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Presents From Market Square Arena Indianapolis IN Live on Pay Per View 4-19-89 Brenda Britton and AWA C.O.O. Gerry Morrow are standing in the middle of the ring. Brenda is wearing a sparkling red dress. Morrow is wearing a white tuxedo, sunglasses and fedora hat. He's holding a bottle of champagne. Britton: Hi everybody! Welcome to Champagne Slam. Here's the man who created this event, your one and only AWA C.O.O. Gerry Morrow. Morrow: Ahhhhh Thank you Brenda. Tonight, teams will battle it out in elimination tag team match ups. And trust me, de winners, de last men standing, they will reap de rewards. All dat plus Hansen vs. Funk, de explosive match up between Hulk Hogan and Terry Gordy and finally de AWA world title match between Jumbo Tsuruta and El Canek. (Holds up his bottle, pours Brenda a glass) Now, a toast, to Champagne Slam. Brenda and Morrow raise their glasses as the fans cheer. The Dragon Kings/The San Juan Saints and 'Thrilling' Tom Brandi vs. Sweet Dreams/Vinergy and 'The Fortunate One' Gary Young w/The Vin Man Vinnie leads out the heels as they all wave brooms in the air. The boos turn to cheers as the diverse babyface team heads to the ring. The match starts at a fast pace to get the crowd going. Quick in and out tags so everyone can get a moment to show their stuff. It's Dream Machine and Tatsumi going at it. Dream starts doing a shuffle dance as he throws jabs at Tatsumi. Dream goes for a big right hook but Tatsumi ducks and executes a dragon suplex 1..2..3! Huge Pop! Dream Machine is eliminated. The match continues. The Saints and Vinergy end up in a pier six brawl. Vinergy swings the Saints to the ropes and go for stereo back drops but the Saints hit stereo sunset flips 1..2..3! Another big pop! Vinergy are eliminated and Vin Man is throwing a tantrum. After a minute, Sweet Brown Sugar and Takano are in the ring now. Sugar goes for a missile dropkick but Takano dodges it. Sugar staggers up as Takano executes a bridging back suplex 1..2..3! Sweet Brown Sugar is eliminated. Young gets in there as Takano tags in Brandi. Vinnie is trying to encourage Young but the odds are definitely against him. Young tries to leave but Brandi yanks him back in. They go back and forth. Young gets the upper hand and swings Brandi to the corner but Brandi hops on the middle ropes and comes back with a reverse flying press 1..2..3! Gary Young is eliminated. Vinnie collapses to the ground. It's all over. This was indeed a clean sweep. The Dragon Kings, Saints and Brandi get the heels brooms and wave them in the air as the fans laugh and cheer. The winners of the match- The Dragon Kings/The San Juan Saints and Tom Brandi Leo Burke/'The Foreman' Spike Huber/The Rose Cousins and 'The World's Strongest Man' Bill Kazmair vs. Mean Mike Miller/The High Chiefs/Cannonball Griz and Big Van Vader Miller, the Chiefs and Griz make room as Vader paces around yelling and pumping up. Burke gives his team a pep talk before the bell rings. The Ref gets order and makes the signal. Vader and Huber start things off. Huber gives a valiant effort but things take a drastic turn when Vader swings Huber into the turnbuckles and hits a corner splash. Huber just falls forward as Vader follows with a big splash 1..2..3! Spike Huber is eliminated After more back and forth fighting, Lightfoot tries to use his war club, but Burke nails Lightfoot from behind. This allows the Rose Cousins to finish off Lightfoot with the Rose Bomb. Chief Lightfoot is eliminated That leads to a pier six brawl. Miller clotheslines Randy Rose from behind as Siva Afi follows with a jumping knee drop 1..2..3! Randy Rose is eliminated Burke runs in, grabs Afi and hits a bridging back suplex 1..2..3! Siva Afi is eliminated After a few minutes we get the big boys in action as Kaz and Griz have a slugfest. Griz goes on an onslaught but Kaz manages to survive. Kaz comes back and nails Griz with a shoulder block. Griz staggers as Kaz swings off the ropes and nails him with a double axehandle 1..2..3! Cannonball Griz is eliminated Vader gets in there and goes at it with Kaz. Vader gives Kaz a big body slam and goes to the middle ropes. Kaz staggers up as Vader nails him with a Vader Block 1..2..3! Bill Kazmaier is eliminated After more action, Pat Rose swings Miller into the corner. Rose charges in but Miller moves as Rose hits shoulder first into the turnbuckles. Miller executes a shoulder breaker 1..2..3! Pat Rose is eliminated Burke gets in there and is all over Miller. Miller comes back and gives Burke a good beating. Miller goes for a suplex but Burke jumps over and clamps on the sleeper! Miller tries to fight it but Burke puts him to sleep. Mike Miller is eliminated As Burke stands up, Vader twirls him around and short arm clotheslines him down. Vader goes to the top rope and hits an incredible moonsault!!! That gets a big reaction from the crowd. 