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PW Torch.com Nostalgia Review
AWA "Wrestling for a Cure"
October 29, 2007
By Brian Hoops PW Torch.com Special Contributor

This week's look at wrestling nostalgia takes us back to August 1985 for the AWA "Wrestling for a Cure." This show was held in Boston, Massachusetts at Northeastern University and was broadcast on local Boston television. The show was a benefit show for muscular dystrophy that drew 5,000 people in attendance and lasted only 2 hours. The matches were kept much shorter than normal due to the time constraints of local TV and the local personalities. The announcing was awful, with a play by play man that was a local TV personality that made Eric Bischoff sound like Jim Ross and Killer Kowalski who was inaudible most of the night.

Larry Zbyszko [photo by Wade Keller (c) PWTorch]

First match of the night saw Bob Backlund defeat Larry Zbyszko by disqualification in 6:52. Backlund had left the WWF after being defeated by the Iron Shiek for the WWF Heavyweight title. Zbyszko was the son in law of Verne Gagne and would the be last AWA World Heavyweight Champion before the promotion folded in 1991. Lots of stalling by Zbyszko early in the match to establish himself as the heel. They had a very good match going with good back and forth action until Zbyszko threw Backlund over the top rope, causing the automatic dq.

Second match was for the AWA World Tag Team Titles. The champions, the Road Warriors defeated the challengers, the Long Riders; Scott and Bill Irwin by pinfall in 7:27. They weren't given much time for a match so Hawk attacked the Long Riders before the bell. Riders worked over Hawk until he made the hot tag to Animal. Finish came when Bill Irwin ducked a clothesline from Animal and Hawk nailed him with a clothesline from outside the ring. Animal covered Bill for the pin. The local announcer kept calling the Long Riders the Pale Riders. Decent match.

The next match saw Greg Gagne take on Steve Regal. This was during Gagne's forgettable period when he trained under Sgt. Slaughter and was wearing the army fatigues. Gagne was best known as a tag team wrestler with Jim Brunzell as the High Flyers while Regal was a former AWA Light Heavyweight Champion and would form a tag team with Jimmy Garvin that would win the AWA World Tag Team titles from the Road Warriors in September of 1985. Regal was the son in law of Wilber Snyder. Pretty basic wrestling action with Greg winning the match with a flying body press on Regal in 5:49. A decent match that would have been better if they had been given more time.

Sgt Slaughter was promoted as the star of this event and they showed a video of him at different fund raising events in Boston.

Next match promised to be a scientific, wrestling classic. Brad Rheingans upset Billy Robinson in 4:08 with a backslide. Robinson was nearing the end of his career but was still very well respected. Rheingans was the former NCAA Heavyweight champion from North Dakota State and placed fourth in the 1976 Olympic Games. Rheingans was just getting his start in professional wrestling and would go on to become an AWA World Tag Team Champion with Ken Patera. Trivia question, who else on this card was a champion wrestler at NDSU? Answer is Bob Backlund. This was way to short to have much impact but there were decent in the time they had.

Next match is for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship. The current champion is Rick Martel and he defended the belt against former champion Nick Bockwinkle. Bockwinkle was wrestling in this match at the age of 50 and was in incredible shape. Martel had won the title on May 13, 1984 from Jumbo Tsuruta and held the title until December 29, 1985. Martel and Bockwinkle had some classic battles previously for the title and this match was good but like the other matches, they did not have enough time to make it great. They went to a 10 minute time limit draw in 8:08.

Final match of the evening saw Sgt. Slaughter take on the Russian Boris Zhukov. Sgt. Slaughter was billed as the America's champion, but his title was not on the line. In 1987, Zhukov would become AWA World Tag Team champion with Soldat Ustinov. Match was pretty basic with Slaughter pinning Zhukov in 9:06.

Summary: The AWA was the promotion I grew up watching and it is still my favorite promotion to this day. I loved to go back and watch this event as the wrestlers brought back so many good memories. The time constraints given to each match limited the quality of the matches, however none of the matches were below average and some were good. It was a fun event that I would recommend you see if you are a fan of the AWA.

Next week we look back the WCW Beach Blast PPV from 1992.

As always, your feedback or nostalgia requests are welcomed at bhoops@iw.net.

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