AWA SuperClash II

Legacy Review

AWA SuperClash II

May 2, 1987 from the Cow Palace in San Francisco

Commentary: Ron Trongard

The AWA brought back the Superclash name for their big event of '87, but unlike the first Superclash in '85 this one was not cross-promoted, it's AWA talent only. How far had AWA fallen in the past two years with the WWF and NWA picking off much of their talent? The first Superclash drew over 20,000 in Comiskey Park. This one has less than 3,000 in the historic Cow Palace, which to be fair is way outside AWA's main territory. By contrast, this is just over a month after WWF put 93,000 butts in seats in the Silverdome for Wrestlemania 3 (yes, I know, disputed number etc etc etc, I'm not interested in firing up that debate right now, point is it's a big difference). I'll say it again, managing to get on ESPN kept AWA alive years longer than they otherwise would have been.

Like most other shows of this era we jump right into intros for the first match. There's a whole lot of empty seats opposite hard camera. Those fill up a bit as the show goes on, but the all-arena shots show whole empty sections.

Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy def Buck Zumhofe in 11:58- Mandatory Zumhofe is a convicted child molester disclaimer. He doesn't have his boombox because the Sheik destroyed it during the build. He should have taken lesson from Spock on how to deal with annoying people playing loud music. Sheik takes his sweet time disrobing after the bell. And then immediately steps outside. Finally we get a glacial lockup. Zumhofe, as per AWA rules, starts working the arm. And more stalling. Sheik heel 101 eye rake and back rake. They have an arm wringer tradeoff and Sheik does the heel 101 hair pull. Sheik turns his back and Zumhofe gets a couple of shots in. Sheik begs off. Zumhofe switches to some leg work and flips out of a monkey flip attempt. He cranks Sheik with a neck wringer. Sheik goes to more eye gouging and bites. Clearly this match has been moving much too fast because Zumhofe spends the next few minutes wandering around on the floor. He gets back in with a hiptoss and dropkicks. Sheik blocks a monkey flip in the corner, stacks Zumhofe up, and puts his feet on the ropes to get the pin. 1/4*

 

Super Ninja (w/Ninja Go) and DJ Peterson go to a 15:00 time limit draw- Super Ninja is Shunji Takano, who had some moderate success in tag competition in All Japan and SWS. Peterson had the look, some potential and was being built by AWA as a future star and had some success there, but didn't get a chance in another major promotion after AWA's closure and died in a motorcycle accident in '93. The ring announcer Lillian Botches Ninja Go, calling him "Mr. Go". That's Go-san to you. Armdrag tradeoff, with Peterson selling it by rolling over his head. After some arm wringers Ninja grabs a Greco Roman throat hold. Taichi would approve. In fact, Ninja's gear looks quite a bit like Taichi's Suzuki-Gun partner Douki. I also just noticed Peterson has dollar signs on his boots. Does he think he's money for the company or something? This is a couple of months before Ted DiBiase debuted the Million Dollar Man in WWF so he could lay claim to the gear. All this is way more interesting than what's happening in the match as they're just doing more AWA arm work. They kill a couple of minutes with Ninja offering a handshake and Peterson being reluctant to accept. Ninja bows and Peterson hits him with a kneelift! Well that's a dick move. Now Peterson offers a handshake. Ninja takes it and Peterson pulls him into a sleeper. Who's the heel here? Ninja throws Peterson to the floor. Considering all the disrespect he's shown Ninja he's getting off easy. Ninja goes into beatdown mode. Peterson gets a desperation rollup for 2. He gets tossed to the floor again and Go gets a shot in. Ninja with a double ax handle off the apron to the floor! Well that's a high spot by AWA's standards. He runs Peterson into the post, which Peterson didn't much want to do as he barely grazed it. Ninja tries to suplex him back in but Peterson slips out and does a backslide for 2. Ninja slaps on the mandatory Oriental Nerve Hold of Pinchiness +1. Peterson comes back but runs into a .5 superkick. Ninja kneedrop off the second rope. Peterson fights off another shot from Go. Ninja wins a slugfest and hooks on a double chinlock, then a Boston crab. I like how he used his knee to work Peterson over. Little things done right. He tries coming off the second rope again but Peterson dodges. Backdrop. Snap suplex for 2. Back elbow for 2. Ninja dodges a dropkick and hits a spinning heel kick (that flummoxes Trongard so much he doesn't know what to call it). Peterson gets a foot on the rope. He hits a sunset flip for 2, and right after that the bell rings for the time limit. Well, that didn't turn out nearly as bad as it could have been. *3/4

 

