AWA TV 8-18-88 New AWA TV champ crowned!
Aug 18, 2017 12:12:35 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Aug 18, 2017 12:12:35 GMT
AWA “PRO WRESTLING USA”
Airdate: Friday, August 18, 1988
Broadcast nationwide on Superstation WGN
Taped August 16, 1988 at the Brown County Arena in Green Bay, WI
“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!
This week, we’ll see Wahoo McDaniel defend the TV title against Bob Orton Jr in the main event! And speaking of the TV title, we’ll see the return of former TV champ Terry Taylor this week!
Plus, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart will see tag team action, and Americas champ Paul Orndorff will be in action as well!
BRAD RHEINGANS & MIKE ROTUNDA (w/ Bob Backlund) VS. JOEL & DAVID DEATON. On commentary, Trongard runs down some of Rheingans accomplishments, he was an NCAA All-American in wrestling, he’s won gold medals at the Pan-Am games and the World Championships, and was a member of the US Olympic team! When he turned pro, Rheingans was named Rookie of the Year in 1981 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated magazine, and he’s helped train the next generation of amateur wrestlers at the University of Minnesota! Trongard says that there are very few men in this sport with credentials like Rheingans!
Rotunda and Rheingans get the win in about 3 minutes when Rotunda pins David Deaton after an Airplane Spin.
Magnum TA is standing by with former AWA TV champion, the returning Terry Taylor! Taylor says it’s great to be back in the AWA, the major leagues of professional wrestling, and says that he’s happy to see that his friends Steve Williams and Sgt. Slaughter are still going strong! He says it was an honour to stand by their side when he wrestled in the Midwest before, and any time they need his help, all they have to do is ask.
TERRY TAYLOR VS. NICK DECARLO. Taylor picks up the win after hitting DeCarlo with the flying forearm off the ropes.
Trongard and Page discuss last week’s match between Stan Hansen and Nikita Koloff.
VTR: Hansen vs Koloff, 8/11/88, JIP:
Hansen gains the upper hand, and after pummeling Koloff in the corner, Hansen appears to slip an object into his elbowpad . . . and hits the Lariat!
Koloff crumbles to the mat, and Hansen quickly covers him. Referee Gary DeRusha counts to three, and Stan Hansen is the victor!
As Hansen celebrates, DeRusha realizes that Koloff still isn’t moving, and calls for medical personnel. The EMTs come out and check on Nikita. Steve Williams and Sgt. Slaughter come out as well. Moments later, Koloff, still out, has a neckbrace put on him, and is loaded onto a stretcher. Stan Hansen stands in the aisleway and gloats, then points at Williams and tells Doc that he’s next!
The arena goes quiet as Koloff is taken to the back on the stretcher. He’s still not moving, and Slaughter and Williams are both emotional, watching their friend being taken from the ring.
END VTR
Trongard and Page are joined by Stan Hansen. Hansen says that Russian punk’s career is over, and all week, people have been asking him if he feels bad for what he did? Hansen says he doesn’t feel bad, everybody knows that he’s the biggest, baddest man in the sport, and if Nikita didn’t want to get his neck broken . . . he shouldn’t have got into the ring with Stan Hansen!
Trongard asks him about AWA champ Steve Williams, and says that during the last commercial break, he received word that a big main event has been signed for next week’s show, perhaps the biggest match they’ve ever had on television . . . Hansen and Paul Orndorff will face Steve Williams and Sgt. Slaughter!
Hansen says that’s fine with him, he doesn’t care about Paul Orndorff one way or the other, so as long as Orndorff stays out of his way, they’ll get along fine!
BRET HART & JIM NEIDHART (w/ Jimmy Hart) VS. RICKY RICE & JAKE MILLIMAN. Bret and Neidhart get the win at the 5-minute mark when Bret pins Milliman after he and Neidhart hit Milliman with the Hart Attack while Jimmy Hart distracted the referee.
Magnum TA is standing by with AWA champion Steve Williams and Sgt. Slaughter! Magnum says that we heard the news earlier, that next week’s main event will be the two of them facing off against Stan Hansen and Paul Orndorff.
Williams says they both want to get their hands on Hansen after what he did to Nikita Koloff last week. Slaughter says that Nikita was his friend and tag team partner, and watching him being stretchered out last week, unable to do anything to help him, was one of the hardest things Slaughter has ever experienced. He says that Hansen’s going to pay for that.