1..2..3! Vader gets up and raises his arms in victory and flexes. Winner of the match and last man standing- Big Van Vader Stan Hansen vs. Dory Funk Jr. Dory enters the ring wearing a vest and cowboy hat. This legend gets a warm reaction. Things get chaotic as Stan Hansen comes down the aisle swinging his bullrope. Larry Nelson tries to get out of the way, but Hansen pushes him down. The bell rings as Hansen enters the ring. These two Texans trade punches. They fight inside the ring and to the outside. They continue to trade punches and end up back in the ring. Dory takes Hansen down and works the leg. Dory drops several elbows on Hansen's leg, then sets the leg on the rope and drops several knees on it. Dory pulls Hansen's leg out and applies the spinning toe hold. Hansen is in trouble and fights to reach the ropes. Hansen's in pain as he finally reaches the ropes. Dory yanks Hansen out, picks him up and slams him down. Dory picks up Hansen and delivers a vertical suplex 1..2..Kick Out. Hansen rolls out of the ring and limps around. Dory goes towards the ropes, Hansen grabs his legs and pulls him to the outside. Hansen picks up Dory and swings him head first into the steel post. Hansen hurls Dory back into the ring. Hansen gets in the ring and limps around. Hansen picks up Dory, slams his head on the turnbuckle several times, then body slams him down. Hansen stomps away on Dory's head. Hansen picks up Dory, swings him to the ropes and puts him down with a devastating lariat 1..2..3! Hansen gets up and flashes the bullhorn sign Winner of the match- Stan Hansen 'The Russian Nightmare' Nikita Koloff/Carlos Colon/'The Fabulous One' Steve Keirn and The Gunslingers vs. Sgt. Slaughter/Tony' Simply the Best' St. Clair/Chicky Starr and the AWA National Tag Champs the Olympians There's a lot of arrogance as Slaughter leads his team to the ring. The boos turn to deafening cheers as Nikita leads his team to the ring. Colon gets a nice reaction. The match starts with a brawl! Fists are flying as grudges are being settled. After a good brawl, the Ref finally gets control. St. Clair and Keirn are going at it. Keirn pinballs St. Clair around for a bit. As St. Clair is staggering, Keirn swings off the ropes, but the Olympians nail him with double knees to the back. Keirn stumbles forward as St. Clair grabs him and hits a floating butterfly suplex 1..2..3! Steve Keirn is eliminated After a few minutes, things get wild as Slaughter and Koloff have a furious exchange. These two give the fans an intense back and forth fight. They end up fighting to the outside and into the crowd and into a double countout. Security runs out to calm this situation down. Nikita Koloff and Sgt. Slaughter have been eliminated Patera and Casey are in the ring. Casey works over Patera and hoists him up for a suplex but Rheingans runs in and clips Casey's knee as Patera falls on top 1..2..3! Scott Casey is eliminated After more action, It's now Starr and Colon fighting in the ring. Colon is like a madman as he hammers away on Starr. Starr fights back but Colon is pumped up tonight. Colon nails Starr with a hangman neckbreaker. Colon goes to the top rope. Starr staggers up as Colon nails him with a diving clothesline 1..2..3! Chicky Starr is eliminated Rheingans runs in and gets back dropped. Colon tags in Mantell. Mantell is all over Rheingans and goes for a running bulldog but as he backs up. Patera nails him from behind. Mantell staggers into a cradle by Rheingans 1..2..3! Johnny Mantell is eliminated The fans chant Colon's name as he's the last hope. Colon fires up and goes off on the Olympians and St. Clair. The fans are up and cheering as Colon's a house of fire. As Colon knocks the Olympians heads together, St. Clair nails Colon from behind with a high knee to the back, rolls him up with a handful of tights 1..2..3! The winners of the match and last men standing- Tony St. Clair and the Olympians Hulk Hogan vs. Terry 'Bam Bam' Gordy Lynyrd Skynrd's Freebird blasts into its guitar riff as Gordy walks to the ring wearing a red vest and black cowboy hat. Gordy gets in the ring and is ready for a fight. The crowd goes nuts as Eye of the Tiger blasts. Hogan appears in his red and yellow gear. He looks around at the cheering fans, then points up at Gordy as he heads down the aisle. Hogan gets in the ring and Gordy attacks! The bell rings. Gordy pounds away on Hogan. Hogan blocks a punch and blocks another, then unloads on Gordy. Hogan swings Gordy to the ropes and a big boot to the head sends Gordy back and over the top rope. The fans go wild as Hogan finally rips off his T- Shirt. Gordy staggers around and then gets pissed. He hops on the apron but Hogan runs over, grabs his head and flings Gordy back into the ring. Gordy staggers up as Hogan grabs him and atomic drops him into the turnbuckles. Gordy hits hard and staggers back as Hogan executes a German Suplex 1..2..Kick Out. Hogan swings Gordy into the corner and charges in but Gordy runs forward and clotheslines Hogan down. Gordy regroups Gordy grabs the top rope and drops several knees on Hogan. Gordy chokes Hogan on the bottom rope. then angrily stomps away. Gordy lifts Hogan up and throat drops him on the top rope. Gordy swings Hogan to the ropes and hits a sidewalk slam 1..2..Kick Out. A frustrated Gordy swings