AWA in St. Paul 5-18-88 Williams/Sarge vs Abby/Gang!

[Chitohausen]

AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION

THURSDAY, MAY 18, 1988

CIVIC CENTER

ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA





Larry Nelson welcomes everyone in attendance for a night of action-packed AWA wrestling!


JOHNNY GUNN beats JACK FOLEY by pinfall in the opening bout. Gunn has been improving with each match, and gets the win here with a nice tilt-a-whirl slam.


SHERRI MARTEL (w/John Tatum) defeats International World Women’s Champion MADUSA MICELI to win the title. The match is fairly even throughout, until John Tatum interferes on behalf of Sherri, tripping Madusa as she runs the ropes. This gives Sherri the upper hand, and after wearing Madusa down, Sherri locks on a Sleeperhold for the win and the Women’s title.


NIKITA KOLOFF beats MR. SAITO (w/Gen. Skandor Akbar). Before the bell rings, Sgt. Slaughter comes out to ringside. He grabs a chair, sets it up, and tells Akbar to take a seat! Akbar initially refuses, but when Slaughter starts towards him, Akbar reconsiders, sitting down in the chair, while Slaughter stands nearby, keeping an eye on him. The match is a wild, hard-hitting affair, with Nikita getting the win after hitting the Russian Sickle.

Afterwards, Abdullah the Butcher and the One Man Gang arrive on the scene, and attack Sgt. Slaughter at ringside. Saito grabs a handful of salt and throws it in Nikita’s eyes, then joins Abby and Gang in their beatdown on Slaughter! Steve Williams charges down the aisle, and enters the fray, helping Slaughter fight off Abby, Gang and Saito. Nikita is still staggering around in the ring, trying desperately to clear the salt out of his eyes, and is no help to Slaughter and Williams outside the ring. Sarge and Doc soon find themselves overwhelmed, until a group of wrestlers and referees come to put a stop to the chaos.


AWA World TV Champion “HOLLYWOOD” JOHN TATUM (w/Sherri Martel) defeats SCOTT HALL. Tatum picks up a hard-fought victory over the former champion, connecting with the California Kick for the pinfall victory.


AWA World Tag Team Champions STAN HANSEN & KING KONG BRODY beat THE FANTASTICS: TOMMY ROGERS & BOBBY FULTON. The Fantastics are able to get a little more going here than they did when they lost the titles to Hansen and Brody on TV, but ultimately, the end result is the same, as Hansen clobbers Fulton with a vicious Lariat, and then Brody delivers the flying kneedrop for the 1, 2, 3.

After the match, as Tommy Rogers checks on his tag team partner, he’s attacked by Hansen and Brody, and he receives a Lariat, followed by the flying kneedrop, as well. Both Fantastics have to be helped from the ring.


STEVE WILLIAMS & SGT. SLAUGHTER battle ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER & THE ONE MAN GANG (w/ General Skandor Akbar) to a No Contest. Slaughter and Williams took a beating from Akbar’s men earlier in the night, and they’re looking for some payback here! We start out with all four men brawling in the ring. Referee Randy Anderson is finally able to get Williams and Abby out of the ring, and Slaughter and the Gang go toe to toe. Slaughter holds his own against the massive Gang, until he finds himself in the heel corner, and while Gang distracts the ref, Abby repeatedly jabs Slaughter in the head with his trusty fork!

Steve Williams has seen enough, he charges into the ring! Williams pushes the referee aside, and pummels the Gang with rights and lefts, then lunges at the Butcher! Williams and Abby take their fight to the floor, while OMG continues to pummel Slaughter inside the ring!

Williams gets the better of Abdullah on the floor, and rolls him back into the ring, and we end up with all four guys in the ring again. Randy Anderson tries desperately to get some order restored, but it’s no use, both teams just shove him aside and continue to brawl!

Finally, Anderson has no choice, and calls for the bell, throwing the match out!

The brawl continues, and it takes several wrestlers and referees to separate the two teams, but they finally get them apart and to the locker room.

[thecommish]

Another hellacious main event.

The whole card was great but I think Madusa and Sherri might have stolen the show - they were by far the best all around performers of the US division at the time.

Have you considered bringing in Nakano and Hokuto down the road to work with them? I think they'd have some amazing matches unlike anything US fans had seen at the time.

[doctorfate]

Liking the Tatum push here. In my youth, Hansen and Brody together was raw, wild, and scary. Nikita and Williams in any type of association has my attention.