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Nostalgia Review: AWA Super Clash I; Flair vs. Magnum TA, Martel vs Hansen, Road Warriors vs. Freebirds, Bockwinkel,Race,Gagne, Hennig, Von Erich and more
Sep 30, 2008 - 2:33:50 PM
This week’s look back at wrestling nostalgia takes us back to September 28, 1985 and the AWA SuperClash I. SuperClash was held at Comiskey Park (Chicago White Sox former stadium) in Chicago, Illinois. A large crowd of 21,000 attended the stadium show. The show was promoted by Verne Gagne and the AWA, however it did feature NWA matches in an effort to compete with the WWF’s increasing national popularity.
Larry Nelson handled the announcing and interview duties.
1. AWA World Light Heavyweight Champion, Steve Regal defeated Brad Rheighans in 9:14 via pinfall; Regal retained the title. Rheighans, a legitimate Olympic amateur wrestler, took early control of the match with a backdrop and a suplex. Rheighans then went to work on his arm. Regal used a rake in the eyes to gain the advantage and then locked on a reverse headlock that brought out boring chants from the crowd. Rheighans made a comeback and had Regal pinned, until Regal’s tag team partner Jimmy Garvin jumped on the ring and distracted the referee. When Rheighans jumped up to knock Garvin off the ring apron, Regal rolled him up from behind for the pin. A decent opening match.
2. Sheri Martel defeated Candi Devine for the AWA Women’s World Title in 11:24. Martel won the belt for the first time with this win. Martel worked as a total heel through the match, a role she was excellent at. Just before the five minute mark, they teased a disqualification as Devine dropkicked Martel and Martel flew over the top rope. Martel threw Devine outside the ring and then worked over Devine inside the ring, while Nelson speculated Devine had internal injuries. Devine made a small comeback before Martel dropped a knee on Devine for the pinfall.
3. Jumbo Tsuruta, Giant Baba & Genichiro Tenryu defeated Harley Race, Bill Irwin and Scott Irwin in 10:53. This match was for the “Asian 6 Man Championship”. I have never heard of the Asian 6-Man Championship and can find no record of it. Tsuruta was acknowledged as having been a former AWA World Heavyweight Champion and Race was acknowledged as a 6 time former NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Apparently Tsuruta, Baba and Tenryu were the champions because they were Asian, although they didn’t have the belts with them. The Irwins and to a lesser extent Race took most of the bumps in the match as the Irwins and Race got in very little offense. Finish came when Baba hit Wild Bill Irwin with a big boot to the face and pinned him.
4. Little Tokyo defeated Little Mr. T in 9:29. This match was for the “Midget’s Title”. This title must have been sanctioned by the same promotion as the Asian 6 Man Titles. Anyway, they tried hard, but the crowd wasn’t into the match. In fact, in three of the first four matches, the heels won cleanly.
5. Mil Mascaras defeated Buddy Roberts via pinfall in 6:42. This match was for the “Mexican Championship.” I am starting to notice a pattern here. Mascaras was a Mexican wrestling legend, who will in very good shape, was well his prime. Mascaras almost never lost and because he was such a legend, still worked several dates in 1985. Mascaras not only did not get beat, but also did very little selling. Mascaras flew off the top rope with a flying body press for the win. Crowd finally came to life to hurl insults at Buddy Roberts.
6. Kerry Von Erich defeated Jimmy Garvin in 6:51. This match was for the WCCW Texas Championship. Kerry mentioned his brother Mike as fighting for his life in a hospital back in Texas in a pre-match interview. Crowd was solidly behind Von Erich after having very little to cheer about in the first five matches. It was all Von Erich early with Kerry even hitting his discus punch within the first two minutes of the match, although Garvin had his foot on the ropes. Garvin went on offense after throwing Von Erich over the top rope until Von Erich made his big comeback. Von Erich won with another discus punch. A decent match.
7. Greg Gagne, Scott Hall and Curt Hennig defeated Nick Bockwinkel, Larry Zbyzsko, and Ray Stevens in 12:26 when Hall pinned Stevens. Legendary sports announcer at WGN-TV and radio in Chicago Jack Brickhouse introduced this match. Bockwinkel and Hennig started the bout. Bockwinkel was one of the all time greats in wrestling, who probably never got the recognition he deserved. Bockwinkel was nearing the end of his career as was Stevens by 1985. Scott Hall was so green at this point in his career that when he went into the ring, Zbyzsko literally had to put himself in an arm and tell Hall to hold him in it. Hall held the armbar for 45 seconds on Zbyszko then tagged in Gagne. At the five minute mark, the heels went to work on Hennig. Hennig was such an excellent bump taker and could sell with the best of them. At the finish, all six men entered the ring and Gagne threw Stevens into Hall who powerslammed Stevens and covered him for the pin. Hall was in for less than a minute and did two moves. The match was very good.
8. The Road Warriors defeated the Fabulous Freebirds of Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy by disqualification in 12:05. This match was for the AWA World Tag Team Titles, which the Road Warriors held and retained by the DQ. The Road Warriors were getting huge, positive crowd reactions, even though Verne Gagne thought they should be working as the heel team. This, among other things, caused problems between Hawk and Animal and Gagne. The Road Warriors were working some dates in the NWA, despite being AWA Tag Team Champions and were threatening to jump to the NWA. Hawk worked the first 8 minutes of the match, building to the hot tag to Animal. Buddy Roberts, who seconded the Freebirds attacked the Road Warriors manager Paul Ellering. When Hawk went outside to fight with Roberts, Animal took on both Hayes and Gordy. When Animal had Gordy pinned, Hayes came off the top rope with a foreign object and pinned Animal. It was announced that the Freebirds were the new champions, however Verne Gagne came out and asked for a replay to be shown on the stadium’s jumbo screen and he would disqualify the Freebirds for using a foreign object. Gagne would take the belts off the Warriors the next night due to interference by the Freebirds.
