The SmarK Rant for AWA Championship Wrestling on ESPN Classic – 08.30.11
– From June 1990 this time. Last taping was August, so this is close to the end.
– Your hosts are Eric Bischoff and Ringside Ralph.
The Trooper v. The Tokyo Bullet
The Bullet would be your usual generic masked jobber. Trooper overpowers the Bullet and sends him to the floor with an atomic drop. The referee has a truly epic mullet, so it must be the 90s. Back in, press slam and dropkick from Trooper. This jobber can’t bump very well at all. Trooper actually finishes with a VULCAN NERVE PINCH OF DEATH at 2:32. That may be the worst finisher I’ve ever seen. Trooper is of course better known as The Patriot.
Mike George v. The Menace
George was one of those guys who kicked around territories forever, and he was pretty much at the end of his undistinguished career when he got here. Thus he fit in with the AWA perfectly. George is apparently dubbed The Timekeeper because he likes to finish things so fast. I personally would not want to be known for that. He pounds away on the Menace and gets a backbreaker for two, but picks him up and then finishes with a neckbreaker instead.  George basically looked like Buddy Rose at this point, with bad bleached hair.
Bound For Glory Series update! The Lumberjacks and Texas Hangmen get into it last week.
Nikita Koloff v. Spike Jones
I would bet good money that Mr. Jones is the same guy who just wrestled under a mask as The Menace. These were not good times for this promotion. Koloff starts on the arm, but Jones hammers him in the corner. Koloff brings him out with a hiptoss and adds a shoulderblock, then finishes with the Russian Sickle at 1:40.
Two weeks ago:Â Larry Zbyszko defends against Brad Rheingans, beating him with his dreaded finisher:Â The pin in the corner with his feet on the ropes.
Johnnie Stewart and Tony Denucci cut amateurish promos building up to their light heavyweight tournament match later tonight, a tournament that would never finish to the best of my recollection.
Another random match from a couple of weeks ago sees The Destruction Crew defending the tag titles against DJ Peterson and Rick McCord.
DJ Peterson & Rick McCord v. Kent Carlson & Tom Bennett
Lee Marshall’s ring announcer mike cuts out before he can finish the intros, and they don’t even dub anything in to replace it. This is just so sad to watch. Of very minor note here: Eric Bischoff sings the praises of the faster-paced light heavyweights and how much he loves to watch them. We’d later find out how much. Rick McCord was one of those guys who hung around Central States forever and didn’t really bring anything to the table here outside of a mullet and faux Rock N Roll Express tights. Peterson gets double-teamed by the jobbers in the corner, and comes back as they really badly botch an irish whip spot. McCord comes in with a back elbow on Bennett, also botched, and Peterson finishes Bennett with a spinebuster at 2:45. Peterson’s pinning combo looks like he’s raping the poor guy.
The Destruction Crew cut a promo about Peterson & McCord, with Bloom constantly cutting off Enos. Don’t know if that went anywhere, don’t care.
Johnnie Stewart v. Tony Denucci
Now, I’m assuming that Denucci is of some relation to Dominic, given that they’re both from Pittsburgh, but I’ve never heard of Tony before this. A quick check of Google reveals that he’s running some sort of Christian wrestling promotion now, so good on him I guess. More examples of the AWA’s lazy attitude at this point: Denucci uses Bon Jovi’s “Lay Your Hands On Me†as his entrance music, which is a fine choice, but the monkeys who cue up the music don’t bother to run it past the introduction of the song, which leaves him entering to Jon’s spoken-word intro portion instead of the actual rock music. Anyway, this is both a tournament match as well as part of the Team Challenge Series, just to pile it on. Denucci overpowers him and they immediately forget whatever spot they were going to do, as Denucci started setting up for something and Stewart just sat there. So they do it again, and this time it’s a hiptoss spot. This is like watching bad indy wrestling. Denucci goes to a headlock and they do a goofy spot where Stewart gets scared of Denucci and bails. Not sure where the incredible fast pace we were promised is. Back in, Stewart suplexes out of another headlock and then uses the good old wrist tape choke on him. Elbowdrop gets two. Stewart pounds him with a kneelift in the corner and adds a dropkick, but Denucci comes back with a handspring elbow out of nowhere. Another one misses, however, and Stewart gets a suplex for the pin at 6:18 with his feet on the ropes. Dull and heatless. *1/2
These 1990 shows are just killing me. Hopefully the next one is 86 again because these later ones are like watching someone you know wasting away in a hospital bed. I don’t even feel right making fun of them at times.
