The SmarK DVD Rant for The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA

I’m such a sucker for these things, and in the grand scheme of things I think it’s actually better that the WWE controls all the AWA footage, rather than the AWA themselves, leaving it less likely that someone will accidentally tape over something important with the new episode of Lost or something.

This one was actually a pleasant surprise for me, as one of my friends in WWE was sending me the Brian Pillman DVD in exchange for some books, and sent this along as an extra.

Disc 1

We start with some history, as we get a brief explanation of the territory system and the formation of the NWA.

Naturally, we meet Verne and Greg Gagne first, getting Verne’s personal history and wrestling background. Greg calls him “the Hulk Hogan of his day,” which I suppose is accurate as far as being just as bald, but COME ON. He never even won the NWA title.

The lack of the big belt is explained as a conspiracy against the Chicago promoters, so Verne breaks away from the NWA and makes himself AWA World champion.

We get a series of employees diplomatically letting us know what a hard-nosed jerk that Verne was. They also talk about the faulty logic behind the owner of the promotion naming himself the champion, which was a slight credibility problem. However, in the end, he was the only one guaranteed not to walk out on the promotion, so there it was. See also Jarrett, Jeff.

Onto the big feuds of the early years, like Billy Robinson v. Verne and Nick Bockwinkel v. Verne. Bockwinkel’s character was of course way ahead of its time, acting as the precursor to the “smart heels” like Ric Flair, Ted Dibiase and JBL.

So things were good, TV was working, money was flowing, everyone was getting laid, etc. Verne even made a movie called “The Wrestler,” which was what it was. I mean, hey, laugh at it if you will, but it’s not like “The Marine” or “See No Evil” was exactly an evolution of the medium.

We move onto the training camp, which produced an insane amount of future stars. Although then we transition to a group of people who were not trained in the AWA, like Mad Dog Vachon, The Crusher, Baron Von Raschke, Rhodes & Murdoch, Ray Stevens, Bobby Heenan, the High Flyers, Mean Gene, Superstar Graham and Jesse Ventura. Greg of course stops to mention how much money he drew against Ventura and Adonis. Thanks, Greg.

Bockwinkel talks about his rivalry with Verne, and Hulk Hogan comments that they were almost in bed together given how much they changed the title between themselves.

Best part of the DVD thus far: Greg Gagne talks about how Hulk Hogan was despondent about not being able to make it in wrestling, but Greg talked him into giving it another shot. And possibly taught him the legdrop too, I’m not sure. So they taught him how to be Hulk Hogan and he drew them lots of money, which led to the infamous title match against Bockwinkel. Hogan notes that Verne wanted him to take the title, but Hogan turned him down because of his Japan commitments. This is a notably different account of things, but that’s Hulk for you. Either way, this was the turning point for the promotion and wrestling in general, as the constant screwjob finishes started killing cities, and Hogan departed for the WWF and changed history.

They talk about merchandise sales, which makes me want one of those Buck Zumhoffe t-shirts they show, and they spin Hogan’s 50% demands as unreasonable and a reason for his departure. Greg and Verne spin things as Hogan leaving on short notice and screwing them, although they admit that they knew he was leaving and they admit airing interviews that were taped weeks in advance to cover his departure. This would be one of the rare occasions where I side squarely with Hulk on something -Verne got arrogant and should have just given in to whatever ridiculous demands Hogan was making, because they were printing money off his back and whatever “unreasonable” things he was asking for would be more than made up by revenues from TV and houses.

And so the exodus begins, with Mean Gene, Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura and pretty much everyone of worth jumping ship. They all point out that Vince was paying and Verne wasn’t. Interesting story as apparently Vince Sr, hurt about getting kicked out of the business by his own son, tried to buy the AWA from Verne.

Things get a little catty, as Greg and Verne whine about losing their timeslots to the WWF, and Vince notes that all the old-time promoters never had competition and didn’t know how to deal with it. Vince notes he wasn’t coming after Verne personally, but Minnesota was just a “stop along the way.” Verne took this personally and tried going to New York, which Vince diplomatically notes wasn’t a great idea. That’s putting it mildly.

So after everything had quieted down in 1984, Verne was still drawing good with the old guard, and he started getting complacent. Funny bit with “One moment you’ve got Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, and the next you’ve got…” and then an introduction of some jobber.