Hogan to the ropes and puts him down with a back elbow smash. Gordy follows with a big elbow drop 1..2..Kick Out. Gordy swings Hogan to the ropes but misses a clothesline, Hogan swings back and puts Gordy down with the axe bomber! Now Hogan regroups. Hogan lifts Gordy up and vertical suplexes him down 1..2..Kick Out. Hogan lifts Gordy but Gordy rakes his eyes and hurls him out of the ring. Gordy goes to the outside. Gordy picks up Hogan and body slams him on the concrete. Gordy picks up Hogan, slams his head on the apron and hurls Hogan back in the ring. Gordy gets in the ring and hoists Hogan up then delivers an Oklahoma Stampede 1..2..Hogan barely gets his shoulder up. The crowd roars as Gordy hits the canvas with his fist and berates the Ref. Gordy is pissed and applies the Asian Spike! Gordy clamps down as Hogan suffers. The fans start to fire Hogan up as he shakes his arms. Hogan starts elbowing Gordy over and over until he breaks the hold. Hogan fires away but Gordy grabs him and choke slams him down 1..2..Kick Out. Gordy swings Hogan to the ropes but misses a clothesline, Hogan swings back and clotheslines Gordy down. The fans are up and cheering as Hogan clears the cobwebs and pumps up. Gordy staggers up and throws a punch but Hogan blocks it and punches away. Hogan swings Gordy into the turnbuckles and follows with a running clothesline. Hogan swings Gordy to the opposite corner and follows with another running clothesline. Gordy staggers out as Hogan lifts him up and slams him down. Hogan swings off the ropes and hits the leg drop 1..2..3!!! The fans blow the roof off the place as Hogan stands up in exhaustion. Eye of the Tiger blasts and it's posing time. Hulkamania is running wild in the AWA brother! Winner of the match- Hulk Hogan Intermission Larry Nelson informs everybody that the next Title Night will be in May and held in Japan. He also announces that the next pay per view will be the biggest event of the summer, WrestleRock 89 from the Metrodome! That will be in July. AWA Mid-American Champ Paul Orndorff/ 'Big' Jim Morris/The Bruisers and Missing Link vs. AWA Southern Champ Larry Cameron/Kokina/The British Bombers and 'Mad Dog' Buzz Sawyer w/Skandor Akbar As we've seen in the past couple of months, there's a lot of hate in this match. Of course it's balls to the walls from the start as everybody gets in their heavy hitting shots. It's Sawyer and Link going at it like two wild animals. Link nails Sawyer with a headbutt. As Sawyer wobbles, Link swings off the ropes but Akbar hits him with a crowbar to the back. Link stumbles forward as Sawyer grabs him and powerslams him over 1..2..3! Missing Link is eliminated After more intense fighting, it's now Busick and Smith going at it. Smith gets in some good moves but from out of nowhere Busick hits the spinebuster slam 1..2..3! Johnny Smith is eliminated More back and forth action and now it's Taylor and Strong exchanging blows. Akbar distracts Strong and when Strong turns around, Taylor nails him with a running forearm blast 1..2..3! Billy Jack Strong is eliminated Orndorff gets in there. Taylor turns around and Orndorff kicks him low and follows with a piledriver 1..2..3! Dave Taylor is eliminated After more hard hitting action it's now the big men Kokina and Morris trading blows. Morris has Kokina reeling and puts him down with a big boot to the head 1..2..Cameron breaks it with a stomp which brings in Orndorff. The Ref is trying to break them up. Sawyer comes in and nails Morris. Busick runs in and fights with Sawyer. Morris staggers up as Kokina grabs him and Samoan Drops him down 1..2..3! Jim Morris is eliminated After the chaos, Cameron nails Busick with a flying shoulder tackle 1..2..3! Nick Busick is eliminated Orndorff runs in but Cameron tags in Sawyer. Orndorff and Sawyer have a brutal exchange. Sawyer goes to slam Orndorff but Orndorff cradles him 1..2..3! Buzz Sawyer is eliminated Orndorff spends the next few minutes fighting both Cameron and Kokina. Cameron and Kokina start double teaming him. They miss a double clothesline and Orndorff swings back and puts them both down with a clothesline and the Ref gets sandwiched in and goes down as well. Akbar runs in and hits Orndorff from behind with a chair. Akbar drops the chair and helps Cameron up. Cameron picks up Orndorff and hits an inverted piledriver on the chair. Akbar throws the Ref over 1..2..3! BOOOOOOO Winners of the match and last men standing- Larry Cameron and Kokina 'Bullet' Bob Armstrong/Iceman Parsons/'Superstar' Bill Dundee and The Fantastics vs. 