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Adrian Adonis


Grimmas

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  • 2 weeks later...

Available Adonis material from the AWA:

 

Adonis vs. Larry Hennig (St. Paul, 1981)

Adonis vs. Greg Gagne (St. Paul, 1981 or possibly 82)

Adonis vs. Jim Brunzell (St. Paul, 1981)

Adonis vs. Hulk Hogan (St. Paul, 1982)

Adonis/Ventura/Blackwell vs. Andre/Hogan (November 1981 St. Paul)

several Adonis/Ventura matches vs. the High Flyers spanning a large portion of 1981, including the cage match, 2 non-title matches from Winnipeg and Minneapolis, the long complete 3/1/81 match from St. Paul, plus a good chunk of clips from the title change in Green Bay in May 1981.

Adonis vs. Tommy Rich (Las Vegas, 1987)

Adonis vs. DJ Petersen (Las Vegas, 1987)

Adonis vs. Greg Gagne (Las Vegas, 1987)

Adonis/Orton vs. The Rockers (AWA TV 1988)

Adonis/Ventura vs. Gadaski/Reese from AWA TV (noteworthy for the Adonis-Gadaski exchanges, which are pretty cool)

a Ventura/Adonis highlight package that I have noted for some of the moves Adonis pulls off within the highlights)

Ventura/Adonis vs. Verne Gagne/Mad Dog Vachon (Minneapolis, 1980)

Ventura/Adonis vs. Rick Hunter/Buddy Lane (2/3 falls from AWA TV 9/80)

Ventra/Adonis vs. Ray Stevens/Tito Santana (2/20/81, Minneapolis)

clips of 2 Ventura/Adonis matches against Bruiser and Crusher in Chicago, 8 and 9/81)

Ventura/Adonis/Blackwell vs. Hogan/Gagne/Brunzell (Minneapolis 1981)

Ventura/Adonis vs. Kenny Jay/George Gadaski (December 1981, AWA TV)--Ventura and Adonis lose the first fall and then go nuts, which got them suspended from the AWA. They were already wrestling in the WWF at this point and Adonis was only a few weeks away from headlining MSG against Bob Backlund--another really good match.

Ventura/Adonis vs. Domenic DeNucci/Tony Parise (MLG Toronto, winter 1981)

 

A large portion of the AWA matches are JIP in the usual AWA fashion. A few are complete. there may be a few more matches that I'm forgetting about right now, and I have not included any of his interview segments, of which there are a lot with him and Jesse.

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Wildly overrated at one point, now I'm not sure what the general feel on him is. I think he was really inconsistent. There are moments where he looks like a legitimately great worker and other moments where he can really derail things with his schtick. I had almost completely soured on him a few years back, but I do like him in Portland in 79, and the AWA stuf is certainly more good than bad, with some very good mixed in. I also have grown to like some of his late stages WWF work more than I used to, though none of it is great. On the other hand I've always been pretty low on his big Backlund match that others love, and with the exception of one great handheld match from the WWF, I really don't like his team with Murdoch at all. I especially dislike him in NJPW. I don't know. I can't completely dismiss him because he has high points that I love, but he really doesn't stand out to me as someone with a lot that I need to rewatch, so I'm not sure how he makes my ballot

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  • 11 months later...

Adonis is one guy that I can say I find repulsive. As in, physically repulsive. And apparently, he was quite a repulsive guy (bully, gross, whatever). Real great mechanic, but as far as a worker goes, jury's out as far as I'l concerned. I'm in between I guess.

 

I really don't like his team with Murdoch at all. I especially dislike him in NJPW.

 

Oh man, those loooooooong ass tag matches with Murdoch, going nowhere forever. Yeah, I get the feeling. Will rewatch the Backlund stuff at some point.

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  • 7 years later...

Trending up for me. I love the Portland run, I love the East-West team with Ventura, I'm in the process of looking at his team with Murdoch at the moment. Feels like a lesser Buddy Rose in some ways but still quite excellent in his own right. The sort of guy who worked in a lot of different places so a comprehensive goodhelmet comp mightve been the thing he needed to become a more obvious candidate.  

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