AWA All-Star Wrestling – 11.11.1989 – THE PINK ROOM OF DOOM

We’re jumping around a bit too much with these Team Challenge Series episodes, but when more content is unleashed on the world, you make the adjustments necessary. Last time I covered the AWA Team Challenge Series, we went back to the beginning, with the draft lottery setting the teams captained by Larry Zbyszko, Baron von Rashke and Sgt. Slaughter, and at least half the names drawn were either on the way out or never made an appearance for the company going forward. We’ve also covered the November 18th episode of All-Star Wrestling, which featured the angle that would write Greg Gagne off as an in-ring competitor (at least full-time, but he never wrestled again for TV, so…)

Tony the Tiger Marshall and Nick Bockwinkel are our hosts inside the EMPTY PINK ROOM OF DOOM. We throw it to AWA President Joe Blanchard (father of Tully, in case you were wondering) who goes into this Jack Tunney spiel about how things have gotten out of control, and for safety purposes, matches will take place in this new, secure location. OK, so the story is that the AWA needed to tape TV and either couldn’t get a venue or couldn’t afford to rent a venue, so they filmed a bunch of matches inside a TV studio and came up with this reasoning (using the career-ending injury to Gagne as the last straw) to explain why we’re watching wrestling inside the worst location you could imagine.

The Destruction Crew (w/ Johnny Valiant) vs. Frankie DeFalco & Chris Curtis:
The Crew (Wayne “The Train” Bloom and “Mean” Mike Enos) are the newly crowned AWA Tag Team Champions, and represent Larry’s Legends in the Team Challenge Series, and I swear, wrestle on almost every episode of AWA until the end of days. DeFalco and Curtis have popped up as enhancement talent for other companies, with Curtis’ most famous WWF moment being part of a match with the Million Dollar Man where he paid off another wrestler to take his spot (only for the job guy to lose and suffer post-match humiliation). We don’t get proper ring introductions; instead, we get Nick Bockwinkel reading off scouting reports of the teams.

Mean Mike starts, sending DeFalco into the corner. Whip across the ring is reversed and DeFalco with a pair of arm drags and a slam. Greg Gagne joins the commentary to talk about the uncertainty of his future in professional wrestling. Curtis tags in and Enos quickly stuns him with a gut punch. Whip to the ropes and Curtis busts out a sunset flip. Man, there’s no drama to some spots without a crowd to react. I’m immediately thrown off by the announcement that the Destruction Crew needs to finish this match in under 5-minutes to get points. I’m pretty sure they limited how points were earned for the TCS fairly quickly. Mean Mike with a powerslam and he picks Curtis up at two. Wayne the Train comes off the top with their modified Doomsday Device for the victory at 2:57. Lee Marshall gets a post-match interview from Valiant and the Destruction Crew. Mean Mike is ready to talk, but Wayne cuts him off and says he can handle this one (as we discovered, this is a running gag that carried on until AWA stopped producing TV, and was probably done to keep Mike from talking since his promo skills were weak). Valiant just rambles about nonsense (so a typical Johnny V promo).

Doug Somers vs. Tommy Jammer:
We’ve got legitimate Team Challenge Series competition here, as PRETTY BOY Doug Somers is representing Sarge’s Snipers and subbing for the “injured” Jonnie Stewart, while Tommy Jammer is fighting for Baron’s Blitzers and is having an impressive rookie campaign (or so sayeth the flock). Somers’ pale skin and powder blue tights blend well with the pink walls.

Lockup and we run through the international. Jammer scoops Somers up with a slam and takes him over with a side headlock. Somers with the escape and a cheap shot in the corner. Again, hard to get invested in heel/face spots with ZERO crowd. Jammer reverses a whip across the ring and goes back to work with the headlock. The Trooper has joined the commentary team because… I don’t know. Maybe the men’s room was at maximum occupancy. Jammer complains about Somers being greased up, but the referee finds nothing wrong. Both men waste time standing around daring the other to do something. Just as I’m ready to get extra-snarky, Somers gives Jammer a beautiful back suplex. Snap mare out of the corner, followed by a slam and knee drop. Jammer teases a comeback, but Somers powders. Back inside, they continue going back-and-forth and this match has overstayed its welcome. Somers with gratuitous assault of the eyes of Jammer. Somers sends Jammer into the post, dropping him to the pink room floor, and the referee calls for the bell at 8:29… awarding the match to JAMMER FOR SOMERS RAMMING JAMMER INTO THE POST?! Yes, that’s the finish as told to us by Bockwinkel. Later in the show, we’re told DOUG SOMERS WON, but then the Team Challenge Series scoreboard doesn’t make sense.

Post-match, Lee Marshall gets a word from Doug Somers, who promises to bring wrestling back to the AWA. Johnny Valiant shows up again and gives his endorsement to Somers. Spoilers: Doug Somers would be gone by the end of the year.