AWA Women's World Championship: Sherri Martel (c) (w/Doug Somers) def Madusa Miceli in 11:31- Future legend Madusa is just out of training and her initial indie run, and getting her first crack at the big time. They've upgraded the belt, it doesn't look like something thrown together for a backyard wrestling league anymore. Sherri's in Hogan red and yellow. Wonder if that was deliberate. She plays with the ref during instructions (something that AWA made a big show of the refs doing before every single match). Ray "The Crippler" Stevens joins Trongard on commentary as Sherri messes with the crowd before getting tossed out of lockups by Madusa. Sherri grabs an armbar and bites Madusa's fingers. She tries to pull the arm right out of the socket. Madusa gets desperate and eye rakes out, followed by some gut punches and a hair-assisted snap mare. Sherri slides out and into Somers' arms. Madusa wins a test of strength and Sherri headbutts her in the ribs, hurting them. After a dropkick she puts on a double chinlock. Madusa gets a leg takedown and works spinning toe holds, hurt ribs forgotten. That's something you learn with experience. Usually. Suplex by Madusa for 2. Sherri puts on a headscissors. Madusa fights out and pummels Sherri with forearms. Slam for 2. Clothesline for 2. Madusa with the old airplane spin. Somers gets on the apron and distracts the ref. While Madusa is messing with him Sherri rolls her up, grabs a handful of tights, and gets the pin. In an era where women's wrestling was taken seriously I could see these two having a really good match. In these days, this was as good as it was going to get. Madusa was still pretty green too. Sherri would follow so many others and bolt for the WWF a couple of months after while still champion. Madusa would win the vacant title for her first of many championships. *1/2

 

AWA World Heavyweight Championship: Curt Hennig def Nick Bockwinkel (c) in 23:44- And in true AWA fashion, we're getting the main event in the middle of the show. AWA President Stanley Blackburn is present, telegraphing a screwy finish is upcoming. In an AWA World title match on a major show? I know, shocking. Larry Zbyszko interrupts introductions to challenge the winner of the match because he's the "real" #1 contender, and he also stays at ringside. Lots of basic feeling out, pause and circle at the start of the match. A Bockwinkel slap on a rope break cranks intensity up a notch. They roll through rapid fire headlock/headscissors counters with Hennig ending up on top with a headlock. Body slam exchange. Hennig is definitely showing a quick extra step while Bockwinkel looks old. Bockwinkel hits a hiptoss and armdrags. Hennig forearm shots in the corner. Bockwinkel dodges a charge and Hennig FLIES through the ropes and all the way to the floor! There's no mat out there either. He hit his shoulder on the guardrail on the way down and Bockwinkel goes to work on it. Hennig whips out the super selling for a bit. The match gets bogged down with slow Bockwinkel arm work and the crowd starts focusing on Zbyszko. Hennig takes a shoulderblock but hits a knee to the gut. Bockwinkel counters a backdrop with a hard kick and covers for 2, then goes back on the arm with a short arm scissors. Hennig breaks free, drops a knee on Bockwinkel's knee and goes to work on it. Spinning toe hold. Figure four! Trongard and Stevens criticize Hennig from commentary that he's not applying the hold right. So he's not doing it perfectly is what you're saying? Interesting. Bockwinkel slowly crawls and gets to the ropes. Hennig stays on the knee. Bockwinkel grabs a handful of hair and hits a forearm. A knee to Hennig's gut hurts Bockwinkel too. Simultaneous punches and both guys are down. Hennig chops. Bockwinkel reverses a whip and Hennig goes hard into the corner. Bockwinkel cover for a long 2. Hennig sunset flip for 2. He hits face plants with great Bockwinkel sells. Atomic drop and roll up for 2. Crossbody for 2. Bockwinkel pops out of the corner with a clothesline! Midring collision. While both guys are down Zbyszko goes up to Hennig. It looks like he hands Hennig something. Hennig punches Bockwinkel and he goes down and out! Cover for 3! Hennig wins the title. For now. Hennig definitely carried the match, looking like the future star that he was. ***1/4

After the bell Hennig hands back whatever Zbyszko gave to him. Blackburn unshockingly gets in the ring. Stevens is also all fired up from commentary, convinced Hennig won by cheating, and also gets in the ring. While both guys protest to the ref Stevens grabs Zbyszko and a whole shitload of dimes go flying! Well Zbyszko just needed to go through LePetomane Thruway on the way home, what's the big deal? After some more arguing Blackburn announces that the title is being held up while the championship committee reviews the tape and determines what to do next. That sets off a whole new round of arguing and a huge "bullshit" chant from the crowd, who are still firmly behind Hennig no matter how he won the match. Hennig refuses to give the belt back. Bockwinkel takes it from him and hands it to the ref. This whole bit is going on almost as long as the match itself did. Everyone involved also cuts promos with Trongard on their way out, with Zbyszko taking a lot of shots at AWA for doing everything they can to keep their "golden boy" Bockwinkel champion, which could be considered a bit on the shooty side.

The funny coda to this whole mess: the AWA powers that be had every intention of this being yet another title screwjob/Dusty Finish. But, Hennig let slip to Verne Gagne that WWF was making overtures to him. Gagne made the executive decision that on reflection maybe Hennig should keep the title after all, which was announced on TV a few weeks later. Hennig would be champion almost exactly a year before dropping it to Jerry Lawler to begin the setup for Superclash III (another complete mess I'll be getting to soon), then heading to WWF. Bockwinkel also retired later in the year.

Man, the people booking AWA were deeply, deeply stupid.

