AWA TV 12-8-88 Playboys vs Killer Bees!
Dec 16, 2017 1:24:58 GMT
Post by Chitohausen on Dec 16, 2017 1:24:58 GMT
AWA “PRO WRESTLING USA”
Airdate: Friday, December 8, 1988
Broadcast nationwide on Superstation WGN
Taped December 6, 1988 at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois
“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.
Tonight, two more matches in the Young Lions Cup, as Owen Hart meets Johnny Smith, and Tiger Mask faces Fuji Yamada! Steve Williams and Gary Albright and the monster duo of Stan Hansen and Big Van Vader will both see tag team action! Mike Rotunda will be here!
Tonight’s main event will see Diamond Dallas Page’s duo, the Playboys, face off with one of the top teams in wrestling today, Jim Brunzell and Brian Blair, the Killer Bees!
Page says that he was serious last week, he’s giving his Playboys one more match to turn things around, if they can’t beat those has-been Killer Bees tonight, then he’s washing his hands of them!
Trongard wonders what Page will do about wrestlers to manage if he does indeed fire the Playboys, but Page just smiles and tells Trongard not to worry about it.
Trongard says that we saw a wild main event last week, as Terry Taylor put the TV title on the line against Paul Orndorff. The match was a wild one, and the time ran out without a winner. However, the action continued and the cameras kept rolling after the show went off the air. Let’s take a look at what went down.
VTR: Taylor vs Orndorff, after last week’s show:
AFTER the show goes off the air, Orndorff attacks Taylor from behind, and here comes Kamala! As Bob Orton, Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart keep anyone from getting involved, Orndorff and Kamala give Taylor a vicious beating, with Orndorff repeatedly piledriving Taylor!
Finally Sgt. Slaughter and several prelim wrestlers are able to get into the ring. Orndorff bails, Kamala wants to stay and fight Slaughter, but Orndorff and Jimmy Hart pull him from the ring.
Sarge checks on Taylor, who ends up having to be taken from the ring on a stretcher.
END VTR
Trongard and Page are then joined by Jimmy Hart, “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff and Kamala, along with his handler, the masked Kimchee.
Jimmy and Orndorff gloat about what Mr. Wonderful did to Terry Taylor last week, with Hart saying that the Hart Foundation’s opponents are dropping like flies! First, Tom Zenk tucked his tail between his legs and left the AWA, and now Terry Taylor! Jimmy says that he might have to start making a list of all of the wrestlers that they’ve run out of the AWA!
Trongard says that Zenk didn’t exactly “tuck his tail between his legs and leave the AWA”, it was the World Tag Team champions who, intentionally it would seem, injured Zenk’s leg and put him out.
Hart tells Trongard he’d better watch what he says, if he keeps spreading lies like that, Jimmy might have to sic his lawyers on Trongard!
Orndorff says he didn’t want to see Terry Taylor get injured, but his blood is on the AWA’s hands, on Nick Bockwinkel’s hands, because this is what happens when they put inferior opponents in the ring with him, instead of giving him what he wants . . . a rematch with Sgt. Slaughter for the Americas title. He says that until the AWA gives him what he wants, he can’t be held responsible for what happens to the wrestlers he faces!
YOUNG LIONS CUP:
OWEN HART VS. JOHNNY SMITH. These two have been on friendly terms, and teamed together several times since coming to the AWA, but they face off here, in one of the final round-robin matches of the tournament. On commentary, Trongard mentions that we’ve got two more round-robin matches remaining after this one, the Tiger Mask vs Yamada match later tonight, and the Tiger Mask vs Pegasus match next week. With a win here, Owen cements a spot in the finals.
They keep the match clean and scientific, with Owen eventually winning a back-and-forth match, connecting with a crossbody off the top rope for the 1, 2, 3. After the match, the two shake hands, with Smith then raising Owen’s arm in victory.
After the match, Larry Nelson joins Owen in the ring.
Larry says that with the win, Owen has secured a spot in the finals of the tournament on Christmas night. Owen is very humble, he thanks the fans for their support since he’s been in the AWA, saying it means the world to him, and hopes that they’ll continue to support him as he wrestles in the finals of the tournament on Christmas night.
Trongard and Page are joined at the announce desk by AWA Americas champ Sgt. Slaughter.
Slaughter starts to talk about what happened to Terry Taylor after last week’s show went off the air, when he’s interrupted by Jimmy Hart, Paul Orndorff and Kamala!
Hart says that Terry Taylor isn’t here, it looks like Slaughter’s all alone!
As Hart is talking, Orndorff and Kamala move towards Slaughter . . . when suddenly Steve “Dr. Death” Williams and Gary Albright show up!
Williams tells Hart and his men to go ahead and try something, but Hart and his men think better of it, and retreat.
Williams and Albright then climb into the ring for the next match, while Slaughter sticks around to provide guest commentary with Page and Trongard.