'The Universal Heartthrob' Austin Idol/'The Living Legend' Larry Zbyszko/AWA TV Champ Brian Adias and AWA Word Tag Team Champs The Guerreros A lot of grudges to be settled in this one. The fans are involved as both teams pull out all stops. We get multi men action as the Fantastics put Adias down with a double dropkick and Dundee follows with the Bombs Away 1..2..3! Brian Adias is eliminated Things get crazy with more pier six brawling. This time the Guerreros execute a double back breaker on Fulton 1..2..3! Bobby Fulton is eliminated As the Guerreros celebrate, Rogers rolls up Hector 1..2..3! Hector Guerrero is eliminated Idol gets in there and works over Rogers. Idol hits a shin breaker and finishes things off with the Las Vegas Leglock Tommy Rogers is eliminated Armstrong races in there and goes to town on Idol. Armstrong bounces Idol all over the ring. Idol goes for a wild haymaker but Armstrong ducks and nails Idol with a Jawbreaker 1..2..3! Big POP! Austin Idol is eliminated After more see saw action, Parsons and Chavo are going back and forth. Parsons back drops Chavo. Chavo staggers up as Parsons nails him with the Hip Attack 1..2..3! Chavo Guerrero is eliminated Zbyszko pulls out a pair of brass knuckles, runs in there and knocks Parsons out with them. Zbyszko follows with a swinging neckbreaker 1..2..3! Iceman Parsons is eliminated Armstrong runs in and clotheslines Zbyszko down. Dundee distracts the Ref as Armstrong grabs the brass knuckles and puts them on. Dundee picks up Zbyszko and atomic drops him into a brass knuckles punch by Armstrong 1..2..3! The winners of the match and last men standing- Bob Armstrong and Bill Dundee AWA World Title Bout Jumbo Tsuruta (C) w/Ray Stevens vs. El Canek Media from both Japan and Mexico surround the ring for this big international world title match. The lightshow starts as El Canek comes out wearing a colorful mask and cape. He stands on the turnbuckles as the Mexican Media take pictures. The spotlight shines up the aisle as Ray Stevens comes out in a brown suit. Jumbo walks out wearing a black robe. They enter the ring as Jumbo unties his robe and shows off the world title while Japan's media has a field day. The introductions are made and the Ref holds up the world title. Here we go! The first few minutes is a stalemate as both men exchange holds and counters. Jumbo gets in the first big move with a double arm suplex. Jumbo body slams Canek and follows with a knee drop 1..2..Kick Out. Jumbo hoists up Canek and drops him with a delayed vertical suplex. Jumbo swings off the ropes and hits a jumping knee drop 1..2..Kick Out. Jumbo swings Canek to the ropes and goes for a back drop but Canek does a cartwheel and comes back with a head scissors take over. Canek regroups as he applies a scissor lock on Jumbo. Jumbo fights and makes it to the ropes. Canek picks up Jumbo and hits a Saito suplex. Canek goes to the top rope and crashes down with a flying elbow drop 1..2..Jumbo gets his foot on the rope. Canek hits a snap suplex 1..2..Kick Out. Canek swings Jumbo to the ropes but Jumbo comes back with a crossbody press but Canek catches him and front slams him down 1..2..Jumbo barely gets his shoulder up. Canek goes to the top rope and crashes down with a flying leg drop but Jumbo moves at the last second. Stevens is on the outside having a panic attack. Jumbo rolls around and gets his senses back. Both men slowly stagger up and Jumbo puts Canek down with a lariat. Jumbo picks up Canek and delivers an overhead suplex then delivers another one and then delivers a 3rd one! Jumbo hoists Canek in the air and drops him with a brainbuster 1..2..Canek gets his foot on the rope. Stevens yells at the Ref. Jumbo picks up Canek and dropkicks Canek into the turnbuckles. Jumbo swings Canek hard into the opposite turnbuckles. Canek staggers out as Jumbo delivers a big back body drop. Jumbo goes to the top rope and comes down with a big knee drop but Canek moves. Jumbo crashes down and holds his knee while Canek gets a much needed breather. Canek staggers up. Jumbo gets up and limps around as Canek grabs him and executes an inverted suplex slam. Canek picks up Jumbo and hits a kneeling piledriver 1..2..Jumbo just gets his shoulder up. Canek swings Jumbo to the ropes but misses a clothesline, Jumbo swings back as Canek swings off the opposite ropes and nails Jumbo with a flying forearm blast 1..2..Kick Out. Canek hoists Jumbo on the turnbuckles. Canek hops up and delivers a superplex! Canek covers 1..2..Stevens reaches in and pulls the Ref out of the ring. The Ref is arguing with Stevens. Canek swings off the ropes and nails Stevens with a suicide dive! The crowd is going bonkers. Inside the ring Jumbo staggers up. Canek hops on the apron and nails Jumbo with a slingshot shoulder block. Canek picks up Jumbo, hoists him up over his head and Gorilla press slams him down! Canek swings off the ropes and hits a jumping elbow drop 1..2..Jumbo somehow manages to get his shoulder up. Canek can't believe it. Canek swings Jumbo into the corner and charges in but Jumbo runs forward and nails Canek with a running knee to the head. Both men are down. The Ref starts and standing 10 count and both men rise at 8. Jumbo swings off the ropes and nails Canek with a big boot to the head. Jumbo goes to the top rope and crashes down with a big knee drop to Canek's head. Jumbo hoists Canek up and powerbombs him down 1..2..3!!! Stevens is still hurting on the outside. The Ref gives Jumbo his title. Flashes from the Japanese cameras go off as Jumbo holds his title high. Gerry Morrow comes out and raises a glass to Jumbo. Winner of the match and STILL AWA World Champion- Jumbo Tsuruta

