All Japan Pro Wrestling 3/13/86 Match #1 Tiger Mask vs Riki Choshu You may never see a better twelve minute match in your life than this! Match begins by Choshu hitting a shoulderbutt and knocking Tiger to the canvas. He delivers a snap mare and hooks on his figurefour headscissors. Tiger manages to turn on his stomach and come up out of the hold while hanging onto Choshu's leg and forcing him to his back. Tiger kicks at the hamstring and ties his leg around that of Choshu's and falls back with it maintaining the hold. Tiger stands back up and goes for a Boston crab. He quickly turns it into a single leg crab. Choshu turns on his back. Tiger takes the opportunity to try the figurefour. Choshu blocks it by holding up Tiger's leg therefore preventing the pressure from being properly applied. Tiger eventually gets the hold locked on. Choshu manages to fight up out of it and attempt to turn into his scorpion death lock. Tiger blocks the turn and Choshu falls down into a leglock. Tiger grabs one of his own and both men end up rolling with the hold under the bottom rope which forces a break. When they stand Tiger hits a fast leg drive and clamps on a inside leglock. Choushu counters by pulling back on the neck and once again makes the ropes so we go back to a lockup position. As they tie up Choshu overpowers Tiger sends him into the ropes and hits an elbow smash. He then nails a crunching "Oklahoma Stampede" powerslam, and goes again for the Scorpion. Tiger reaches the ropes, Choshu picks him up and fires him into the turnbuckle. He hits a elbow then goes for a backdrop, But Tiger lands on his feet and hits two spinning leg lariat's knocking "the Boss" to the canvas. Tiger goes for the pin gets a two count and goes into the side headlock. Choshu counters ultra quick with two high stiff looking backdrop suplexes(to use the Japanese term). Choshu signals for his Lariat, however Tiger ducks the attempt after hitting the ropes and comes back with a flying bodypress. He hits a cradle suplex, a German suplex, and a dropkick off the top all for very close near falls!(this sequence was breathtaking) Choshu took advantage by holding onto the ropes for a Tiger Mask flying dropkick attempt. This time he sunk in the Scorpion tight. Tiger manages to roll thru once and escape, But Choshu knowing his man is weakened. Chinches the hold back in! Tiger is superb here trying over and over to will himself out of the hold. With the veteran Choshu able to hold on every time. Riki drops the maneuver and as Tiger struggles to his feet. Choshu hits the ropes and pops him with a lariat hard enough to loosen his fillings and gets the three count! Great work here!
Match #2 Kuniaki Kobayashi vs Takashi Ishikawa Joined in Progress As we join the match Kobayashi has a side headlock applied. Ishikawa gets to a vertical base and hits a shinbreaker. He slaps on the every popular inside leglock/grapevine and falls back with it. He turns that into a leg bar. Kobayashi counters with his own and the referee calls a stalemate and breaks the holds. When they come up Ishikawa whips him in and hits his sumo style shoulder tackle and a backdrop suplex before climbing to the top. Kobayashi tries to cut him off and hit a superplex. Ishikawa knocks Kobayashi of the turnbuckles grabs him puts a knee in his back a rides him down face first to the canvas. He gets a two count. Kobayashi comes back up and hits a boot to the mid-section. He hits a cradle suplex for a close two count. (the crowd popped big when Ishikawa kicked out!) Kobayashi with a bodyslam and then puts on the figurefour headscissors. Ishikawa comes out of the hold and hits his shouldertackle again when he goes for it a second time Kobayashi sidesteps him and he goes flying thru the ropes. Kobayashi follows him out slams his head into the post. Throws Ishikawa back in hits a spinning leg lariat and one from the turnbuckle. He gets a near fall. Kobayashi tries a German Suplex Ishikawa holds on the ropes for dear life. Ishikawa hits a switch and Kobayashi uses the middle rope to tumble both competitors to the floor, Kobayashi drops a quick leg and climbs back in the ring. He tries twice to suplex Ishikawa back in. Ishikawa counters with a suplex that sends them both hard back outside. The match ends in a double countout as both men lay on the mats outside spent! I hate this finish but this match was good!
