop, to atomic drop Teijo three times.  

The second time had Teijo go to one corner, the third had Teijo get double punched in R N R’s corner. Sarge and The Express knocked Teijo back and forth like a pinball until Sarge dropped Teijo with the Slaughter Cannon clothesline.  

Sarge holds Teijo for a tagged Morton gut shot, then Morton whips Teijo for a fall back dropkick. Morton holds Teijo for a tagged Gibson body kick, then Gibson rolls away after Teijo backed Gibson in his corner. DeBeers was tagged, and Gibson tagged in Sarge who chased DeBeers from the ring. Referee Frank Morell backs off Sarge, and DeBeers tags off to Soldat. Sarge pushes off Soldat’s headlock, and both men collide without budging. 

Sarge pushed off Soldat’s second headlock, and as Soldat spring soff the ropes, he is knocked back by a tagged Morton gut shot. Morton is unable to body slam Soldat, and Soldat scoops Morton up over his shoulder for a slam. A tagged DeBeers charges down Morton twice, and is arm dragged down by Morton in a third charge attempt. Morton tags off to Sarge, and DeBeers flees the ring again.  

DeBeers tags Soldat on the ring arpon, but ref Morell doesn¢t allow it and starts counting DeBeers to get back in the ring. DeBeers rushes in and out after tagging Teijo. Sarge lands a knee to Teijo’s stomach, then drops him with a cross forearm strike. Sarge slingshots Teijo into the corner for a double Express punch. A tagged Gibson trips Teijo, then tags Morton, and both Express yank back a leg of Teijo as they forward roll with a punch on Soldat and DeBeers on the apron.  

The Express work on Teijo’s left leg, as a tagged Gibson using the top rope to propel himself from the apron to a knee drop on Teijo’s leg. A tagged Sarge grabs Teijo’s left arm and brings him to DeBeers for a tag, but DeBeers back away. A tagged Soldat clubs Sarge in the corner, then nearly takes Sarge to the floor with a corner whip.  

Soldat whips Sarge for a back body drop. DeBeers went to kick Sarege’s back but did’t connect. Soldat tags DeBeers who rishes in with stomps on Sarge. DeBeers rains down with fists, and then runs from the ring when Sarge gets up after him. DeBeers gets in the ring to tag off to Teijo, who lands chops and turnbuckle smash on Sarge, then holds Sarge for a tagged Soldat’s kicks.  

Sarge reverses Soldat’s corner whip, clubs at Soldat’s chest. Soldat reverses Sarge’s corner whip but looks to hit the steel ring post when Sarge moves away from Soldat’s corner charge. A tagged Morton lands a series of punches on Soldat, then knocks down Soldat with a leaping punch. Morton lands punches on a tagged Teijo, waves in Gibson, and they whip Teijo for a double back body drop. After a double suplex, Teijo rolls to tag DeBeers, who is stunned as Sarge rushing in after being tagged by Morton. 

DeBeers leaves the ring, and goes back to the locker room. Sarge elbows Soldat from the ring apron, then Teijo is knocked into Sarge¢s Slaughter Cannon clothesline from a double dropkick to the back by the Express. Gibson knocks a returning Soldat off the apron, as Sarge hooks the leg and gets the three count victory for his team, though DeBeers was the legal man.  

Tommy "Wildfire" Rich versus "Handsome" Jimmy Valiant  

Valiant danced around the ring, kissing fans to his "Boy From New York City" theme song by The Manhattan Transfer. Valiant barely got through the ropes, when he was taken down with elbows and stomps. Rich clotheslined, choked and landed shots to the throat. Rich pushed the referee away, and then punched him down. Valiant fired back at Rich with punches, then took down a second referee with a punch. Many wrestlers came out to stop the brawl. The most notable was Cactus Jack (Mick Foley), Billy Joe Travis and a long haired Scott Steiner.

Valiant and Rich were not restrained for long as they took the fight from the ring to the floor. After an exchange of punches, Valiant opened up Rich with a shove to the steel ring post. The battle returned to the ring, as the wrestlers restrained Valiant from using the chair, which left an opening for Rich to land fists. In a battle stance, Rich called out Valiant to return to the ring. Then Valiant ran in and chased Rich out. The announcer said that in 2 minutes and 24 seconds, the official ruling for this match was a no contest. 

Samu & Fatu of the Samoan SWAT Team versus World Class tag team champions Michael "P.S." Hayes & Steve Cox 

SSTs came out to Bobby McFerrin’s song "Don’t Worry Be Happy". Hayes and Cox came out to a song from the Fabulous Freebirds Badstreet USA album. Hayes stood on the middle rope dancing, then stomps to rally the crowd as Samu gave him the screw you arms gesture. Hayes was clubbed into the corner, then punched his way of the corner to throw Samu through the ropes. Fatu entered, and Hayes through him through the ropes too.  

Samu struck Hayes into the corner, then whipped Hayes to the opposite corner for a head butt and uppercut chop. Hayes reversed the corner, clotheslined Samu in the corner. Hayes had his back facing a charging Fatu, and moved away just in time for Fatu to accidently corner splash Samu. The SSTs leave the ring, as Hayes does a jerky strut and moonwalk.

