AWA TV 7-21-88 Bulldogs vs Harts!
Aug 3, 2017 1:17:12 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Aug 3, 2017 1:17:12 GMT
AWA “PRO WRESTLING USA”
Airdate: Friday, July 21, 1988
Broadcast nationwide on Superstation WGN
Taped July 19, 1988 at the Fargo Civic Center in Fargo, ND
“From coast to coast, border to border, and continent to continent, this is the AWA, the major leagues of professional wrestling!”
Rod Trongard opens the show, and welcomes his co-host Diamond Dallas Page!
They talk about what we’ll see on tonight’s program, including a big tag team main event, the British Bulldogs take on Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart in a
Trongard talks about what took place on last week’s show.
VTR: Pro Wrestling USA 7/7/88:
After the match, Hansen grabs the house mic from Larry Nelson, and says that he took care of King Kong Brody, and ran him right out of the AWA, now he wants the top dog, he wants Steve Williams!
A moment later, Steve Williams makes his way out! Doc climbs into the ring and gets right in Hansen’s face. He says that he’s never backed down from a fight in his life, and he’s not about to start now! The two men stand nose to nose . . . Hansen throws a haymaker, but Williams is ready! Doc blocks the punch, and hits Hansen with a series of jabs. Hansen is momentarily stunned, but shakes it off, and drives a knee into Doc’s midsection. Hansen delivers some clubbing forearm blows that drop Williams to a knee, but he’s back up quickly and goes at Hansen!
The two brawl all around the ring before referees and other wrestlers swarm the ring and try to separate them. It takes several tries, as they keep breaking free and attacking each other again, but finally order is restored, and the two men are removed from the ring.
END VTR
Trongard says that the AWA promoters are working diligently to get a match signed between these two. He says that Williams has proven himself to be a worthy champion, having defeated some of the toughest men in the sport, but Stan Hansen is in a league by himself, most experts consider the bad man from Borger to be the single most dominant force in wrestling today!
Page says that he can’t wait to see Hansen clobber Doc with the lariat, and take the World title!
Magnum TA is standing by with Stan Hansen. Hansen talks about facing the biggest names in the sport, all around the world, and they all found themselves on the business end of his lariat! He says that Steve Williams will meet the same fate!
Trongard and Page are joined at the announce desk by AWA World champion Steve “Dr. Death” Williams. Williams says he’s well aware of how tough Stan Hansen is, he’s aware of the damage that Hansen has left in his wake, but he’s faced men like that before. He says that the fans saw footage a couple of weeks ago, of his match with Abdullah the Butcher on July 4, there were many who said Abdullah couldn’t be stopped, that there was no way Williams could beat him. And yet, here we are, he’s still got the AWA World title.
Page says that Williams got lucky against the Butcher. Williams ignores him, and says he’s not going to back down from Stan Hansen. He’ll climb into that ring with Hansen, and while he can’t promise victory, the one thing he can promise the fans is that he’ll give it 110%, and he’ll give Hansen the fight of his life.
JIMMY SNUKA VS. JOEL DEATON. The popular Superfly gets the win following the splash from the top rope.
AWA AMERICAS CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
“MR. WONDERFUL” PAUL ORNDORFF (champ) (w/Jimmy Hart) VS. BILLY ROBINSON. The legendary Englishman returns to the AWA to challenge Paul Orndorff for the Americas title. Robinson gains an early advantage, keeping Orndorff on the mat, but the champion soon battles back. Orndorff shows that, even though he’s seen as a power wrestler, when he needs to, he can go hold for hold with the best of them. The champion wears Robinson down, and eventually drops him with the Piledriver for the pinfall victory.
On commentary, Trongard says that no matter what the fans might think of Orndorff, there’s no denying that he’s one of the very best wrestlers in the world!
After the match, Orndorff takes the house mic from ring announcer Larry Nelson, and says that he just beat the great Billy Robinson, and barely broke a sweat! He gloats, calling himself the greatest wrestler that’s ever lived, and says he’ll beat whoever gets in the ring with him, including Sgt. Slaughter! Orndorff then runs down Slaughter, saying he doesn’t think Slaughter was ever a Marine, more likely that Slaughter couldn’t hack it, and washed out of basic training!
Magnum TA is standing by with a new team in the AWA, Tom Zenk and Phil Lafleur, the Can-Am Express! Magnum says that they have been teaming together in Canada recently, and have had quite a bit of success, winning the International Tag Team titles in the Montreal territory.
Zenk says that he’s been lucky to have such a great partner in Phil Lafleur, they’ve held tag team gold before, and now they’re here in the AWA and they’re setting their sights on the World Tag Team belts!
Lafleur, with a heavy French-Canadian accent, says that they know they’ll have to work their way up, there’s a lot of great teams in the AWA, but he and Tom are looking forward to the competition.
NIKITA KOLOFF VS. ABDULLAH THE BUTCHER. Koloff has been looking to get his hands on the Butcher ever since the Great War cage match at WrestleRock back in June. He finally gets his match with Abby here, and he attacks the Butcher as soon as the bell rings. Abby fights back, using a judo thrust to the throat to stop Nikita dead in his tracks. Abby punches, kicks, bites and gouges the Russian, opening up a cut on Nikita’s forehead!
The blood running down his face only seems to energize Koloff, though, and he fights back, rocking the Butcher with a flurry of rights and lefts! With Abby dazed, the Russian Nightmare connects with the Russian Sickle and gets the 1, 2, 3!
Magnum TA is standing by with the AWA World Tag Team champions the British Bulldogs. Magnum says that, in tonight’s feature bout, they’ll face members of the Hart Foundation in Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart, in a non-title match. Davey Boy says that Bret and Neidhart are a great team, but tonight, they step into the ring with the very best team in the world!
Dynamite says he and Dynamite came to the AWA for the competition, and that’s exactly what they’re going to get tonight, but he’s confident that they can beat the Harts and retain these belts.
STAN HANSEN VS. JAKE MILLIMAN. Hansen destroys Milliman, connecting with a vicious Lariat before covering Milliman for the 1, 2, 3.
NON-TITLE MATCH:
THE BRITISH BULLDOGS: DAVEY BOY SMITH & DYNAMITE KID VS. BRET HART & JIM NEIDHART (w/ Jimmy Hart). These two teams deliver a great match, the action goes back and forth at a quick pace, with neither team slowing down at all. The two teams are so evenly-matched that on commentary, Trongard says picking a winner is practically impossible!
Late in the match, the Bulldogs have the upper hand and Dynamite Kid goes to the top rope, preparing to deliver the diving headbutt on Jim Neidhart. However, Bret distracts the ref, and Jimmy Hart gets up on the ring apron, smacking Dynamite in the back of the head with his megaphone! Dynamite falls off the turnbuckle, and Neidhart has enough presence of mind to drape an arm over Dynamite. The referee turns back to the match, and sees Neidhart covering Dynamite! He makest he count, as Bret charges across the ring and stops Davey Boy from breaking up the count.
Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart have defeated the World Tag Team champions in a non-title match!
Trongard and Page wrap things up, and Trongard hypes next week’s show.
Credits Roll
© 1988, AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
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