Rants

The SmarK Rant for AWA All Star Wrestling – 07.26.87

By Scott Keith on 17 September 2025

The SmarK Rant for AWA All Star Wrestling – 07.26.87

Originally written 09.16.25

It’s TUESDAY NIGHT and you know what that means! AWA U-Matic master tape from 1987 courtesy of Fish & Chips! Are you as excited as me? Probably not but I don’t care because it’s my blog and I love this shit.

Taped from Las Vegas, NV

Your hosts are Rod Trongard & Nick Bockwinkel

The Original Midnight Express v. Lance Allen & Stoney Burke

Pretty big debut here, as Paul E. Dangerously finally gets the callup from Memphis, along with Condrey & Rose. Once Dangerously hit the national stage there was no going back for him. Condrey takes Stoney to the mat and rubs his face in it before slamming him, and Randy Rose comes in with a takedown for two. The MX works Stoney over in the corner and Condrey whips him into a clothesline from Rose. Over to Lance Allen, but the Midnights quickly destroy him and finish with a rocket launcher at 3:50. This was a BIG shot in the arm for the dead tag team division and Paul E. was hitting way above his spot as a manager.

Meanwhile, Curt Hennig has gotten a lot more arrogant as World champion since the last time we saw him, and now he’s getting ready to book Hollywood Squares appearances.

Meanwhile, WHY HAVEN’T YOU BOUGHT YOUR GREG GAGNE T-SHIRT YET?

Steve Olsonoski v. Rick Gatner

Scott LeDoux is of course your special troubleshooting referee, and he actually gets promo time before this match to threaten Larry Zbyszko for putting him out of action. So Bockwinkel plugs an upcoming hosue show for the AWA in Edmonton, which apparently happened July 25 1987 but I can’t find any record of it happening. All the AWA records I can find jump from a Milwaukee show on the 24th, , and then nothing until August 1. I actually didn’t move to there until 1989 but if I was there at the time I would have bugged my dad incessantly to get tickets for it. Gatner gets a cheapshot and rubs his face on the ropes to get the advantage, but then Steve does his own rope burns and hits him with a double axehandle for two. Olsonoski works the leg on the mat with a spinning toehold, but Ratner sends him to the floor to escape. Steve O comes back in with an elbowdrop, and finishes with an airplane spin at 5:34.

Meanwhile, it’s NINJA STAR WARS, where kids can chuck throwing stars at each other, but it’s totally safe because they’re got a plastic shield over their face. And that’s how Eric Bischoff got into wrestling.

Meanwhile, Mitch Show is undefeated in the AWA so far! Larry wonders if Mitch has noticed any flaws in Curt Hennig that he can exploit. I’ve heard Hennig is flawless. Perfect if you will. Also Kevin Kelly stops by to show off his beautiful body, which will certainly stay that way forever, along with his golden locks. Also Sherri Martel is gone but he’s not worried about where.

DJ Peterson & Wahoo McDaniel v. Tony Leoni & Pete Sanchez

DJ takes Tony down and works the arm, and Wahoo comes in with chops, so it’s over to Sanchez and DJ suplexes him for two. Back to Wahoo and he just chops the shit out of Sanchez as this Vegas crowd is JACKED for the nothing team of Wahoo and DJ. DJ slams Pete and goes up with a flying shoulderblock, and Wahoo just chops him down for the pin at 3:23. The referee, named Sal something, looks kind of familiar and has the same counting cadence as Charles Robinson, but I don’t know if he became anyone later. I found a Sal Corrente who was a referee and wrestler in the 90s and went on to be a pretty big deal behind the scenes, but he doesn’t show up until the mid-90s. Maybe he’s the same guy?

Meanwhile, DJ and Wahoo chat with Larry about the cheating Russian champions, as DJ is desperately trying to be Magnum TA.

Tommy Wildfire Rich v. Tom Rocky Stone

Stone attacks and gets tossed by Rich, who is also making his AWA debut after getting moved over from Memphis. That talent exchange with Jarrett ended up saving the AWA in 1987 to be honest. Filled the midcard with a bunch of solid guys that Vince didn’t want and kept them afloat. Rich takes Stone down with armdrags and then hits the Thesz Press to finish at 3:00. Decent debut squash for Rich, who then does a drunken promo with Larry Nelson. “You got some muscleman running around with a woman here”. Yeah that sums every heel in wrestling for the previous 20 years, you’ll have to be more specific. And of course, he doesn’t bother to specify, because the night is young in Vegas and he’s got places to be! OK so I guess they’re paying him in booze.

Boris Zhukov v. Bill Anderson

Bockwinkel continues putting over this upcoming Edmonton house show, and I guess the Russians are gonna be there as well. Anderson takes him down and works a headscissors, but he misses a charge and hits the turnbuckle, allowing Boris to take over. Anderson with a sunset flip for two, but Boris stomps him down again and hits him with a hammerlock slam, but Anderson fights back and Boris tosses him. Back in the ring, Anderson makes another comeback, but puts his head down like a dummy and Boris clobbers him and finishes with Ivan Koloff’s knee off the top rope at 5:10. You, sir, are no Uncle Ivan.

And Larry Nelson wraps it up, promising to send a NINJA STAR WARS game to Fan of the Week Laurie Fuchs for her letter, which we don’t get to read so it’s like “Source: Trust me bro” but apparently it’s a good letter. I wouldn’t trust Larry Nelson to tell me if the sky was blue that day but I guess I have no choice but to take his word for it and just assume he wouldn’t sully the good name of NINJA STAR WARS. Honestly that sounds like something out of the Bad Movie Bible to be honest.

1987 AWA rules, baby! But I gotta find out if this Edmonton show was a real thing. Richard Land was no help with that, the one time he couldn’t pull through for me with the goods.