Michael Hayes was 40 when has was managing the Hardys (he was 35 when he first appeared on WWF TV as Dok Hendrix), Matt is turning 50 this year.

Let's skip ahead to WrestleWar, but first, here are the main things to happen on TV outside of squashes and regular promos. TV before Nitro is interesting, but I may do this sometimes. TV from April 4 to May 16, 1992 Recap Sting forms his Squadron to take on The Dangerous Alliance at WrestleWar in War Games. The final member is Nikita Koloff, whom Sting is not sure if he can trust, and Dangerously really tries to plant the seeds that he can't be trusted. The Steiner Brothers go on a rampage and want the Tag Titles back, but can they beat Bam Bam Bigelow and Vader, led by Harley Race? In singles matches, they couldn't. Bret Hart wants to prove he's the best there is, so he accepts a challenge from the best in NJPW, Tatsumi Fujinami, for a singles match at WrestleWar. The WCW World Women's Title Tournament is held with two 8-woman brackets. One in WCW and one in AJW, with the two winners squaring off at WrestleWar. The AJW matches, taped in Japan, are aired on WCW Main Event. In Japan, Kyoko Inoue won the tournament that included Sakie Hasegawa, Takako Inoue, Etsuko Mita, Mima Shimoda, Akira Hokuto, Bison Kimura, & Mariko Yoshida. While on WCW TV, Madusa won her bracket defeating Debbie Malenko, Reggie Bennett, Judy Martin, Leilani Kai, Malia Hosaka, Rockin' Robin, Terri Powers, & Denise Storm. Too Cold Scorpio has retained the WCW Television Championship and will now face his toughest challenge in Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. WCW World Light Heavyweight Champion Brian Pillman has opened his title up to the world and will face El Samurai from NJPW. The Catus Jack and Ron Simmons war has raged on. Their match on April 4th went to a double DQ as they both brawled with weapons. They tried another match, but it ended with another double DQ. They will have a Jacksonville Street Fight at WrestleWar. The DDP and Bagwell feud continued, with DDP always having Vinnie Vegas help him get wins. DDP and Vegas are getting cocky and challenged for the US Tag Team Titles at WrestleWar, and Bagwell promised to be in the corner of the champions to make sure they don't cheat their way to gold. WrestleWar 1992 Card Sting's Squadron (Sting, Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, & Nikita Koloff) vs The Dangerous Alliance (Rick Rude, Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyszko, & Steve Austin) w/ Paul E. Dangerously in a War Games match WCW World Tag Team Champions Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow vs/ Harley Race vs The Steiner Brothers Bret Hart vs Tatsumi Fujinami WCW World Women's Championship Tournament Finals: Madusa vs Kyoko Inoue WCW World Television Champion Too Cold Scorpio vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine WCW World Light Heavyweight Champion Brian Pillman vs El Samurai Cactus Jack vs Ron Simmons in a Jacksonville Street Fight The United States Tag Team Champions The Rock 'n' Roll Express w/ Marcus Alexander Bagwell vs Diamond Dallas Page & Vinnie Vegas How do we feel going into WrestleWar?

