AWA Wrestlerock 86

  • Welcome to "The New" Wrestling Smarks Forum!

    I see that you are not currently registered on our forum. It only takes a second, and you can even login with your Facebook! If you would like to register now, pease click here: Register

    Once registered please introduce yourself in our introduction thread which can be found here: Introduction Board


The New F'n Show

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2010
Messages
7,126
Reaction score
34
Points
48
Location
Detroit, Michigan, USA
Inspired by someone actually commenting, here is my next column.

In 86 the AWA had begun to lose a lot of momentum with Hulkmania running wild in a different company. This show was meant to keep their longtime fans and maybe find a few more. Let's see if it worked.

The showed opened with Olympic Hero and Training extraordinaire Brad Rheingans vs Boris Zhukov the typical anti-American. This was a decent opening match and got the crowd going with the US going over.
4/10

In a complete waste of time we then got a midgets match. Little Mr. T and Cowboy Lang took on Lord Littlebrook and Little Tokyo. Somewhere Vince was watching as 3 of these guys appeared at WM3. 1/10

In what had some potential. Colonel DeBeers one of the greatest anti-America talents ever took on the Native American legend himself and Ric Flair's personal hero, Wahoo McDaniel. I hate the over the top rope DQ rule so that ruined a decent brawl.
3/10

In a match that finally got me excited. Buddy Rose and Doug Summers took on the Midnight Rockers. This was the beginning for Michaels and Jannetty and this feud really got them over big. One match was even featured on an HBK DVD. Solid tag match overall.
6/10

In a move that got me really excited. Tiger Mask (Misawa) took on Rock N' Roll Buck Zumhofe next. I never was a Zumhofe fan but a nice aerial display by Misawa made this more than watchable.
6/10

Next up we had another average tag match that could have been much more with Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo, pretty fresh off a run with the WWF tag belts vs the Fabulous Ones.
5/10

Ok the midcard has been very solid so far. Next up we had former NWA world champion Harley Race vs future AWA world champion Rick Martel. This was a proving ground match for Martel and he delivered. This was a hell of a match from beginning to end but the double countout ending was a bit disappointing.
8/10 and recommended for sure.

Next up we have a women's battle royal yep those existed back then too. Sherri Martel gets the win over Luna Vachon, RIP to both, Joyce Grable, Kat Leroux, Rose Devine, Taylor Thomas, Despira Montega, MistyBlue Simmes, Debbie Combs, and Candy Devine. Martel and Devine ran the AWA women's division for about 3 years.
3/10

Next up we have our first title match of the evening. The America's championship was on the line as Sgt. Slaughter defended against Kamala. Average as expected.
5/10

Next the AWA Tag Titles were up for grabs with two very underrated teams going at it. Scott Hall and Curt Hennig, yes Razor Ramon and Mr. Perfect for you WWF guys vs The Long Riders (Scott and Bill Irwin). This was a really good tag match that went almost a half-hour. A disappointing finish hurt it a little.
7/10

In a feud that should have never happened, Scott Ledoux, a referee and former heavyweight boxer who fought Ali, took on the "Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko in a Boxing match with Larry The Axe Hennig as the referee. This was pretty bad but was what it was.
3/10

The AWA title was up for grabs next with the AWA's version of Ric Flair, and a man that could have went an hour with a broom, Nick Bockwinkel facing the ultimate brawler and JBL's hero Stan Hansen. Since I hate over the top DQ's especially in Title matches this wasn't satisfying enough. It was OK though.
5/10

We then get to the three matchess everyone was waiting for.

First up we have Greg Gagne and a mystery partner vs Bruiser Brody and John Nord in a cage match, known as the Berzerker to WWF guys. The mystery partner would end up being the man that put Cage matches on the map Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. This was a decent cage match but the result was predictable.
6/10

Because of the win AWA Owner Vern Gagne got himself a cage match with Sheik Adnan El Kassey. This was really bad but made the crowd happy.
1/10

In a show that seems like it has lasted forever we finally get to the main event. In another Cage Match featuring tag teams, we got the two premier teams of the day outside of the Horseman going at it. That's right Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin took on the Road Warriors, Animal and Hawk. Really weird to think Animal's kid is in the NFL. This match wasn't that good but it served the purpose of making the Road Warriors look unstoppable.
5/10

Average show overall but way too many matches. That is what Supercards were though back then.
I'd call it all a 5/10.