AWA TV 2-18-88 Reed vs Slaughter in the main event!
Feb 23, 2017 21:46:29 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Feb 23, 2017 21:46:29 GMT
Airdate: Saturday, February 18, 1988
Broadcast nationwide on Superstation WGN
Taped on February 14, 1988 at the Auditorium in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
“From coast to coast, border to border, and continent to continent, this is the AWA, the major leagues of professional wrestling!”
Opening Clip: Williams vs Borne, 2/4/88 on Championship Wrestling:
Borne jaws with Slaughter, and Percy Pringle gets up out of his seat, folds the chair up, and hits Slaughter across the back with it! Slaughter is stunned, but stays on his feet, then grabs Percy by the collar. Borne rolls out of the ring, and jumps Slaughter before he can do any damage to Percy. As Slaughter and Borne trade punches on the floor, Williams leaves the ring too, and helps Slaughter fight off Borne and Pringle. Inside the ring, the referee calls for the bell, and declares the match a No Contest.
At that point, AWA champion Rick Rude arrives on the scene, sneaking up behind Williams, and clipping his knee! Williams collapses to the floor, and Rude takes the chair that Percy had used to hit Slaughter, and starts bashing Williams in the knee with it!
Slaughter tries to help Williams, but Borne attacks him again, while Rude continues to work over the knee of Dr. Death! Finally other wrestlers and referees are able to clear the ringside area, but the damage has been done, and Williams has to be helped to the back, as he’s unable to put any pressure on the injured knee.
END CLIP
Rod Trongard opens the show, and welcomes his co-hosts, Magnum TA and the newest member of the team, Paul E. Dangerously.
Trongard talks about the injury that Steve Williams suffered two weeks ago at the hands of Rick Rude. He says that we heard from a somber, emotional Dr. Death on last week’s show, and with SuperClash now only 7 days away, one has to wonder what kind of shape Doc’s knee will be in when he climbs into the steel cage with Rick Rude.
Dangerously says that he always knew Steve Williams was dumb, but to agree to put his career on the line, against Rick Rude? That’s a whole new level of stupidity! Paul says he can’t wait to see Rude drop Williams with the Rude Awakening on February 25, and send Williams packing!
Magnum thinks things are going to turn out differently, and predicts we’ll have a new World’s champion after SuperClash II.
Rod Trongard runs down the whole card, as a graphic appears on the screen:
SuperClash II
Live on Pay-Per-View
Saturday, February 25, 1988
From the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, MO
Steel Cage Match for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship!
If Williams fails to win the title, he will retire from wrestling!
“Ravishing” Rick Rude (Champ) vs “Dr. Death” Steve Williams
Sgt. Slaughter vs “Maniac” Matt Borne
AWA World Tag Team Championship!
The Islanders, Haku & Tama (Champs) vs “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka & Iceman Parsons
AWA World Television Championship!
“Hacksaw” Butch Reed (Champ) vs Dick Slater
The Fantastics vs “Playboy” Buddy Rose & “Crippler” Rip Oliver
Big Van Vader & Mr. Saito & One Man Gang vs Wahoo McDaniel & Crusher Blackwell & Baron von Raschke
Bob Backlund & Greg Gagne vs “Mr. Magnificent” Kevin Kelly & “Hollywood” John Tatum
Brad Rheingans vs Nord the Viking
STEVE DOLL VS. MASAHIRO CHONO. Doll and Chono give the fans a fast-paced, mostly scientific match. Neither man can put the other away before the 10-minute time limit expires, and the match is a declared a DRAW.
We go to pre-recorded comments from Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka and Iceman Parsons. They talk about facing the Islanders for the World Tag Team titles at SuperClash. Parsons says they’ve been teaming up for the last few months all around the country, and have had quite a bit of success. Snuka talks about training one of the Islanders, Tama, in New York a few years ago, and believes that knowing Tama as well as he does, that will give him and Parsons an advantage going into the match. Parsons says that he and Snuka are gonna win the belts at SuperClash, and then he’s going to invite the fans into the ring to boogie with him and the Superfly!
BIG VAN VADER (w/ General Skandor Akbar) VS. DJ PETERSON. Peterson is a more than capable wrestler, but Vader just demolishes him, pounding Peterson into the mat, then hoisting him up and driving him down, back-first, into the mat with a powerbomb. Vader puts one foot on Peterson’s chest for the pinfall.