9. Krusher Khruschev(Barry Darsow), Ivan Koloff and Nikita Koloff defeated Da Crusher, Dick the Bruiser and Baron Von Raschke in 8:59. The NWA 6-Man Tag Team Championship was on the line as the Russians were the champs and successfully defended the belts. Due to the advancing age of the Baron, Crusher and Dick the Bruiser; this match was kept short. All six men started off in the ring, brawling before Crusher started working with Kruschev. This wasn’t a good match. Darsow and Nikita were very early in their careers while the other four were at the tail end of their respective careers. Darsow took a couple of bumps and the rest of the match was mostly kicks and punches. Finish came when Baron had Ivan Koloff in the claw, but Nikita Koloff hit Baron from behind and Ivan pinned the Baron.
10. Sgt. Slaughter defeated Boris Zhukov by disqualification in 8:57 to retain the AWA America’s Championship. Slaughter was one of the AWA’s top babyface wrestlers in 1985 as he had just come from the WWF and had a very successful feud with the Iron Shiek that featured several “bootcamp” matches that sold out Madison Square Garden several times. The WWF didn’t have anything for Slaughter after his feud with the Iron Shiek ended, so Slaughter came back to the AWA. The AWA America’s Championship was created as a secondary title to the AWA World Heavyweight Title, similar to the NWA/WCW U.S. Championship and the WWF Intercontinental Title. The AWA attempted to recapture the success of the Sgt. Slaughter-Iron Shiek feud with Slaughter and opponents such as Zhukov, Larry Zbyzsko and Kamala, but success was limited. Slaughter took early control of the match, but Zhukov quickly gained the upperhand until Zhukov threw Sarge outside the ring. Sarge reversed an attempted piledriver into a backdrop. Back in the ring, Slaughter went for the big clothesline, but Zhukov threw the ref in front of Zhukov to cause the dq. While the ref was down, Zhukov hit Slaughter with a loaded elbow pad to cut Slaughter open. Not a bad match, but a unsatisfying finish.
11. Jerry Blackwell defeated Kamala in 6:46 in a bodyslam match. Kamala was managed by Shiek Adnan Al Kassey, who should be mentioned as one of the top five managers of all time in wrestling. Kassey was the AWA’s top manager after Bobby Heenan left for the AWA. The only way the match could end was for one person to be bodyslammed. Blackwell was a very good worker, widely considered one of the best big men of all time, however working with Kamala limited the the match to mostly kicks and punches. After Blackwell slammed Kamala, Kassey and Kamala beat Blackwell down until Baron Von Raschke cleared the ring with a baseball bat.
12. Rick Martel fought Stan Hansen to a double disqualification in only 3:10 in a match for the AWA World Heavyweight Title. Martel came into the match as AWA World Heavyweight Champion and retained the title via the DDQ. Hansen came to the ring and began brawling wildly with Martel, including using a chair on Martel. Martel was known as a great technical wrestler and not known for his brawling expertise. It was a wild brawl that was decent, but too short. The match never got going, however the story of the match was to begin a feud between Hansen and Martel. In that sense, the match was a success.
13. Ric Flair pinned Magnum T.A. in 25:48 in a match for the NWA World Heavyweight Title. Magnum had early success in working on Flair’s back, however Flair took control of the match using his trademark chops, knees and suplexes. Flair missed a kneedrop and Magnum put Flair in the figure four leglock that Flair sold like his leg was being torn off. Flair made the ropes to break the hold and Magnum got a near fall after reversing a backslide. Flair regained control after throwing Magnum outside the ring and ramming him shoulder first into the ring post. Flair and referee Larry Lasowzski worked a very good spot where Flair had Magnum’s shoulders down for several near falls when he would use the ropes for extra leverage. Every time Lasowzski would check on Flair, Flair would drop off the ropes. It was classic heel work that you won’t find in today’s wrestling environment. Magnum finally reversed Flair’s momentum with a sleeper hold. At the 20 minute mark, Flair put Magnum into the figure four but Magnum reversed the hold. Magnum threw Flair into the ringpost, busting Flair open. Magnum got a near fall after a belly to belly suplex, his finishing maneuver. Magnum sent Flair into the turnbuckle and rolled Flair up for a nearfall that Flair reversed into the pinfall victory. A very good match, easily the best of the evening. Magnum got pinned clean but looked good in the match.
Summary: The WWF had success promoting cards that featured a lot of very short matches (12 or more was common) in the mid-80’s. This was opposed to the early 1980’s AWA style of fewer, but longer matches. AWA tried to follow the WWF format with this show. Too many matches, without satisfying finishes leaves this show with a flat feel. I would consider only five of the thirteen matches as average or above as far as match quality is concerned. The AWA did not have the roster strength in 1985 to compete with the WWF or even the NWA, thus the AWA included NWA talent on the card. If you are looking for a nostalgia card with good quality matches, avoid SuperClash I. On a very sad note; of the 40 in ring talent appearing on the card, I counted 11 talent that have passed away. I would recommend this card just from a nostalgia standpoint.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s look at wrestling nostalgia. As always; your thoughts, comments or questions are welcome. Feel free to contact me at bhoops@iw.net. Be sure to listen to the Nostalgia audio podcast available in the VIP section of PWTorch.com.
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