Match #3 Tiger Jeet Singh/One Man Gang vs Jerry Blackwell/Harley Race Gang and Blackwell did your standard big man vs big man spots. They each tried to slam the other with no success. The did the nobody budges on the shouldertackle spot. The hit each other with lariat's at the same time. They both went for splashes and missed. While this was all "old hat" it was done well and got over big. Race got the tag to a big reaction and bodyslammed Gang. Who tagged in Jeet Singh, then the brawl was on! They went in the ring two minutes when Jeet Singh got out his foreign object Race got it away from him. Hit him with it. Race landed a vertical suplex and got a two count. Then the match went to the floor and never made it back to the ring! A double countout and chaos was all that was left!
Match #4 Jumbo Tsuruta vs Animal Hamaguchi Match kicked off before the bell rung as Hamaguchi bum rushed Tsuruta from behind with a dropkick putting him face first into the turnbuckle. Then he hit an elbow after a Irish whip one on the mat. Then Hamaguchi put on a figurefour headlock with Jumbo's arm trapped in it as well. Tsuruta managed to roll with the hold all the way outside. On the floor Hamaguchi slammed Tsuruta's head into a table over the guardrail. After clearing the cobwebs Jumbo got back in the ring where he was put in a reverse chinlock, he did not stay down long however. As he got to his feet and sent Animal into the ropes as he came off Jumbo hit his flying knee. Animal was sent to the outside when Tsuruta nailed a headkick. When Hamaguchi reentered the ring Tsuruta took him to the mat with a jumping arm bar. Then went for a three quarter nelson pinning combination. Animal spun out of that got a hammerlock and quickly turned that into a cross armbreaker to regain control. Jumbo fought out of that and tried for a Boston Crab, before he could turn it Hamagucchi got to the bottom rope constituting a break. Hamaguchi hit a knee on the break against the ropes then an elbow to the neck. He connected on a dropkick, Then grabbed Tsuruta leg and put on a leg lace hold. Tsuruta stands up and stomps Hamaguchi in the chest to break the hold. Then picks him up and fires him to the floor. He slams Hamaguchi shoulder first into the post. As Animal struggles to get back in. Jumbo helps him in and hits a beauty of a textbook double arm suplex. Tsuruta then lands a piledriver(while he has Animal turned upside down he turns 360 degrees in a tight circle impressive strength display!) Hamaguchi regains the upper hand quickly by hitting a backdrop suplex counter then his own piledriver. Tsuruta shoves him off a side headlock Animal hits the shoulder tackle, but when he comes back off the ropes Tsuruta simply sidesteps him and shoves him in the back. Hamaguchi goes flying over the tope rope. Jumbo goes to the floor where they trade stiff chops. Hamaguchi grabs a side headlock Jumbo sends him to the post and climbs back in the ring. Jumbo suplexes his man back in. His elbow attempt gets countered has Hamaguchi ducks it and hits a hook n ladder lariat(or neckbreaker drop in Japanese parlance.) Jumbo hits a high stiff looking backdrop suplex and goes for a cover and pulls Hamaguchi up at the two count.(I don't think I have ever seen A Japanese wrestler do that!) He then goes for a lariat in the corner Animal moves and gets a near fall with a schoolboy. Hamaguchi hits a neckbreaker drop lariat from the top rope. Then a Samoan drop he gets a two count both times. He goes for a piledriver Jumbo counters with a backdrop that sends Hamaguchi out over the top to the floor. Tsuruta goes outside and executes a piledriver. As a dazed Hamaguchi stumbles his way back in. Tsuruta hits a lariat, his flying knee off the top rope and a Lou Thez press for the pin. This was a tremendous series of moves for the finish.
Author's note their were several more bouts on this show, some very good I left them out of the written review for 1 of 2 reasons too short or double coutouts dq's or time limit draws! If you want to see them they are on the archive!