After the match, Larry Nelson climbs into the ring to talk with Skandor Akbar and Big Van Vader. At that point, the rest of Devastation Inc, Mr. Saito, Nord the Viking and the newest member, the One Man Gang come to the ring as well. Akbar says that he has put together the most destructive, the most unstoppable unit that the wrestling world has ever known! He says that at SuperClash II, Vader, Saito and the Gang will take on three so-called “legends” of the AWA, Crusher Blackwell, Wahoo McDaniel and Baron von Raschke.
Akbar says that the first SuperClash, last February, was the crowning moment of Wahoo McDaniel’s career, winning the USWA World heavyweight title. Unfortunately for Wahoo, while last year was a dream come true, this year is going to be his worst nightmare because he has to face Vader, Saito and the Gang! He then talks about Crusher Blackwell and says that there was a time that he was the most dominant big man in the sport, but now that distinction belongs to the One Man Gang! And Baron von Raschke, he used to be someone that Akbar was proud to call a friend, but now he’s embraced the United States and the American way of life and it’s made the Baron soft! He says that by the time the 6-man tag team match is over, and Wahoo, Blackwell and the Baron are laid out on the mat, their bones, and spirits, broken, they’ll regret the day they ever signed the contract for this match!
We go to pre-recorded comments from Capt. Lou Albano and AWA World Tag Team champions the Islanders: Haku & Tama. Albano talks about his men facing Jimmy Snuka and Iceman Parsons at SuperClash. He responds to Snuka’s earlier comments, saying that while Snuka may be familiar with Tama, Albano managed Snuka for a number of years, and he knows Snuka better than the Superfly knows himself! He says that he’s got Haku and Tama ready for Snuka, they know all of Snuka’s moves, they’ll be ready for anything the Superfly can throw at them.
Albano then says that Parsons said he and Snuka would bring the fans into the ring to “boogie” with them after the match, but he wonders how well Parsons will be able to dance when he’s laid up in traction in a hospital bed!
Trongard, Magnum and Dangerously talk about two men making their return to the AWA at SuperClash II, “Playboy” Buddy Rose and Rip “the Crippler” Oliver.
We go to footage of Larry Nelson, standing outside a gym. He says that he’s going to talk with Rose and Oliver about their match at SuperClash with a new team on the scene, the Fantastics. As Nelson walks over to them, Oliver is training hard, lifting weights, while Rose spends most of the time looking at himself in a full-length mirror. Rose tells Nelson that he doesn’t need to work out, he’s already in peak condition, unlike those two chippendale wannabe’s, the Fantastics! Buddy says that he saw the video of them that aired last week on TV, he knows they think they’re good-looking, but Rose says that Nelson, and everyone out there in TV land, is looking at the sexiest men in wrestling, the Playboy and the Crippler!
Rip Oliver walks over, and tells Nelson that he and Rose are setting their sights on the tag team titles, and anyone who gets in their way is gonna find out why they call him the Crippler!
Oliver then tells Nelson to take a hike so they can continue their training. As Nelson leaves, Rip goes over and starts sparring in the ring, and Rose goes back to looking at himself in the mirror.
“SUPERFLY” JIMMY SNUKA (w/ Iceman Parsons) VS. ISLANDER TAMA (w/ Capt. Lou Albano). Late in the match, Snuka has the upper hand, when Lou Albano interferes. This leads to Parsons confronting Albano, and that distracts Tama. When Tama turns his attention back to the match, he’s met with a series of headbutts from Snuka, followed by the Superfly Splash for the pinfall! Snuka has pinned one-half of the World Tag Team champions, giving him and Parsons the momentum heading into the title match next Saturday night at SuperClash.
Before the main event, we see a highlight video focusing on “Dr. Death” Steve Williams. We see footage of Williams from early in his career in the Mid-South region, and then footage of Doc here in the AWA. It ends with footage of the attack on Williams two weeks ago, and then his promo last week, while on crutches.
AWA WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP:
“HACKSAW” BUTCH REED (Champ) (w/ Percival Pringle III) VS. SGT. SLAUGHTER. One week before defending the World TV title against Dick Slater at SuperClash, Reed faces Sgt. Slaughter. This match is action-packed, but as Slaughter gets the upper hand, Matt Borne, who will face Slaughter at SuperClash, hits the ring and attacks Sarge! The referee awards the match to Slaughter by DQ.
Borne and Reed pummel Slaughter, while Percy Pringle cheers them on, until Dick Slater arrives on the scene, and he and Slaughter clear the ring as the show comes to an end.
Trongard, Magnum and Paul E wrap up the show, with Trongard mentioning that there will not be an episode of Championship Wrestling next Saturday evening, but he encourages the fans who haven’t yet done so to make sure they call their cable provider to order SuperClash II, live next Saturday night at 7pm, on Pay-Per-View!
Credits Roll
© 1988, AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
Working on it now.