Onto Rick Martel as champion, which everyone notes was a good step, but wasn’t the answer. This leads us to a discussion of Greg Gagne and some gentle criticism of his neverending push.

1985 brings us Super Clash, a cross-promotional show with the AWA and NWA. The reason was simple: Desperation. And in less of a shock, all the promoters backstab each other and it breaks down after one show, as David Crockett tries to sign AWA stars backstage while the show is going on. That’s awesome. Who knew David had those kind of big hairy balls on him?

Onto the Stan Hansen story, as Bockwinkel notes that “there was a very good chance” that he would drop the title that night, which leads to a clip of his brilliant “I’ve got a big fat wife and nine kids to feed” promo and a discussion of his jump to Japan, which was pretty much the last nail in the coffin for the AWA title as a serious World championship.

Things go downhill fast, although they get onto ESPN in 1985, playing to smaller and smaller crowds while trying to alter the product to fit with the WWF model. So let’s meet The Road Warriors, The Midnight Rockers, Sherri Martel, Scott Hall, The Nasty Boys, Eric Bischoff (who got his job because his predecessor was arrested on a DUI), and of course Curt Hennig. Hennig was the closest thing they had to a guy who could have carried the promotion on his back, had he not done the inevitable jump. This leads to a discussion from Jim Ross about how all those people were essentially using the AWA as a springboard. Crumble, crumble, crumble, says the Baron.

Rock bottom begins with Jerry Lawler winning the title from Hennig in Memphis. Sadly, that match is only included as a clip and not on the extras. Lawler holds no illusions about the reasons for the title change, however, as Hennig was in the WWF the next week.

In yet another attempt at consolidation, the AWA teams with World Class for Super Clash III, and Vince brushes it off by noting that Jerry Jarrett and Verne Gagne couldn’t agree on ordering a cup of coffee together, let alone promote together. All the talent was gone, and both Lawler and Von Erich had to protect their images, so needless to say it ended up a political nightmare, to say the least. The match was really good, however, despite a horrific bullshit finish.

Lawler was given a full slate of dates to wrestle, but no money, so he didn’t show up to defend the belt. Greg spins it as Lawler backing out because they wanted him to drop it. Yeah, that Lawler, what a prima donna. Lawler has never been paid and kept the belt to this day. Verne kept all the money.

Everyone talks about what a huge flop the show was, and Greg adds “The numbers weren’t that bad.” Ah, snark via editing. So the remaining midcarders and hasbeens fight for the title in a battle royale, and Larry Zbyszko, married to Verne’s daughter and thus the most trustworthy guy left, ended up with the title. Fun fact: He kept the belt when he left for the NWA, too.

Welcome to the end of the line, as the Team Challenge Series kept the promotion limping along long after it should have died, and in 1990 with no more money or talent left, they finally shut the doors. Eric Bischoff denies all connection with the idea, despite appearances. Duly noted, Eric.

Eric notes that Verne was so stubborn that he would have spent his way into bankruptcy had he not closed up when he did.

And finally, everyone admits that Vince didn’t kill the AWA, because Verne likely would have stagnated and died on his own anyway. There’s many cases you can make of Vince destroying a territory, but this was not one of them.

Overall, a shockingly fair and even-handed documentary, and probably one of the best ones I’ve ever seen them do. They missed out a couple of things, but for a two-hour documentary they covered pretty much everything you could ask for and didn’t skew history any way that I’d call unreasonable, and it ended up being a respectful look back. Except for Greg’s delusional additions, but he was always was the comic relief anyway.

Extras

Disc one is all interviews and promos, including…

Jim Brunzell talks about getting ribbed by Pat Patterson at the airport, and then sabotaging his underwear in retaliation.

Michael Hayes tells a story about getting scouted in 1978 while wrestling in Mississippi, and then a story about leaving the AWA in 1985 because Verne didn’t understand the babyface reactions for the Road Warriors.

Nick Bockwinkel talks about the Crusher and tells a story about improvising when needing to turn an arena on him.

Another story from Bockwinkel about talking with a young Ric Flair (just a fan at the time) and a lesson on not jumping the rail.

