AWA TV 2-11-88 An emotional moment with Dr. Death!
Feb 17, 2017 2:24:59 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Feb 17, 2017 2:24:59 GMT
Airdate: Saturday, February 11, 1988
Broadcast nationwide on Superstation WGN
Taped on February 7, 1988 at the Municipal Armory in Sheboygan, Wisconsin
“From coast to coast, border to border, and continent to continent, this is the AWA, the Major Leagues of Professional Wrestling!”
Opening Clip: Slater/Ole vs Islanders, Last Week on Championship Wrestling:
Ole Anderson gets knocked out of the ring, where Capt. Lou attacks him and keeps him from getting back into the ring. Inside the ring, Haku comes in and catches Slater with a savate kick to the chin, putting him on the mat, and from there Tama comes off the top rope with a diving headbutt for the 1, 2, 3!
We have new World Tag Team champions in the Islanders, Haku and Tama!
END CLIP
Rod Trongard opens the show, and welcomes his co-host, Magnum TA.
Trongard says that a third member of their team has been added, making his debut this week, a man known as Paul E. Dangerously.
Dangerously joins Trongard and Magnum, saying that it’s about time the AWA added an unbiased voice to the announce team! He says that these fans have got to be sick and tired of listening to Trongard and Magnum, who are nothing more than cheerleaders for guys like Steve Williams and Sgt. Slaughter.
Trongard just rolls his eyes, and then talks about the World Tag Team title change that took place last week, with Dangerously cutting him off, and praising the Islanders, calling them the best team in wrestling. Trongard mentions that Haku, the illegal man in the ring, hit Slater with that savate kick which led directly to the pinfall. Dangerously says that they did what they needed to in order to win, that’s what champions do!
AWA WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP:
“HACKSAW” BUTCH REED (Champ) (w/ Percival Pringle III) VS. DJ PETERSON. Peterson may not have the experience of the World TV champ, but that doesn’t stop him from taking the fight right to the Hacksaw to start the match. Reed seems caught off guard by the onslaught from Peterson, perhaps he was looking past the young man, which Trongard says you can’t do, because even the World TV champion can get his shoulders pinned to the mat on any given night if he underestimates his opponent. Reed soon turns the match in his favour, and shows off his strength, by pressing Peterson over his head and dropping him to the mat. From there, Reed heads to the top rope, and Peterson slowly gets back to his feet, Reed launches from the top rope with the diving shoulderblock. Reed covers Peterson for the 1, 2, 3.
After the match, Larry Nelson climbs into the ring to interview Reed and Pringle. Reed says that ever since he ran that snot-nosed punk Terry Taylor out of the AWA, he’s had no competition, not that Taylor was much competition! Reed doesn’t think there’s anyone in the AWA that has the guts to face him!
There’s some commotion, and out comes Dick Slater! Slater climbs into the ring, and grabs the mic out of Reed’s hand! Slater says that he got side-tracked with the Islanders, but he still hasn’t forgotten what the Pringle Dynasty did to his friend Hacksaw Duggan. Slater says that if it’s competition that Reed wants, Slater would be more than happy to give it to him, and give Reed the whuppin’ he deserves!
Reed and Slater have an intense staredown as Nelson sends us to a commercial break.
“MANIAC” MATT BORNE (w/ Percival Pringle III) VS. STEVE DOLL. Borne wins a hard-fought match, by submission, locking Doll in the Stump Puller.
Afterwards, Larry Nelson climbs into the ring to talk with Borne and Pringle. They are joined by AWA World heavyweight champion “Ravishing” Rick Rude. Borne brags about what he’s going to do to Sgt. Slaughter at SuperClash II on February 25. Borne runs down Slaughter, saying he has it on good authority that Sarge was never actually a Marine, that he washed out after ONE DAY of basic training! He says Slaughter is a loser, and he will prove it at SuperClash!
Rude and Pringle then laugh about what Rude did to Steve Williams last week. Rude says that Williams will be going into the match with only one good leg, and beating him will be like taking candy from a baby!
Trongard introduces a video of a new tag team in the AWA, a team known all over the world, Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton, the Fantastics.
THE FANTASTICS: BOBBY FULTON & TOMMY ROGERS VS. THE MASKED SUPER ASSASSINS. The Fantastics pick up a quick win in their AWA debut, when Rogers comes off the top rope with the Fantastic Flip, an assisted somersault splash, onto one of the masked men and covers him for the 1, 2, 3 while Fulton dropkicks the other Super Assassin, sending him out of the ring.
Trongard sends us to a pre-recorded segment, where Paul E. Dangerously spoke with the new World Tag Team champions the Islanders.
Paul E. is in the locker room with Capt. Lou Albano, Haku and Tama. Footage is shown again of the win last week. Albano says that there’s nobody who knows tag team wrestling like him, and nobody who has managed more teams to championship glory than him! Albano says that these Islanders are the best team he’s ever managed, they combine Haku’s power wrestling with Tama’s speed and agility, and add to that, the sheer ruthlessness, and you’ve got an unstoppable duo!
Dangerously agrees 100%, and says he doubts theres a team in the AWA, or anywhere in wrestling, that can beat the Islanders.
Capt. Lou says that any team that gets into the ring with his Islanders will suffer the same fate as Dick Slater and Ole Anderson last week!
Prior to the start of the next match, “Hollywood” John Tatum introduces his new valet, “Sensational” Sherri Martel.
“HOLLYWOOD” JOHN TATUM (w/ Sherri Martel) VS. ICEMAN PARSONS. These two go back and forth, but it’s Tatum that pulls out the victory just seconds before the 10-minute limit was to expire. Parsons actually has the advantage at the end, but Sherri interjects herself, hitting Parsons with her purse, knocking him senseless, and allowing Tatum to drape an arm over Parsons for the pinfall.
On commentary, Trongard speculates as to what Sherri might have in that purse to knock Parsons out cold like that. Dangerously says it’s a regular purse, Parsons just has a glass jaw!
SGT. SLAUGHTER VS. MR. SAITO (w/ General Skandor Akbar). Slaughter gets a hard-fought victory here, connecting with the Slaughter Cannon, and then locking Saito in the Cobra Clutch for the submission.
Trongard, Magnum and Dangerously talk about the steel cage match coming up at SuperClash II between Steve Williams and AWA champ Rick Rude.
We see a video, highlighting everything that’s gone down between the two men, leading up to the match on February 25 on PPV. The video ends with the attack on Williams last week, at the hands of Rude.
At that point, Steve “Dr. Death” Williams comes out, on crutches. Williams says that he had no doubt in his mind that he could beat Rude in the cage at SuperClash. He says that everytime they’ve met, Rude has relied on outside interference to save his title, and inside the cage, that wouldn’t be an issue. Now, he’s not quite so confident, with the injury to his knee, but says that even though Rude used underhanded means to gain an advantage, Williams says that he made the challenge, and he will honour the stipulation that if he fails to win the title on February 25, he will retire from wrestling!
Williams gets a little emotional at that piont, and says he wants to thank the fans for their support throughout his career. If this is the last time he gets to speak to them, he says that it’s been an honour to be able to come out here and entertain the fans for the past few years.
Trongard says we’re out of time for this week, and he, Magnum and Paul E. Dangerously wrap things up.
Credits Roll
© 1988, AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
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