AWA Championship Wrestling – 12.18.1989

It’s been a while since we’ve looked at some dying days of AWA. When we last checked in on the AWA Team Challenge Series, we had an All-Star Six-Man Tag inside the PINK ROOM OF DOOM as Tommy Jammer, Scott Norton, and The Trooper defeated AWA World and Tag Team Champions Larry Zbyszko and the Destruction Crew. Also making appearances were Nikita Koloff, Crusher Blackwell, and “The Illustrious” Jonnie Stewart.

Eric Bischoff welcomes us from the world’s worst green screen, letting us know we’re getting a DOUBLE MAIN EVENT; Larry Zbyszko defends the AWA Championship against Nikita Koloff, and the Destruction Crew team up with their manager Johnny Valiant to face the Fantastics and Crusher Blackwell, a reveal made on YESTERDAY’S program. Yes, a company that was taping roughly 15 matches per month were putting on a charade that they were pushing fresh, daily content on ESPN. When looking in the archives for the next episode, I was scratching my head about the date, but now it makes sense.

The Trooper vs. Tom “Rocky” Stone:
Lee Marshall and Nick Bockwinkel are in the booth to call all the action. I was ready to say all the matches on this episode were taped on November 18th from the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, MN, but of all the matches on the episode, this one isn’t listed, and I can’t find it under any other date within reasonable proximity. The Trooper represents Baron’s Blitzers, and if you’ll remember, TOM STONE was drawn for the Team Challenge Series as well, filling out the ranks of Sarge’s Snipers. Does… does that make this a TEAM CHALLENGE SERIES MATCH?!

Trooper’s got a little bag of goodies… toy deputy badges! He surprises Stone with a clothesline and goes to work on the arm. Whip into the corner and Trooper marches around the ring, planting Stone with a slam. Stone gets a few shots in, but Trooper quickly cuts him off. That ring sounds terrible. We get the fabulous mounted 10-punches in the corner and Trooper puts Stone down with the BIG PINCH (double nerve hold) for the victory at 2:04. The Trooper adds insult to injury by giving Stone the citation. Stone pops up, feeling disrespected, and gets hit with another clothesline for his troubles! We throw it to Eric Bischoff, and we can hear “Is there going to be an intermission?” Wonderful editing from the AWA studio.

Eric Bischoff again talks about yesterday’s episode, where Paul “Hard Rock” Diamond and Pat Tanaka were in action, but Akio Sato interfered. Diamond is looking for a partner, and it’s CRUSHER BLACKWELL! Sorry, that was just a trigger reaction based on earlier when “yesterday’s episode” had ANOTHER “we need a tag team partner” segment. Paul Diamond brings in The Trooper to be his partner against Sato and Tanaka! It will be tomorrow’s Main Event at 4pm ET on ESPN!

The Fantastics & Crusher Blackwell vs. The Wrecking Crew & Johnny Valiant (w/ Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie):
Several weeks ago, Crusher made his return to action, vowing revenge on behalf of Greg Gagne for what Kokina Maximus did, which explains Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie being at ringside. The Fantastics are made up of Bobby and Jackie Fulton, for those unsure about the Fantastics timeline (mid 80’s Mid-South or Crockett fans are familiar with Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers), and the trio represents Sarge’s Snipers, and of course, the dastardly Champions and their manager represent Larry’s Legends. There’s no shot the finish is anything but Valiant taking the L, right? Like, you can’t do a BS DQ/Count-Out finish with THAT in the lineup.

It’s a half-hearted donnybrook to start, with the babyfaces standing tall! Maybe my hearing isn’t what it used to be, but I swear the camera zooms in and catches Al-Kaissie saying a naughty word that rhymes with “maggot.” SHAME, ADNAN! SHAME! Blackwell and Valiant start?! Valiant goes to the eyes and fails spectacularly with a slam attempt. Blackwell crushes Valiant in the corner and allows the Fantastics to take over. Why is the comedy manager working the opening THREE MINUTES of a match with five other available (and serious) competitors?

The comedy show ends, with Jackie Fulton getting hung up across the top rope. I was expecting a heat portion, but he casually tags out to Bobby, who easily handles the Tag Team Champions. They open the goal posts on Wayne and Blackwell splashes him across the lower abdomen. Mean Mike tags in for the first time, and he’s not doing much better. I’ll give Blackwell credit; he’s not just standing on the apron, he’s getting involved in the match quite frequently.