More from Bockwinkel, this time about Bobby Heenan pulling a rib with a Hustler magazine in place of a wrestling magazine during a live interview and cracking up the whole crew.

Continuing with Bockwinkel, as he talks about a meeting with Lou Thesz in the old days and pissing on his leg…literally.

Yes, more Bockwinkel, as he relates a story about wrestling on a supercard in Houston in two different hour-long matches because Harley Race showed up late. Yikes.

Finally, his favorite match was of course against Curt Hennig in Las Vegas, as they did an hour-long bloodbath and hit ***** with it.

Onto Uncle Eric, as he tells a story about developing a game called “Ninja Star Wars” with Sonny Onoo and learning the harsh realities of the retail business. This led to him buying time with Verne to market his game directly, and eventually he became part of the AWA team and the rest is history.

Eric talks about being kept out of kayfabe even after being an employee for more than a year, because Verne was so damn old-school about the whole thing. His first interview was with Larry Z, who immediately cracks up and breaks the tension. This appeared to be the end of his announcing career, but his replacement was even worse and he kept getting dragged back on camera again until his suckitude became acceptable enough to them that they didn’t hire anyone else.

A series of guys talk about Verne and Wally Karbo’s “Flying Coffin,” a corporate plane flown by a crazed pilot who enjoyed flying through thunderstorms. This leads to a funny story about Mad Dog getting drunk and throwing everyone’s bags out the door while in mid-air, as Baron does his Vachon imitation and comments “Nice day for a walk, eh?”

Greg tells a story about his dad selling out in Chicago.

Verne and Nick tell a story about doing a match in Chicago and narrowly avoiding getting shot when a gunfight erupts in the audience.

Baron tells a story about Johnny Valentine and a pair of cheap pants.

Superstar Graham talks about his feud with Wahoo McDaniel, which began with an arm-wrestling match.

We get the classic Mad Dog Vachon interview, where he builds a big pine box to hold the corpse of Crusher Blackwell once he’s done with him. Now that’s some quality trash talk.

Another classic interview, this time a Bobby Heenan promo from 1981 directed against Tito Santana.

Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis from 1980, doing what they do best and talking shit about people.

Disc 2

The High Flyers v. Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens (8/23/71)

This one is really only notable for Bobby Heenan joining Bockwinkel as his manager and changing his gimmick from pretty boy to brain in the course of the pre-match promo. However, I have to wonder who’s managing Bobby’s gigantic 70s muttonchops at this point? Did they later split off and manage Stevens as a solo act? I think Greg Gagne weighs less than Bobby’s facial hair here. Stevens attacks Greg to start, but Brunzell comes in quickly and cleans house with dropkicks. The heels regroup and do some quality cheating in the corner, but Bockwinkel misses a knee and Gagne goes to work on it. Over to Stevens, but he walks into a headlock, only to do a nice block of a dropkick with a giant swing. Gagne reverses that with a monkey flip, in mid swing, and brings Brunzell back in for a headlock as the announcer gets a wee bit too worked up for the action in the ring. Bockwinkel is continuously frustrated by Brunzell’s technique, so Stevens kicks him in the head behind the ref’s back and the heels take over and cheat like nuts. See, the classics never die. Back to Gagne, the house of fire, who hiptosses Bockwinkel for two. Brunzell kneelift gets two. Abdominal stretch, and they collide for the double count, but Gagne gets the tag and the sleeper. On cue, Bobby distracts the ref, who NAILS Heenan in a spot you don’t see often, and it’s a donnybrook.

(High Flyers DDQ Bockwinkel & Stevens, 8:16, **1/2) Good, formula, workmanlike tag match that showed how the heels helped set the template for teams to come later. Although it starts a trend on this DVD of showing how many different bullshit, screwjob finishes they could do over the years. Larry Hennig saves the faces from further beating, by laying an ASSWHOOPING on Bockwinkel and Stevens single-handedly. He was definitely a different worker than his son.

AWA World title: Verne Gagne v. Baron Von Raschke (7/13/74)

JIP on what looks like 8mm film stock, with the Gagnes providing commentary. Unfortunately this one begins another trend on the DVD, matches clipped down to nothing. Most of this is Verne fighting off the IRON CLAW~! and trying to get the sleeper. Greg calling this one within kayfabe sounds ridiculous, as they already broke it several times in the documentary. This is why they got left behind. The old backdrop suplex / “I lift my shoulder first” spot ends it for Verne. About 5:00 shown.