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Monday, April 3, 2017
AWA 3/9-3/13/86
AWA 3/9/86- 3/13/86 Bruiser Brody vs Brad Rheingans Another angle to build to WresleRock 86. Apparently it was supposed to be Brody's manager Sheik Adnon in the match but he claimed injury. So a big fella in a red mask hit the ring to wrestle/help the sheik beat up Rheingans. So they boot him and throw him over the top rope. They post him outside, the mauling is continuing until Greg Gagne runs in and starts battling the masked man. He pulls off the mask(with a lot of help from the guy wearing it)and be still my ticker it's Bruiser Brody under there! They continue to brawl until Brody hits a huge jumping piledriver on Gagne. Who comes down to save Greg.....Why his father Verne of course. At a buck wild age of 61! He puts Brody in a sleeper hits him twice with chair shots and runs Brody and Sheik Adnon to the back! Verne had every reason to be a God in the Twin Cities, for very good reason, but nobody bought this shit did they???
3-9-86 Stan Hansen defends the AWA World Title against SGT Slaughter in a Boot Camp Match. This as you might expect was just a big damn fight! Seven minutes of mayhem! Punching kicking eye rakes combat/cowboy boots to the head you get the point! Japanese commentary for this clip(shows what a megastar Hansen was). Sarge hit Hansen with a boot shot, Hansen went flying over the top rope and landed flat on his back on a table at ringside! Slaughter falls back down in the ring but beats the referee's ten count and makes it back to his feat. I believe he is declared the winner. I'm very confused 1st question A Bootcamp match, that has no rules can end on a countout? Question 2 Why are Slaughter and Hansen both subject to the same count if one is outside and the other is inside? Hansen should be allowed to get in before a legal/fair count starts! 3 was this a title match could Sarge have pinned Hansen and won the belt,if so why the hell didn't he? Plus if a ten count wins the match shouldn't that be a title change? #4 if it was non-title why the hell have a dangerous probable feud ender be non-title in the 1st place?
AWA Champioship Wrestling 3/11/86 Lot a stuff packed in an hour here. Shawn Michaels beat Doug Summers in a good match to kick the show off. Next Marty Jannetty/Curt Henning took on Boris Zuhkof/ Nord the Barbarian. Solid match but, but much to it as the heel team's manager Sheik Adnon jumped up on the Apron Scott Hall(a co-holder of the AWA Tag Titles with Henning, why was he not in the match? Their is that solid AWA booking again!!!) comes out and chases Sheik around ringside. While this is going on the heels are double teaming Marty in the ring. They dump him out over the top rope and lose this odd bout by DQ! Then we have Larry Z's interview segment. When his co-host Larry Nelson informs Larry that this weeks guest is Verne Gagne Larry says Gagne helped get him suspended and he storms off. Verne comes out like it's 1972 and talks about many things(all of which are to boring to write down) Next up Larry Z vs Leon "Bull Power" White (a very young green stiff as hell VADER for those who may not know) Larry takes a hell of an ass whippin in this 10 minute match. He gets forearmed powerslammed pressslammed and splashed in the corner. The big Z ends up winning the bout by countout when the two were on the floor he rakes Leon's eyes and crawls back in the ring. The big rookie has to sell this like he's blind and cant find the ring in time(this looked very silly. After the bout Leon gets back in and slams Larry one more time, before the Pitsburger hightails it to the dressing room. Main event Stan Hansen defends his AWA World Title against the Challenge of David Sammartino. I remember this match vividly from this show! I was 7! I loved Hansen then as I do now(although his interviews scared me to death for some reason I cannot explain) Curt Henning was at ringside doing guest commentary as well. Sammartino the younger was not a great worker by any measure(including those with eyesight) but Hansen made him seem like a threat. David did slams and armdrags and armbars. Hansen took the fight outside once and got into a shouting match with fans! As the bout wore on Sammartino got a near fall with a schoolboy rollup. Hansen countered a backdrop with a stiff kick to the solar plexus. He then nailed a flying dropkick and followed that up with his Lariat for the pin! Hansen did a post match interview where he told his kids he was gonna by them both new shoes because he won this match!
3/13/86 Stan Hansen AWA title defense vs Leon White (yes a very early Hansen/Vader matchup.) A very basic by the numbers bout but you got flashes of the huge star Vader would become. White used a headlock early and went back to it several times after quick bursts of offense by Hansen. Hansen got control and went to work on the fingers of White biting them spreading them apart. Slamming them on the apron and the steps. Then the fight went outside and it looked like it was gonna be a double countout. Both men managed to make it back in the ring before the 10 count (the referee had to stop counting and begin again because they were halfway up the aisle). They got back in and Leon hit a big splash into the turnbuckle. He went for it a 2nd time and Stan moved and hit the Lariat as Leon was going down and got the pin! Not great but you could tell they had chemistry no doubt!