Col. DeBeers vs. Rick Schroeder:
During the post-production introductions from Bockwinkel, we’re notified of the “you can earn points by winning matches in 5-minutes or less” stipulation. Sgt. Slaughter is sitting in on commentary, and the big deal with Slaughter’s team is the friction between himself and several heels on his team, specifically DeBeers. Lockup and DeBeers grabs a side headlock. Schroeder catches him off the ropes with a pair of slams. DeBeers blocks being dropped across the top rope and lands on the chest of Schroeder. DeBeers puts the boots to Ricky and twists his mustache for maximum heel heat (if he were working in front of a crowd!). The Colonel busts out an enzuigiri. Schroeder reverses a whip to the corner and follows in with a crummy avalanche. DeBeers sends Schroeder across the ring and drives him face-first to the canvas for three at 2:54. Slaughter says he’s going to have DeBeers represent his team in the Turkey Hunt—wait, WHAT?

Lee Marshall gets the post-match comments from the Evil Colonel. Marshall says the announcement was just made that Slaughter signed up DeBeers for “The Great American Turkey Hunt.” DeBeers responds with a look like pretty much anyone with half a brain would have; “WHAT THE HELL IS A TURKEY HUNT?!” This leads into DeBeers cutting a promo on Thanksgiving and using some colorful descriptions that were racially insensitive in 1989, and not worth typing in 2025 (negative stereotypes of Native Americans).

We get a laughable moment out of Eric Bischoff, who is doing his usual work in front of the green screen, saying the fans in the arena are going crazy over all the action that has taken place from the secured location. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This leads to the Team Challenge Series Update, which shows that Baron’s Blitzer’s lead the early scoreboard with 6 points, trailed by Sarge’s Snipers (4 points) and Larry’s Legends (3 points). Today’s Main Event puts the Sarge and Baron teams against each other, which guarantees poor Larry being stuck in third. Speaking of the Living Legend, he cuts a promo burying Thanksgiving, but for different reasons than DeBeers that might paint him as a babyface, and he won’t reveal his representative for the Turkey Hunt.

Pat Tanaka & The Magnificent Mimi vs. Paul Diamond & Candi Divine:
The Main Event of the episode, and under Mixed Tag Team Rules. Tanaka and Mimi represent Sarge’s Snipers while Diamond and Divine are for the Baron’s Blitzers. Don’t expect to see much of Tanaka in the Team Challenge Series, as he would get scooped up along with Akio Sato by year’s end and debut with the WWF as “The Orient Express” in February.

We joined the match already in progress, with Divine in control of a top-wristlock and using the hair to send Mimi crashing to the canvas. Mimi with a hair pull of her own to counter. Tanaka and Diamond tag in, which means BADD COMPANY EXPLODES! Oh, and Orient Express 2.0, but that hasn’t happened yet. Tanaka moves in aggressively, working Diamond over in the corner. Whip across the ring and Diamond pops out, turning Tanaka inside-out with a clothesline. The women are back in for literally 15-seconds before it’s back to the men. Whip and Diamond with a BAAAAACK body-drop. Another tag and it’s a mess as the referee is yelling at Divine to get out of the ring, only to realize Tanaka tagged out, so he’s all “hey you, get back in here.” Mimi throws a dropkick like Erik Watts and hits the world’s weakest clothesline from day two of professional wrestling training.

I’ll give everyone credit, they’re (mostly) putting in the effort here for an empty room match. It’s not GOOD, but they could be taking the day off. The women take turns with the slingshot to nowhere. That feels like such a 1960’s Moolah spot. Lee Marshall has legitly described action with “going to town” at least 20 times on this episode. Tanaka counters a back body-drop and connects with a Super-Kick! Mimi with a missile dropkick to Diamond! Tanaka scoops up Divine but Diamond with a dropkick to knock her on top for a near-fall. I seriously expected that to be the finish. Divine and Mimi trade chokes and hair pulls. Another wretched clothesline from Mimi, to the point that Nick Bockwinkel calls attention to it. Tanaka yanks Divine down as she hits the ropes and Mimi covers for three to end it at 9:12 (shown). Well, that looked weak, but at least we’re finished with the empty pink room for today. The win puts Sarge’s Snipers in first as they hold the tiebreaker of 3 wins with none of them coming via DQ.

Post-match interview, Tanaka and Mimi disregard the accusations of cheating as well as Slaughter’s complaints of how they won the match. We follow with comments from Diamond and Divine, who are not happy with how things played out. Diamond says that he and Tanaka still have something to settle and Divine has her eyes on becoming a 3-time Champion.

We run down the results for today and hype next week’s Main Event, an 8-Person Mixed Tag Team Elimination Match! Unfortunately, I don’t have the episode of Championship Wrestling or All-Star Wrestling that features it, but for those curious, it’s Paul Diamond, The Trooper, Mike George and Candi Divine vs. Pat Tanaka, Doug Somers, The Unknown Soldier, and Magnificent Mimi. Maybe in a few months someone will dust off that episode and we’ll come back to it.

Final Thoughts: The ha-ha hilarity of the Pink Room of Doom is amusing for about 5-minutes, but then we’re getting a bunch of poorly worked matches that try to do schtick with no one to react to them. We didn’t get anything TOO ridiculous this week as far as the TCS gimmicks are concerned, but the announcement of the Turkey Hunt and Col. DeBeer’s reaction will always get a laugh out of me. Looking at the results from this taping, it looks like they brought a skeleton crew of wrestlers, with Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka working opposite each other THREE TIMES. I guess when you’re taping in an empty room, you can do whatever you want.