Pat Patterson & Ray Stevens v. Billy Robinson & Frankie Hill (5/20/78)

The idea here is that Patterson & Stevens are supposed to be facing a couple of jobbers, but one of them no-shows due to the airline strike and Billy Robinson takes the opportunity to beat on his hated enemies. The heels attack Robinson to start, but he’s pissed off and fires away with stiff forearms. He quickly finishes Stevens with a backdrop suplex into a backbreaker, which gets the first fall at 1:09. You never saw that kind of stuff at this point. Second fall sees Robinson bringing more awesome, as he bearhugs Patterson while hammerlocking the arm behind his back, and that’s another one someone should steal. However, he makes the mistake of tagging in Chief Jobsalot, who immediately gets schooled by Patterson and slammed for two. Back to Robinson, thankfully, who headbutts the arm in a crazy spot and yanks him around the ring with a wristlock. Then, to really make my jaw drop, he puts Patterson in a standing wristlock and does a forward roll while hanging on, taking Patterson with him and smashing the elbow into the mat as a result. Holy CRAP. Why was this guy not famous? Back to Frankie the heat killer, who again gets beaten down, but Billy saves the day and gives Stevens a butterfly suplex for two. Neckbreaker for two. Finally Stevens comes off the top with an intentional DQ to end the slaughter.

(Billy Robinson & Frankie Hill d. Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson, off the top rope -DQ, 6:20, **1/4) Nothing special as a match, but check out my man Billy Robinson bringing the offense that was 20 years ahead of its time! The heels beat Robinson down and then cut a wonderfully arrogant promo afterwards, acting like they won the match and declaring that they don’t have any competition now that Robinson is in the hospital thanks to them.

AWA World tag team titles: Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis v. Verne Gagne & Mad Dog Vachon

Jesse, in his pre-match promo, threatens to go in Verne’s backdoor and go down all the way to win. You tell him, Jesse. JIP at 15:00, which Vachon and Gagne trading off with backrakes on Jesse. Verne gets a hot tag and hits the heels with dropkicks, but tosses them over the top and gets, you guessed it, disqualified. About 4:00 shown, not enough to bother rating. And what is with all the damn screwjob finishes here?

AWA World title: Verne Gagne v. Nick Bockwinkel (5/10/81)

This is mainly about Bockwinkel’s awesome pre-match promo, as again the match itself is clipped to nothing. This was notable for being Gagne’s “retirement match”, thus making him the first person to retire as champion, but of course he came out of retirement several more times after this to invalidate the whole notion. Decent action shown, as Verne backdrops out of a sleeper for the pin with about 5:00 shown.

AWA World tag titles: Jesse Ventura & Adrian Adonis v. The High Flyers(8/30/81)

Hey, this was my seventh birthday! Who the champions were is not exactly made clear here, as they were forever holding up and re-contesting titles in the AWA. The pre-match promo makes it sound like the Flyers won the titles from the East-West Connection in this match, but the commentary seems to indicate the opposite, and the Flyers don’t even win this match! Again, just clips, as the Flyers turn the tables and cheat behind the ref’s back. Soon it’s a donnybrook and the heels take over, with Adonis getting a bulldog and clothesline on Gagne. Another is reversed and it’s hot tag Brunzell. Piledriver gets two. Adonis routes him into the corner and Ventura works the arm, but misses an elbow. Back to to Gagne, but the heels give him a spike piledriver in the corner to retain (regain?) the titles. Seemed about ***.

AWA World title: Nick Bockwinkel v. Hulk Hogan (04/82)

This is not only another famous screwjob, it’s clipped to nothing AND the wrong match to boot. Bockwinkel chokes him out and fires off knees, but Hogan comes back and rams him into the turnbuckles. Suplex gets two. Big boot and legdrop get two. Heenan breaks up the count with a foreign object, but Hogan uses it to get the pin and the title. But not really, as Verne returns the title to Bockwinkel two days later, thus screwing over the paying customer yet again. Only about 3:00 shown. I think the match they intended to include was the Super Sunday one, where Hogan won the title and it was immediately overturned due to a DQ, thus triggering a near-riot with the fans who had taken all they could take.