Yup, feels like ever since the Best of 7 series they've been ratings death for the most part.

Thus far, the departure of D'Amore hasn't affected the product. This is pretty much exactly the same week-to-week logical storytelling approach, with regular really good matches, some fun segments (Ash by Elegance has been a fun character) and really good produced vignettes (the Gresham stuff). The build to Rebellion has been effective, some promising stuff on the show, Hammerston vs Alexander 3 last man standing, Eric Young vs Kazarian in a Full Metal Mayhem (basically TLC) match of the OGs, Mustafa Ali vs Jake Something which should be spectacular. The result of the main is interesting too, I could see it going either way, with Nemeth putting over Moose before moving on to other things or Nemeth becoming the champ until Slammiversary, possibly against Alexander (depending where his booking is going with D'Amore gone, the result of the Hammerstone match will probably be a giveaway). Leon Slater & ABC vs Rascalz on the pre-show should be a killer match too.

Some of what they do in this match is actually beyond description. I’d have to list where each body part is to try to put into words what is going on at times. Not everything looks entirely unco-operative, but if we cared about it to that extent then none of us would like any match with an Irish whip or arm drag. The first two falls mostly come off to me like Azteca confidently reversing Dandy, and how much mileage Azteca can get out of his holds. He isn’t able to keep on each one for a terribly lengthy amount of time in the first fall especially, but he’s able to slap on several different holds and apply a lot of pressure on each. Every time Dandy stands up, you can see how much of a toll it’s taken on him through his selling (his left arm alone was aching only a handful of minutes in). Dandy getting outdone again and again and resorting to slams, a lariat and a leg drop was more of the fed up, annoyed Dandy that we saw in some of the trios leading to this, but Azteca had just worn him down too much for it to really matter. Each guy had a lengthy leg-based hold in the second fall, which was great, and although I wished there was a little more limping especially from Azteca, it mattered a lot later when Dandy failed a surfboard in a pivotal moment in fall three. I loved how that third fall started. It was small, but Dandy dodging the dropkick felt like Azteca didn’t have the same smooth confidence that had carried him through most of the match. Fall one and two he could have begun with that and nailed Dandy in the chest, but by now he’d been drained from the leg hold and then was flash pinned in a way he didn’t expect (and heavily trying to kick out before the one count was a good way to put it over). Some of the work around the legs to start the third fall is just outstanding. Again I can’t even try to play-by-play where each of the eight limbs are to try to get across some of what they were doing, but I can at least tell you Azteca has a hell of side Russian leg sweep - a move that rarely actually looks good. Dandy’s fatigue selling was completely fantastic, he looked so beat by everything that he struggled to capitalise on the big moves he did get, I particularly loved how he rolled out of the ring for separation. Azteca isn’t as great a seller as Dandy, but taking his time after his own moves landed helped make the your turn-my turn finish stretch feel more justifiable to me, when I often dislike that kind of thing. It’s such an incredibly built match, especially how they get all the use in the world out of grappling - from the simple to the indescribable - to wear each other down, until we hit the peak of tercera caida excitement. People who don’t like lucha, especially the ground work, will get pretty much nothing from this, but I can happily report to myself from over 10 years ago that 2024 you still sees a huge achievement in mat based wrestling.

Before there was Kim Chee there was Madame M'boba

There are mitigating factors like ad breaks, but doing a year-long analysis of how the Bucks' quarters perform would be interesting, because having checked the quarters every week in real time, in the last year or so, my feeling is they have almost invariably lost viewers, often a massive number of viewers. Some of the drops in the Bucks' quarters are BRUTAL

You ain't packing Ryogoku with this. Korakuen Hall was the way to go. Card looks pretty ok, although Bloodsport is always very hit and miss (the last one was the most fun to me).

Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. Slaughter (WWF, 4/18/81) I'm not even sure I knew his match existed before but this is a heck of a Spectrum match. Slaughter does a brilliant job of jawing with the fans at ringside. He calls a couple of them maggots then mocks their attempts to front him. He beats Pat up a bit then threatens to jump from the top turnbuckle to the floor, which of course he was never going to do. Once he gets Pat n the Cobra Clutch, the crowd shout "Gomer!" at him. Then they transition nicely into Sarge trying to jump off the top rope in the ring and damaging his leg. Patterson tries to take advantage of Slaughter's miscue with a figure four and Slaughter gets himself DQ'ed instead of tapping. After the bout there's a great interview with Pat where Kal has his arm draped over him and Pat is cutting a promo about how much he wants to hurt Slaughter. This pro-wrestling 101 as taught by Sgt. Slaughter and Pat Patterson.

Isn't Oklahoma the first state to ban abortion when they could ? The entire state is a ridiculous anachronism.

Windham is great at this point of his career and is his usual self here. But Dusty in the early going of this gives so much more effort and works much harder than he normally does in this period. The fucking crossbody off the top caught me off guard and is awesome. The claw is definitely long but I think Dusty does a great job when he's in it of making it feel like there's always something happening, he's always trying to fire himself up out of it or falling deeper into it risking defeat (and does both of these things in an very very Dusty Rhodes manner). I really thought this was great until the shitty finish ***3/4 Also Barry Windham couldn't have dyed his roots before a PPV, c'mon

On paper, two shoot-stylists being dragged kicking and screaming into working a southern style tag is not a recipe for success, but Fuchi and Fujiwara are good enough to make it work. The opening matwork is solid and Fuchi looks to have some fun mixing up his style of matwork with the shoot style guys. When it gets going is during the heat segment on Nagai. Fujiwara and Fuchi instantly become deliciously smug working him over. Even a mundane spot like the heels switching without a proper tag becomes a hilarious moment for how charismatic the old guys are. An unfortunate clip (thanks GAORA) means we miss the hot tag, so we just come back to Fuchiwara continuing to dominate but with Kakihara in the ring instead of Nagai. It's still pretty fun for to see him get stretched out. Kind of whatever on the shoot style guys winning after getting in like a minute of offense, though at least it was a submission instead of some lame flash pin.

I've started looking through their TV and I kind of get what you mean. So many cool sounding match-ups which get cut for TV to only a few minutes airing. I wouldn't say it's not worthwhile to look for hidden gems, but it's very disheartening.

I see that this match happened and I am happy. I see the length of the video and I am slightly less happy. I see the massive cut made on this match from the 5 minute mark up to the final minute of a 20 minute draw and I am absolutely enraged. I can't fathom why GAORA would so heavily cut what looked like a great match between two of the most important guys to the promotion at this point. The matwork in those 5 minutes does look really good, though. We got a neat leg lock sequence, and I loved the struggle from Hase in preventing Fuchi from applying his STF. Them trading giant swings at the end was also fun. Just hard to enjoy it when you know so much has been clipped out. Edit: Looks like the last 9 minutes were included on a commercial tape. Obviously still not ideal and the quality on the upload is terrible, but if we combine it with the GAORA version we can get a pretty good feel for the match. The comm version shows some awesome struggling for leg locks and some hilarious Fuchi selling.

WWF Martial Arts Champion Antonio Inoki vs Mr. X - NJPW 2/6/79 What a shitshow! In a quest to recapture the magic of Muhammad Ali has a bunch of terrible pro wrestler vs martial arts fights. This seems like a precursor to the Different Style Fights they use a Round system. Mr. X is a black man under a mask with a gi and boxing gloves. Mr. X is the shits. Terrible punches and is very uncoordinated. Inoki gives pretty much the whole first round to this chump more than he would give his peers lol. He does the sliding kicks like this guy is Ali or something lol. Eventually Inoki ends the farce with a straight right, Enziguiri and Octopus Stretch which of course gets fucked up because X can’t hold his balance. This goes to a third round. Inoki armdrag and cross armbreaker finishes with no fanfare. Terrible match. Do not watch this.

Antonio Inoki vs Tiger Jeet Singh - NJPW 1/9/76 What if I told you a match had double juice, one dude getting busted open by a sword, the other by a glass bottle or some sort of tank, punches to the cut, biting the cut, steel chairs, guard rails, choking. Sounds killer. These two I don’t know what it is but they just don’t have it together. I love Inoki so it seems like a Singh problem. Does Tiger Jeet ever wrestler anyone else? The What and Why are there but the How is just heatless and no vim or vigor. It is weird because a verbal description would sound badass but it was anything but. There would be glimpses of that could be great but nothing sustained. The biggest pop was a fan nailed Tiger Jeet with a paper ball. Inoki was brutalized for the first ten minutes, made his comeback, double countout and then sent Tiger packing by kicking his ass. Maybe if it was more back and forth. It is probably just everyone is right, Tiger Jeet just kinda sucks.