 

AWA World Tag Team Champions The Midnight Rockers and Ray "The Crippler" Stevens def  Buddy Wolfe, Doug Somers and Kevin Kelly in 17:59- At least they got something right, putting the tag belts on the Rockers before they went off to WWF. Wolfe, announced here as "The Hackensack Hammer", was a journeyman who would retire almost right after this show. Kelly (not to be confused with New Japan's Kevin Kelley, the best play by play man in wrestling today) had The Look but didn't have an ounce of wrestling talent, and the look would be buried in his most visible appearances later in his career as he'd be wearing a big orange jumpsuit as Nailz. Stevens was a legend in the San Francisco area winding his career down with AWA. Wolfe and Shawn start. Shawn gets the early advantage. Stevens comes in and pops Wolfe. Janetty bounces off Kelly, slides under him and hits a dropkick. He tries a springboard crossbody but Kelly catches him and puts him in the heel corner. Let me sum up the next almost 10 minutes of the match: Janetty is trapped in the heel corner, his partners keep running in and the heels choke him down. After way too much of that Janetty is corner whipped, flips over and goes all the way to the floor. Shawn goes to check on him and sets off utter chaos, and not the good kind. The match is a complete mess. Shawn and Kelly do some stuff in the ring while Janetty recovers. Slowly order is restored and Janetty crawls back in with a bum knee, setting off what feels like the next two hours of the match: the heels pick apart Janetty's knee. After way, way too much of that Janetty blocks a Somers suplex, hits his own, and crawls over to tag Shawn. DONNYBROOK! The heels all collide, and Stevens (not the legal man) Paul Smackages Wolfe for the pin. The crowd was into it at least. 3/4*

Jerry Blackwell (w/Buck Zumhofe) def Boris Zhukov (w/Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy) in 12:31- From that to this. The bell rings aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're stalling. Zhukov wanders around the outside before getting nose to nose with Blackwell in the corner. Blackwell tosses him across the ring a couple of times and Zhukov powders again. After getting back in Blackwell pounds away in the corner. Avalanche with a fun flop sell from Zhukov. Might be the best thing in the whole match. Another roll out and Blackwell again on offense when Zhukov gets back in. Buckle shots. Elbow drop for 2. Zhukov goes to the eye rake and bite strategy to get some token heel offense in. Back rake of extreme scratchiness. There's an unintentionally funny moment when Zhukov is stomping Blackwell's arm and Blackwell is shouting "AH no no no no no no AH no no no no no no AH". Zhukov shows he's super cereal about winning this match by hooking in an ARMBAR. Blackwell counters Zhukov coming off the second rope. "Running" clothesline, according to Trongard. I'm no basketball expert but I don't think he would have even been called for traveling on that one. Unnecessary ref bump because why not. The heels double team. Blackwell double clotheslines them, covers Zhukov, and the ref gets back in to count 3. DUD

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka and Russ Francis def The Mercenary and The Terrorist in 12:00- Francis was the Pro Bowl tight end for the local 49ers (announced as the "world champion" 49ers even though they were two seasons removed from their last Super Bowl win). He was also in the WWF vs NFL battle royale at Wrestlemania 2, and as it turns out a was trained wrestler. He worked multiple matches for the AWA in the '70s, and even held the NWA Hawaii tag titles with his brother Bill for a time. The heels are your usual one night only generic masked heels. The Terrorist is Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs, while the Mercenary is Ron Fuller. Supposedly Colonel DeBeers was supposed to be in this match but was either injured or didn't make the town depending on who you asked. Francis and Mercenary start. No, Snuka and Terrorist. No, they swap again. AND AGAIN FOR FRAK'S SAKE. Now can we start? NO, SNUKA TAGS OUT AGAIN. NOW TERRORIST TAGS OUT. DO SOMETHING! The faces have enough, jump the heels and clear the ring. Francis chases Terrorist all the way to the back while Mercenary completely vanishes. Maybe he's the Black Scorpion. Francis is back. No sign of the heels. After another minute or so they finally come back. It would have been *hilarious* if they'd swapped in the back and these were two completely different guys in the masks. Alas, not to be. Finally Snuka and Mercenary lock up. Criss cross. Snuka chops and Mercenary slides to the floor. Snuka gets stuck in the heel corner and goes FIP. Terrorist back elbow for 2. Trongard forgets were he is and says the wrong arena name. Snuka still being worked over. He back suplexes out of a headlock but the tag is cut off. Francis runs in and the heels double team for a solid two minutes. Terrorist hits the ugliest splash ever for 2. Snuka barely makes a leapfrog and then he and Terrorist muff the follow up chop. Tag to Francis. Ugly slugfest. Francis does get a nice European uppercut in. Tackle. He sets Terrorist up. Snuka drops a knee off the top rope, while Francis hits the second ugliest splash ever off the opposite top rope (lands on his feet, then falls) for the pin. Well there you have it folks. A major show closes with back to back utter trash matches. It has to be some kind of record. DUD

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHS- I'm starting to think the AWA deserved to go out of business.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-