It’s total domination until Enos blasts Jackie with a clothesline while he has Wayne trapped in an Octopus stretch. How is it possible that in a match with washed up Crusher Blackwell, Johnny Valiant is 10-times worse looking in everything he does? Bobby in, running wild with right hands and a modified roll-up for two. Whip and a double dropkick from the Fantastics, followed by a clubbing clothesline from Blackwell. Heck breaks loose, and OH MY GOD, ADNAN AL-KASSIE GRABS CRUSHER FROM BEHIND, DRAWING THE DISQUALIFICATION AT 9:11! Wow, protecting JOHNNY VALIANT in 1989. That takes some balls. I was mostly enjoying this, minus Valiant’s inept work and the god-awful finish. That also closes the door on Blackwell’s time in AWA, as he would step away from the ring for good the following year.

Mike Enos and Wayne Bloom are hopping mad at Joe Blanchard for putting them in matches that could jeopardize their careers. We keep the gimmick going where Wayne Bloom cuts off Mike Enos whenever he tries to get a word in. Wayne is disgusted they were put in a six-man tag with Johnny Valiant. Their manager is NOT a wrestler, he’s just to handle their business outside the ring. They never want him to wrestle again, and suggest he listens to them.

We get comments from Nikita Koloff and Larry Zbyszko ahead of their Championship Match, some of the most generic soundbites you’ll ever get. Zbyszko doesn’t even mention Larry Land!

AWA World Championship Match:
Larry Zbyszko (c) vs. Nikita Koloff:
The ESPN chyron credits Koloff as a 4-Time World Champion. I’ll assume they count Tag Team Titles… and maybe the NWA US Championship? There’s no shot we get anything resembling a decisive finish, so now it’s time to guess what the cheap finish will be, possibly a Double Count-Out? Nikita gets disqualified for using a weapon introduced to the ring by Zbyszko? Over the top rope? THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS!

Before we start the match, I had to double-check and make sure they didn’t tuck this into other episodes I’ve covered from December ‘89 and January 1990. Lockup into the corner and the referee forces a break. You’ll be shocked to find out that Zbyszko stalls to engage in action as the crowd musters a “Larry Sucks” chant. Larry finds his courage, gets caught with a slam, and quickly rolls out. Larry cranks on a side headlock, but Koloff escapes and has Zbyszko flustered, leading to more hanging out on the apron. It’s not a good sign when the hard cam is showing off a bunch of empty seats. Now it’s Koloff’s turn to work a headlock, and he’s strong enough to keep his grip. Zbyszko with a back suplex, but Koloff hangs on and rolls over with control of the hold.

Zbyszko forces a break in the ropes and lands a spinning kick to the midsection. He continues to punish the body, knocking Koloff to the floor. Back inside, Zbyszko with a sloppy back breaker for a two-count. He grabs a front chancery and connects with a swinging neck breaker for a near-fall. Koloff teases a comeback, but Zbyszko cuts him off, hooking an abdominal stretch, and grabbing a handful of tights for extra leverage. Koloff with the hip toss escape, but Zbyszko remains in control, cutting off further comebacks with more eye gouging and chokes. Whip and Koloff hangs back to avoid a dropkick, following up with a suplex for two. Zbyszko avoids a charge to the corner, but sending Koloff into the buckle backfires as Nikita pops out immediately with the Russian Sickle! He takes too long to cover, giving Zbyszko time to get his shoulder up at 2.99. Koloff keeps getting near-falls until Zbyszko powders and bonks him with the title belt for the cheap DQ at 15:32. Well, at least it was logical, and not some insane Dusty Finish, and perfectly fine work, though it was all the usual tropes of Larry Z most people dislike.

Koloff cuts a post-match promo, saying they’ll meet in the ring again, and he’s going to leave with the Championship around his waist. “You haven’t seen the last of Nikita Koloff!” We’ll need to fact check that one… oh, Koloff DOES return to AWA, but we won’t see him for a couple of months. We come back from commercials, replaying the final minutes of the match and Koloff’s promo. Yeesh. Eric Bischoff runs down what we’ve seen today, and teases us again with tomorrow’s Main Event of Diamond and Trooper vs. Sato and Tanaka.

Final Thoughts: Wow, no Team Challenge Series Update or official matches?! I feel ripped off! Giving me two somewhat-decent matches and a simple squash match. At least I can complain about how pathetic it was to watch Johnny Valiant work, and of course we can’t book anything close to a clean finish for a company that was barely running live events and only taped for TV every four weeks. Snark aside, we’ve seen worse episodes, and any time you get two matches that aren’t hideous dumpster fires with name value, you accept the gift. We’ll be back with tomorrow’s episode of Championship Wrestling, and get to enjoy Hard Rock Troopers vs. The Sato and Tanaka Express!