I really enjoyed in the Orange Cassidy match every time Brody King hit OC he just fell straight down.

Survivor Series 87 is where they started having the Big 4 shows. Royal Rumble was only a TV special the first year, but starting in November they had Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, and then Summerslam from Fall 87 to Summer 88. So that would be a fitting breaking point between the 2 eras.

Looks like AEW is working with artist Rob Schamberger. I love this because wrestling companies having a staff artist reminds me of the 60s New York Jets. He's a really cool guy and I'm sure he and his wife will be active with AEW's philanthropic efforts. I was only an acquaintance of theirs but ended up a huge fan.

Have you seen the extended clips that the UofSC posted of Londos/Steele some years back? For me it's probably the most tantalizing bit of clipped footage that exists out there. Keep putting off an extended write-up of it, but "Jim Londos invented Battlarts" sounds right as a quick summary. The newsreel clips of their other matches also look quite great.

Wrestling has always been about freak shows. Starting a post about Jim Londos with that probably sounds weird, but I think I haven't missed the mark. I think I get it. The appeal of Jim Londos is that he is a human ant - a small, but freakishly strong dude who goes and slams the bigger wrestlers. He even uses his size as an advantage, working a gimmick with the premise that his low center of gravity, alongside his incredible core strength and positional awareness makes him incredibly hard to take down. Maybe it won't win him a Nobel prize, but it is a very commendable amount of thought and creativity put into the basis of his working psychology, almost unimaginable in the era of "six star matches" and the "greatest wrestling ever". Now, for a word on the historical evolution of the dominant wrestling style. I am weary of making big claims like "Jim Londos invented Battlarts" and "Jim Londos invented cool wrestling", but I am not convinced they are untrue. Watching the available pre-1920s footage of pro-wrestling, obviously a big point is how amawres inspired it is, but to me the biggest takeaway is how much it feels like an exhibition. At this point prowres essentially feels like amateur wrestling flow rolling, with the only difference being that pro-wrestling had Snapmares. From what I've gathered, the 1920s are the decade of transformation, while in the 1930s the new working style is already formed. You could point to this era as the time that the first highspots, like the Tackle and the Dropkick, were introduced - but the main difference lies in the style itself. Strikes are added, matches feel grittier, more intense and violent. Essentially, what seems to have happened is that pro-wrestling evolved to make matches feel more like fights and less like grappling exhibitions, and it did so by increasing the violence and dramatizing the struggle of the grappling, instead of copying the logic of real fights which is "escape the hold as soon as you can and immediately improve your position". And by doing that it actually acquired the tools to mimick great real fights, where moves and styles are connected to individual fighters, given meaning, played up in the build-up and so on. Londos is at the forefront of all this. He is the legendary champion having great matches we at least have clips of on tape in a style that I absolutely adore watching. The rabbit punches/slaps/forearms we get intentionally have no wind-up, which is like the inverse of 80s American brawling, you can easily miss some of them. It's basically a paradox - they are doing it for flash, but in a way that is as realistic and unflashy as possible. But in turn, it makes the whole thing feel more organic, it glues you to the action and makes this wonderful pastiche dramatic and exciting without going overboard in the silliness. Maybe only paradoxical logic could have worked in a medium that was a paradox itself? Anyway. I'll have to figure how to compare him to those born in times of affordable widely available advanced video technology, but there's no way I'm submitting a "best wrestlers" list without Jim Londos on it.

Man, what a mindfuck to watch a fully formed southern tag from 1959. Signature spots like ref distractions, double teams, and saves are all present here in basically the same form as you'd get from 80's stuff. About the only sign of this being a 50's match is a body slam being treated like a finishing hold. That aside, I liked this a lot. I usually watch 50's stuff to see guys trading holds, but they did a pretty good job working a striking oriented match. They kept a good pace and all the stuff looked snug. The FIP section was also pretty entertaining due to the guys on the apron being almost as active as the wrestlers in the ring in trying to help their partner. I also liked how the FIP was constantly trying to go back to his corner and needed to be held back by the opposing team.

Ha, I've always said Earth 1 Hogan starts when he goes exclusively to yellow trunks. The last non-yellow trunks Hogan on tape I'm aware of was vs Race @ MSG, June of 87. Maybe the first Survivor Series is the beginning of Earth 1 WWF? Then you could explain the nonsensical teammate issues (Steamer w. Savage and Roberts, Hogan w. Orndorff) as not mattering because they only feuded on Earth 2

Card looks very interesting. Not surprised it's not selling well though. Sumo Hall was a very ambitious goal to begin with.