AWA TV 10-13-88 Recap from Super Sunday!
Oct 21, 2017 16:00:46 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Oct 21, 2017 16:00:46 GMT
AWA “PRO WRESTLING USA”
Airdate: Friday, October 13, 1988
Broadcast nationwide on Superstation WGN
Taped October 8, 1988 at the Civic Center in St. Paul, MN
“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 in an empty St. Paul Civic Center, and welcomes his co-host Diamond Dallas Page!
Tonight, we’ll take a look back at “Super Sunday”, an event that took place right here at the Civic Center and was shown via closed circuit all around the Midwest.
Three of the four AWA titles changed hands, and we crowned the very first Triple Crown champion, as the AWA World title was unified with the top two titles from Japan, the PWF World heavyweight title and the NWA United National title!
JIP FROM SUPER SUNDAY 10/8/88:
THE PLAYBOYS: TOM PRITCHARD & JIMMY DEL RAY (w/ Diamond Dallas Page) VS. THE CAN-AM EXPRESS: TOM ZENK & PHIL LAFLEUR. to a 20-minute time limit DRAW. Page leaves the commentary position to accompany his team to the ring. Page makes his presence felt throughout the match, interfering several times. In the end, neither team can get the win before the time limit expires and the match is declared a draw.
Trongard criticizes Page for getting involved in the match, he thinks that Page doesn’t have the confidence in his team that they can win without his help. Page says he has absolute confidence in his team, and says the only times he interfered were after the Can-Am Express had already cheated, so he was just making sure his team got a fair shake!
ELIMINATION MATCH, FROM SUPER SUNDAY 10/8/88:
THE HOLY DEMON ARMY: JUMBO TSURUTA & GENICHIRO TENRYU & TOSHIAKI KAWADA (w/ Mr. Fuji) VS. BOB BACKLUND & BRAD RHEINGANS & MIKE ROTUNDA. The two teams trade the advantage several times early on, with the first elimination coming at around the 8-minute mark, when Tenryu pins Rheingans following an enzuigiri. That gives the Holy Demon Army a 3-on-2 advantage. Then, a few minutes later, Bob Backlund hits a diving bodypress on Tenryu that sends both men over the top rope and to the floor. They continue the fight outside the ring, neither man gets back into the ring before the ref reaches 10, and both are counted out. That leaves Mike Rotunda alone against Kawada and Tsuruta. Rotunda puts up a valiant effort, and is able to eliminate Kawada, pinning him after an Airplane Spin, but Tsuruta pins Rotunda soon after, delivering a vicious swinging neckbreaker for the pinfall.
Before we go to the Americas title match between Orndorff and Slaughter, Trongard and Page talk over clips of the other matches from Super Sunday, including the British Bulldogs beating AWA Tag champs Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart by Disqualification, Terry Taylor beating Bob Orton Jr for the AWA TV title, and PWF & United National champ Stan Hansen pinning AWA World champ Steve Williams to become the first Triple Crown champion.
AWA AMERICAS CHAMPIONSHIP, JIP FROM SUPER SUNDAY 10/8/88:
“MR. WONDERFUL” PAUL ORNDORFF (Champ) (w/ Jimmy Hart) VS. SGT. SLAUGHTER. This rivalry has been raging for some time, and we’ve seen Orndorff and Jimmy Hart try to refuse to give Slaughter any more title matches, but Orndorff never did get a clean victory over the Sarge, so the AWA signed one more match between the two. Despite the way that most of the AWA fans feel about Orndorff, there’s no denying that he’s one of the top wrestlers in the world, and is the better technical wrestler of the two. That doesn’t seem to matter, though, as Sarge takes the fight right to Orndorff, relying on power moves and brawling.
We get an action-packed 18 minutes from these two, before Slaughter hits Orndorff with the Slaughter Cannon, then locks on the Cobra Clutch right in the middle of the ring! Orndorff fights valiantly to break the hold, but he’s not close enough to the ropes, and he can’t break free. Finally the lights go out, and Sgt. Slaughter has finally become the AWA Americas champion!
Trongard and Page wrap things up, with Trongard saying we’ll be back to our usual format on next week’s show.
Credits Roll
© 1988, AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
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