Hayes tries to rally the fans, backs Samu to the corner for clubbing right, but Samu blocks and headbutts Hayes down.  

Samu chops down Hayes, lands a leg drop and tags Fatu to assist in a double clothesline. Hayes is whipped for a high kick, and referee Frank Morell counts to 2 before Hayes kicks out. Fatu head twists a seated Hayes, then headbutts Hayes to a Samu headbutt. With the referees attention away, Fatu pulls on Hayes legs as Samu chokes him from the ring apron. After taking a double headbutt in the corner, Hayes punched Samu back and rolls to tag in Cox.  

Cox hammers Samu into the corner with forearms, and back kicks Fatu away. Hayes knocks Fatu out of the ring. As referee Morell gets Hayes back to his corner, Samu pushes Cox to the ropes, Fatu smashes Cox with the championship belt, and Samu gets a count fo 2 on the completed roll-up pin. 

Samu and a tagged Fatu land a series of stabbing chops on Cox in the corner, and Roberts gets on the ring apron and they obey his signal to stop with the attack. Fatu chokes Cox down in the corner, then head twists a seated Cox, before whipping Cox for a powerslam. Fatu gets a 2 count, then strikes Cox in the corner with a tagged Samu.  

A cornered Cox is eye raked and chopped in the corner by Samu. Fatu yanks Cox’s throat onto the top rope, then Cox is headbutted and suplexed for a diving headbutt. Samu gets a 1, Hayes stomps Samu in the head, and Samu’s head accidently hits Cox’s knee. Hayes tries to rally the fans from the apron, but Cox is whipped for double superkick, then a tagged Fatu applied a nerve hold to Cox’s neck.  

Cox elbows out, charges to the ropes, and Samu trips him. Samu whips Cox for a swinging hair pull drop, but falls to the mat when trying to back suplex Cox from the top rope. Fatu is tagged, but so is Hayes, and Fatu is knocked back to a back body drop. Samu is whipped for a flying clothesline.  

Hayes knocks the SSTs heads together, to no effect, and Hayes is double headbutted down. The SSTs whip Hayes to the ropes, duck down for a double back drop, but Hayes nails a double DDT on the SSTs. Cox knocks Samu from the ring with a dropkick, then charging from the ropes to fly from the ring to Samu with a cross body press.

Hayes knocks Fatu to the floor, as Cox sits on Samu while whaling punches on him. The camera flashes back to the ring to show Hayes’s leg leg tied up in the middle and bottom ropes with Fatu on for the 3 count. Samu blocks Cox’s head smash to ring post, and slams Cox’s head to the steel. SST’s are the new World Class tag team champions.  

Wendi Richter versus AWA ladies world champion Madusa Miceli 

Tops Guns accompanied Richter to the ring, ad Badd Comapny accompanied Madusa. With Richter’s song by Cindi Lauper "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" playing and still in their ring jackets, Madusa hurls Richter across the ring with a hair pull.  

Madusa pushes the ref, stands on the bottom rope for a butt wiggle. Richter then pulls Madusa from the corner to the mat with a hair pull. Madusa exits the ring near Badd Company, takes off her ring jacket, then trips Richter out of the ring for a forearm club against the ring.  

Richter backs off cautiously as she noticed she is near Badd Company. Madusa is back in the ring yelling at Top Guns and mocks Richter with a wiggle. Richter removes her jacket, and rolls up Madusa from the ropes for a 2 count. Richter uses Madusa’s hair to snap mare her over, and Madusa did forward roll instead of taking the move.  

Richter gets a 2 count after another hair pull snap mare, then lands a knee on Madusa. Richter slams Madusa face down to the canvas for 1, though the referee signaled 2. Richter overlock takes down Madusa to the mat. Madusa rolls Richter back twice to get a 1 count, then captures Richter in a head scissors. Madusa cranks on the holds, and eventually Richter head stands to an escape.  

Richter is choked back to the ropes, but turns Madusa against the ropes for three shoulder jams to the mid-section. Madusa crashes forward to the mat, then is forearm clubbed down. Richter body slams and splashes Madusa for a 2 count. Madusa clubs Richter down, then both roll to dominate with a choke.  

Richter lands punches to Madusa’s chest plate, then whips Madusa to the ropes. Richter ducks down for a back drop, but moves out of the way as Madusa tries to punt her. Madusa falls back to the mat, but brings her knees up on Richter, who tries to hit Madusa with an off the ropes splash.  

A wobbly Madusa body slams Richter for a 1 count, then drops Richter with a knee lift. Richter grabs the top rope, and Madusa yanks Richter to the mat by yanking Richter’s legs. Richter lands a stomach shot, then forearms Madusa down. Richter Irish whips Madusa for a knockdown high boot to the chest.  

Richter slams Madusa to the mat with a powerbomb, and Badd Company enter the ring prompting the referee to signal a disqualification on Madusa. Paul Diamond pulls Richter off the pin at 1. Then as Madusa grabs at Richter, the Top Guns enters, causing their opponents to flee the ring.  

Catch the legends of AWA Monday to Friday at 1am on ESPN Classic. 

David   www.myspace.com/unrulyghouly