STEVE “DR. DEATH” WILLIAMS & GARY ALBRIGHT VS. THE MASKED SHADOWS. Williams and Albright squash the masked men, getting the when Williams plants one of them with the Oklahoma Stampede for the pinfall victory.
After the match, Williams and Albright come back over and join Slaughter, Trongard and Page at the announce desk.
Williams says that any time Slaughter needs some backup, all he has to do is ask. Slaughter then asks them to join him next week, and then they challenge any three members of the Hart Foundation to meet them right here next week in a 6-man tag team match!
MIKE ROTUNDA VS. CHARLIE FULTON. Rotunda shows off his technical wrestling prowess, keeping things on the mat for the most part, and systematically taking Fulton apart. In the end, Rotunda drops Fulton with a Butterfly Suplex, then covers him for the 1, 2, 3.
MAGNUM TA is standing by with Triple Crown champion Stan Hansen and Big Van Vader. Magnum says that Hansen and Vader certainly have their hands full lately, they’ve got tag team matches coming up all across the country against Steve Williams and Gary Albright, and on Christmas night, Vader will team with Bam Bam Bigelow for the 10-team tournament, and Hansen will defend the Triple Crown against Americas champ Sgt. Slaughter!
Vader says that he and Bigelow will win the tournament, because they are the biggest and baddest team involved and none of the other nine teams even stand a chance! He just hopes that they’ll get the chance to face Williams and Albright at some point during the tournament!
Hansen talks about Sgt. Slaughter, saying that Slaughter may have fought in conflicts around the world, and they may call him the “Real American Hero”, but none of that is going to matter on Christmas night. Stan doesn’t care about any of that, the only thing he’s concerned about is winning, because these three belts, they mean more money and he’s got a fat wife and a dozen fat little kids at home to feed!
YOUNG LIONS CUP:
TIGER MASK (w/ Mr. Matsuda) VS. FUJI YAMADA. These two young men have really caught the attention of the fans since arriving here in the AWA. They go full speed ahead right from the opening bell, and really give the fans an exciting match. In the end, it’s the masked Tiger Mask that gets his hand raised, after catching Yamada with the Tiger Suplex for the pinfall. With the win, that puts Tiger Mask in the other spot in the finals, and he’ll face Owen Hart on Christmas night in St. Paul!
Trongard and Page are then joined again by Jimmy Hart. Trongard says that we heard the challenge earlier from Sgt. Slaughter, for a 6-man tag match next week, against Sarge, Williams and Albright.
Hart says that Mr. Wonderful, Kamala and Bob Orton Jr will gladly beat Slaughter, Williams and Albright next week. He says that he hopes that Sarge, Doc and Albright have other careers to fall back on, because they won’t be in any shape to wrestle ever again after his men get through with them next week!
STAN HANSEN & BIG VAN VADER VS. JAKE MILLIMAN & BUCK ZUMHOFF. Hansen and Vader attack Milliman and Zumhoff before the match even starts! They toss Zumhoff to the floor, and Vader then drives Milliman into the mat with a vicious Powerbomb for the 1, 2, 3! The whole thing lasted maybe 50 seconds! Zumhoff staggers back into the ring, but before he can check on Milliman, Hansen delivers a crushing Lariat!
Page says that the bell rang just in time for the referee to make the 3-count, that might be the quickest match he’s ever seen!
Diamond Dallas then leaves the announce desk to accompany his Playboys to the ring for the main event.
THE PLAYBOYS: TOM PRITCHARD & JIMMY DEL RAY (w/ Diamond Dallas Page) VS. THE KILLER BEES: JIM BRUNZELL & BRIAN BLAIR. The Playboys give it their all here, but despite their best efforts, the Killer Bees get the win when Brunzell pins Del Ray after the Bee Stinger double-team move.
The Bees get their hands raised, then leave the ring, as Diamond Dallas Page comes in and grabs the house mic from Larry Nelson.
Page says that he told them that they had one more chance to turn things around, and they let him down! DDP says that it’s the last time they’ll let him down . . . because he’s FIRING them!
Page then says that he’s got a surprise for the Playboys, and for all these idiot fans . . .
The theme from "Halloween" begins to play, and two men hit the ring . . .
DDP introduces Samu and Fatu, the SAMOAN SWAT TEAM!!!!
The SST pounce on the Playboys before they even know what hit them, and Samu and Fatu pound Pritchard and Del Ray into the mat! A vicious double savate kick right on the chin sends Del Ray tumbling through the ropes and to the floor, then Fatu drops Pritchard with a headbutt, and Samu heads to the top rope, delivering a splash!
DDP leaves the ring with the Samoan Swat Team, while Pritchard and Del Ray are struggling just to get to their feet.
Trongard and Page quickly wrap things up, and Trongard hypes next week’s show, which will see Slaughter, Williams and Albright face Orndorff, Orton and Kamala, and the final round-robin match of the Young Lions Cup tournament!
Credits Roll
© 1988, AMERICAN WRESTLING ASSOCIATION
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