Jesse Ventura v. Baron Von Raschke (3/16/83)

Another quick clip job, as we’re joined about 10:00 in. Jesse is working the arm, but Baron drops an elbow for two. Backbreaker gets two. They slug it out in the corner and it’s claw time, but fight out for a double DQ at 4:00 shown. I think this was included more for Jesse’s interview than anything else.

Hulk Hogan v. Mr. Saito (8/28/83)

This is listed as a handicap match against Saito and his manager Mr. Hatori, but it’s not. Hogan gets a suplex and Dr. D runs in for the DQ at 1:00 shown. Good lord. This leads to a fired-up promo from Hogan afterwards, which is the point of showing this, I guess. Still, we’re at three screwjobs in a row and counting.

The Road Warriors & Paul Ellering v. The Crusher, Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig (1/13/85)

This was probably really good, but again we’ll never know because they clip the shit out of it and we’re JIP at 10:00 in. Curt saves his father from a beating in the corner and takes one himself, and Animal gives him 3 backbreakers and gets two. Ellering comes in, but Curt rolls him up for two. Hot tag to Larry, who pounds Ellering into jelly and brings in Crusher for the big brawl. Curt manages to dump both Warriors, as Larry holds onto them, leaving Crusher to finish Ellering. 5:00 shown, not enough to rate. Seemed pretty good, though.

Buddy Rose & Doug Somers v. The Midnight Rockers (12/25/86)

Holy crap, it’s a full and uncut match with a clean finish! Although again it’s the wrong one, as this is the non-title cage match from Christmas of 86 when the documentary focused on how awesome the double-bloodbath match from Las Vegas was. Or they could have even showed the title change. But it’s complete, so I’ll take it. The Rockers win a brawl and make the heels eat cage, as Rose starts bleeding fast. Shawn sends Somers into the cage and busts him open, too. They bring him into the corner for double-teaming,and Marty stops to send Rose into the cage for fun. However, this allows Rose to retaliate and send Marty into the cage as well, although trying to follow up by going to the top proves to be a bad idea for Buddy. Marty rams his head into the corner post of the cage and gets two, but Rose goes low for two. Marty keeps slugging and gets two, but then picks him up and wants to give out more pain. Powerslam gets two on Somers. Shawn comes in with the flying elbow for two, and he also picks up Somers. We get some cheesegrater action by the Rockers, but Somers goes low and Rose catapults Shawn into the cage to draw blood. Shawn taps an artery, almost as though he and Marty had been indulging in some sort of strange, blood-thinning concoction before the match. But that’s crazy talk. Rose gets two as Shawn bumps around. Piledriver gets two and now it’s Rose’s turn to be sadistic and pick him up. Somers sends Shawn into the cage while Sherri puts some quality badmouth on him. Shawn gets more iron in his diet and Somers follows with a suplex. Rose chops him down for two and drops him on the top rope. They choose to pick him up again, but Shawn slugs back from his back and fights his way up. Hot tag Marty, and a powerslam gets two on Somers. Rose tries to run out of the cage, but Marty follows him up and drags him back in, then comes off the top with a bodypress to finish Somers.

(Midnight Rockers d. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers, Jannetty bodypress -pin Somers, 17:19, ****)

AWA World title: Nick Bockwinkel v. Curt Hennig (5/2/87)