3-9-86 Stan Hansen defends the AWA World Title against SGT Slaughter in a Boot Camp Match. This as you might expect was just a big damn fight! Seven minutes of mayhem! Punching kicking eye rakes combat/cowboy boots to the head you get the point! Japanese commentary for this clip(shows what a megastar Hansen was). Sarge hit Hansen with a boot shot, Hansen went flying over the top rope and landed flat on his back on a table at ringside! Slaughter falls back down in the ring but beats the referee's ten count and makes it back to his feat. I believe he is declared the winner. I'm very confused 1st question A Bootcamp match, that has no rules can end on a countout? Question 2 Why are Slaughter and Hansen both subject to the same count if one is outside and the other is inside? Hansen should be allowed to get in before a legal/fair count starts! 3 was this a title match could Sarge have pinned Hansen and won the belt,if so why the hell didn't he? Plus if a ten count wins the match shouldn't that be a title change? #4 if it was non-title why the hell have a dangerous probable feud ender be non-title in the 1st place?
AWA Champioship Wrestling 3/11/86 Lot a stuff packed in an hour here. Shawn Michaels beat Doug Summers in a good match to kick the show off. Next Marty Jannetty/Curt Henning took on Boris Zuhkof/ Nord the Barbarian. Solid match but, but much to it as the heel team's manager Sheik Adnon jumped up on the Apron Scott Hall(a co-holder of the AWA Tag Titles with Henning, why was he not in the match? Their is that solid AWA booking again!!!) comes out and chases Sheik around ringside. While this is going on the heels are double teaming Marty in the ring. They dump him out over the top rope and lose this odd bout by DQ! Then we have Larry Z's interview segment. When his co-host Larry Nelson informs Larry that this weeks guest is Verne Gagne Larry says Gagne helped get him suspended and he storms off. Verne comes out like it's 1972 and talks about many things(all of which are to boring to write down) Next up Larry Z vs Leon "Bull Power" White (a very young green stiff as hell VADER for those who may not know) Larry takes a hell of an ass whippin in this 10 minute match. He gets forearmed powerslammed pressslammed and splashed in the corner. The big Z ends up winning the bout by countout when the two were on the floor he rakes Leon's eyes and crawls back in the ring. The big rookie has to sell this like he's blind and cant find the ring in time(this looked very silly. After the bout Leon gets back in and slams Larry one more time, before the Pitsburger hightails it to the dressing room. Main event Stan Hansen defends his AWA World Title against the Challenge of David Sammartino. I remember this match vividly from this show! I was 7! I loved Hansen then as I do now(although his interviews scared me to death for some reason I cannot explain) Curt Henning was at ringside doing guest commentary as well. Sammartino the younger was not a great worker by any measure(including those with eyesight) but Hansen made him seem like a threat. David did slams and armdrags and armbars. Hansen took the fight outside once and got into a shouting match with fans! As the bout wore on Sammartino got a near fall with a schoolboy rollup. Hansen countered a backdrop with a stiff kick to the solar plexus. He then nailed a flying dropkick and followed that up with his Lariat for the pin! Hansen did a post match interview where he told his kids he was gonna by them both new shoes because he won this match!
3/13/86 Stan Hansen AWA title defense vs Leon White (yes a very early Hansen/Vader matchup.) A very basic by the numbers bout but you got flashes of the huge star Vader would become. White used a headlock early and went back to it several times after quick bursts of offense by Hansen. Hansen got control and went to work on the fingers of White biting them spreading them apart. Slamming them on the apron and the steps. Then the fight went outside and it looked like it was gonna be a double countout. Both men managed to make it back in the ring before the 10 count (the referee had to stop counting and begin again because they were halfway up the aisle). They got back in and Leon hit a big splash into the turnbuckle. He went for it a 2nd time and Stan moved and hit the Lariat as Leon was going down and got the pin! Not great but you could tell they had chemistry no doubt!
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