Slaughter then turns his attention to “Paula” Orndorff, and says that puke has been running his mouth, making false allegations regarding Slaughter’s military service. Slaughter says he’s not about to let that go unanswered, he says he’s proud of the fact that he fought for this great country. Orndorff wants to question his toughness? Well next week, that puke is going to find out, first-hand, just how tough Sgt. Slaughter is!
AWA AMERICAS CHAMPIONSHIP:
“MR. WONDERFUL” PAUL ORNDORFF (champ) (w/ Jimmy Hart) VS. PEDRO MORALES. Orndorff gains an early advantage over the former WWWF World champion, but Sgt. Slaughter comes out, takes the house mic from Larry Nelson, and gets the fans chanting “Paula, Paula” at Orndorff! This gets under Orndorff’s skin, to the point where he forgets all about Morales, turning his attention to Slaughter. This very nearly costs him the Americas title, as Pedro rolls him up for a VERY close nearfall, Orndorff only getting a shoulder up at the very last second!
Orndorff responds by hitting Morales with a low blow, then delivers a vicious forearm to the head that drops Morales to the mat. Orndorff repeatedly stomps him, then pulls Pedro up and drops him on his head with the Piledriver for the 1, 2, 3!
Orndorff grabs the Americas title belt from the referee and jumps out of the ring, but Slaughter is already gone.
Local promos air, including for the AWA’s return to the St. Paul Civic Center on August 26. Matches already signed for that show include:
AWA World champion Steve Williams defending the title against Stan Hansen!
AWA Americas champion Paul Orndorff puts the belt on the line against Sgt. Slaughter!
Bret Hart faces Dynamite Kid, and Davey Boy Smith meets Jim Neidhart in singles matches!
Terry Taylor makes his return to St. Paul against the Outlaw, Black Bart!
All that, and plenty more on August 26 in St. Paul!
Trongard and Page are joined at the announce desk by Bob Backlund, Brad Rheingans and their young protégé Mike Rotunda. Trongard says that they are three of the most outstanding technical wrestlers that the wrestling world has ever seen. All three were All-Americans in college, Rheingans is was on two US Olympic teams, Backlund is a former WWF World heavyweight champion, and Rotunda has been called a future World’s champion by experts of the sport.
Backlund thanks Trongard for the kind words, and says that they have been very fortunate, both in amateur wrestling and so far in their professional careers, and he hopes the fans will support them as they continue to work their up the ladder here in the AWA.
Rheingans says that it’s the goal of anyone who gets into this sport, to win championships, to be recognized as the very best, and they’re no different. He says that all three of them have been champions in the amateur ranks, and as Trongard mentioned, Bob Backlund has reached the top of the mountain as a pro, but he will make a promise to the fans, that they will continue to give 110% each and every time they step in the ring, they will conduct themselves in a manner that the fans expect of them, and if they’re fortunate enough to earn a shot at championship gold, they will give it their all to give the fans a champion that they can look up to and be proud of!
Rotunda says that he could not ask for better mentors than these men. They’ve helped train him in the ring, and they’ve helped him understand what it means to be a professional athlete. Rotunda says he’ll continue to do his very best to make them, and the fans, proud!
JUMBO TSURUTA & GENICHIRO TENRYU (w/ Mr. Fuji) VS. BRAD & BART BATTEN. The Devious One has his team in fine form tonight, as they get the win at 4:56 when Tenryu hits Brad with a folding powerbomb for the pinfall.
AWA WORLD TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP:
WAHOO MCDANIEL (champ) VS. “COWBOY” BOB ORTON JR (w/ Jimmy Hart). Wahoo is no spring chicken anymore, but he’s still as tough as anyone in the sport, and he takes the fight right to Orton here. Orton, however, battles back, and eventually gets the win with the Superplex.
Bob Orton Jr is the new World Television champion!
Jimmy Hart is ecstatic and he and Orton celebrate as the show comes to an end.
Trongard and Page then wrap things up, and Trongard hypes the huge main event that will take place next week, as Sgt. Slaughter teams up with AWA champion Steve Williams to face Stan Hansen and Americas champ Paul Orndorff!
Credits Roll
© 1988, AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
Working on it now.