Again, I think they wanted to show the one-hour draw from ESPN, but someone picked the wrong match and they went with the title change instead. This is actually presented in full, which is the first time I’ve seen it that way outside of the finish. Larry Zbyszko arrives at ringside in a mullet and tuxedo to challenge the winner, which establishes his presence there. Despite this being a “supercard,” the arena is embarrassingly empty, maybe a quarter full. They work off a lockup to start, and Hennig fights off a few attempts at a wristlock, so Nick gives him a slap. Hennig tries headlocks, but Nick keeps countering. Hennig hangs on, however, and they trade slams before Hennig goes back to the headlock. Bockwinkel counters out with hiptosses, but Curt keeps going to the headlock, annoying the crowd. They slug it out, won by Hennig, but he goes for a massive charge and hits the post on the way out. Back in, Bockwinkel goes to the armbar. A hammerlock into the corner sets up another armbar. Hennig fights out, and Bockwinkel goes back to the armbar again. Kneelift gets two and Nick is back on the arm again, this time with a short-arm scissors. Hennig fights up and kicks him in the knee, giving him a new target to focus on. Spinning toehold into a figure-four follows, but Bockwinkel makes the ropes. Back to the leg, but Nick slugs him down for two. Simultaneous punches put both down and Bockwinkel recovers first, surviving a chop and whipping Hennig into the corner for two. Curt comes back with a sunset flip for two. Atomic drop gets two. Bodyblock gets two. Rollup gets two. Axe gets two. Piledriver and standing dropkick get two. Bockwinkel is nearing death, but makes the comeback with a lariat out of the corner. He follows with a backdrop suplex, as the story gets really screwed up here thanks to the fans. The idea is supposed to be that Hennig is the cocky young star who throws everything at the aging champion but can’t beat him, and thus the fans rally behind Bockwinkel and are thus outraged when Zbyszko hands Hennig a roll of coins, allowing him to KO Bockwinkel and win the title after all his scientific wrestling doesn’t work. However, since Hennig was perceived as the bigger star at this point, the fans actually side with Hennig and his title victory draws a massive pop.

(Curt Hennig d. Nick Bockwinkel, hard currency -pin, 23:34, ***1/2) They actually wanted to overturn the decision like they usually did, and in fact stripped Hennig of the title right in the ring after the match. However, fans turned on that move so decisively and loudly that I think they just decided to give in and let him keep the title instead.

AWA World title v. WCCW World title: Jerry Lawler v. Kerry Von Erich (12/13/88)

This is course the main event of SuperClash III, the most nightmarish political fiasco in wrestling history, and that’s saying something. Kerry, being a total moron, catches his blade on his robe while taking it off and cuts the hell out of his forearm, leaving poor Lawler to improvise right away. Lawler is clearly playing heel in this match, which never made sense to me. Kerry sends him running with a punch. Back in, Von Erich clotheslines him twice as Lee Marshall notes that he has a cut on his right arm. Of course, the cut is clearly on his LEFT arm, but to be fair keeping left and right straight is asking a lot of Lee. He’s probably the only announcer who needs to check his underwear to remember his own name when doing the introductions for the show. Test of strength, which leads to Kerry hitting Lawler with a discus punch for two. Lawler comes back and slugs him to the floor, but Kerry gets a discus punch from the apron. Slingshot splash misses, however, and the King knees him down. Piledriver is no-sold by Kerry, and another discus punch gets two. OK, you can spin around before you punch someone, we get it. He tries the claw, but Lawler fights him off and slugs him down for two. Kerry gets a piledriver for two, as the ref is bumped already. To the floor, where Von Erich punches the post by mistake. Back in, Lawler does his brilliant Phantom Foreign Object routine, which draws crazy heat and merely requires that he pantomime pulling an unseen piece of metal out of his tights, thus giving the same punches extra credibility. Kerry starts bleeding as Lawler drops fists from the middle rope, but Kerry catches him in the claw. Kudos for Von Erich’s epic blade here. The claw sequence goes on way too long,until Lawler reverses him into the post and then slugs him into oblivion before going back to the “foreign object” again while pounding on the cut. The crowd actually cheers him for this. Kerry makes the comeback and gets two off another discus punch, but when he reapplies the claw, the ref stops the match.

(Jerry Lawler d. Kerry Von Erich, ref stoppage due to blood, 18:23, ***) They were trying for epic, but epic is “Kerry Von Erich loses too much blood and passes out,” not “Kerry Von Erich loses a lot of blood and the ref stops the match while he’s in control of it.”

The Bottom Line: Although the DVD is well worth the purchase for the documentary alone, the matches on the second DVD actually drag things down a lot. Featuring heavily clipped matches and endless screwjobs, this is actually a pretty poor cross-section of what the AWA represented. Where’s the matches from SuperClash? Or Stan Hansen winning the AWA title from Rick Martel? Or Freebirds v. Road Warriors? Or even something from the later years to show where they had fallen to?

It’s too bad that the bonus matches couldn’t equal the documentary in terms of quality, because that would have made this a must-own set. As it is, it’s merely very good.