AWA SuperClash IV

Legacy Review

AWA SuperClash IV

April 8, 1990 from the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, MN

By this time the AWA was well and truly on its deathbed, coughing, wheezing, yelling at the nurses. The good news is, for years people thought this show was never taped in the first place (not the first or last time Meltzer's been wrong about something) until it popped up in the Network's Hidden Gems section. The bad news.....well, you'll see. We get the "presented in its most complete form possible" disclaimer at the top followed by a truncated version of the National Anthem. After that one of the two ring announcers, wearing Zumbas, informs us there is NO SMOKING IN THE ARENA, then tells someone at ringside "Sorry, I'm just telling you". Hah! He also announces that due to injury the Junkyard Dog is out of his scheduled match tonight, and Baron Von Rashke will be taking his place. A couple of technical notes: there's no commentary, and it's a single camera shoot, hard camera only. No other cameras.

 

Jake "The Milkman" Milliman def Todd Becker in 4:25- Milliman was a moderately well known jobber that worked in both AWA and WWF. The fact he's in this spot is a sign as much as anything else where AWA was at this point. Becker jumps at the bell. One minute in and there's already "boring" chants floating around. Milliman reverses a corner whip, hits a back elbow and armdrag. Monkey flip. They go speed, or "speed" and Milliman does another armdrag. There's all kinds of ambient sound being picked up, it's kind of distracting, not like there's anything scintillating happening in the ring. Becker gets on offense and goes right to the dreaded Chinlock of Time Killing, keeping Milliman in it with heel 101 tights and hair pulls. After a very ugly midring collision that both guys didn't seem to know what to do Milliman gets a sunset flip for the pin. 1/4*

 

The Texas Hangmen def Brad Rheingans and DJ Peterson in 12:02- The Hangmen are called Killer and Psycho. Scary *Scott Hall waving fingers.gif*. They'd pop up later in Bischoff era WCW under the names Mean Mike and Tough Tom as Disorderly Conduct. I can't decide which names are worse. They're both in masks and in identical gear right down to their elbow pads so with no commentary it's damn near impossible to tell which is which and frankly, I couldn't be bothered. Rheingans and Hangman 1 start and 1 immediately goes into stall mode. More heel 101, this time bitching about a phantom mask pull. The show mic picks up a guy having a conversation about a TV network, maybe the one AWA used to be on, and it's very Minnesotan. "Ooooh, they sold the station they were on, eh." I think I've sorted out what's happening with the audio: there's one mic and it's on the hard camera way back in the crowd. That's why it's picking up so much extraneous crap and you can barely hear the ring. Trust me, figuring that out is way more interesting than anything that's actually happening in the match. The faces do a bit of arm work and swap without a tag. After a bit of that one of the Hangmen run in and stomp Rheingans to send him face in peril. Typical heel offense follows. They choke Rheingans with the tag rope. Rheingans gets fired up and hits a Saito suplex but almost immediately is staring up at the lights again. He barely gets a German suplex on one Hangman but still can't tag. There's a kid in the crowd asking someone going by for his autograph. The heels blow a double team and hot tag to Peterson. Dropkick. Powerslam. Everyone in the pool. Peterson hits the ropes while Rheingans is on the apron and his back legit accidentally hits Rheingans' head. Both guys keep going like nothing happened but it was funny. Someone in the crowd shouts "Hey you fat piece of shit!" I think at DeBeers who was on deck for his match. Peterson and Hangman whoever double clothesline and they work in the "ref didn't see the tag" spot. The heels do a bit of twin magic and Hangman -1 Paul Smackages Peterson for the win. Basement level house show stuff, minus the fun that usually comes with those matches. But, important unanswered question, did that kid get the autograph he wanted?! 1/2*

 

Baron von Raschke def Col. DeBeers (w/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie) by countout in 6:18- I can't imagine this making the show any better. DeBeers takes a buckle shot and bails. Sheik shows up late for the match. Raschke dodges an avalance and DeBeers bails away from the claw. Slooooooow bump by Raschke off a shoulderblock. He hits a knee to the gut and DeBeers falls out of the ring backing away from the claw. He goes up top and Raschke slams him off. DeBeers works in some slow heel offense. He goes for a headbutt off the top but Raschke dodges it. DeBeers gets tied up in the ropes. Raschke goose steps and goes for the claw, but Sheik blocks it WITH HIS BRIEFCASE! I can't decide if that's awful or hilarious. Or hilariously awful. Raschke goes outside to register his disagreement with Sheik. DeBeers follows and they brawl weakly on the floor. The bell rings for a countout. Both guys rolled back in, but the ref claims Raschke got in before the 10 count. Uh, sure. Lame ass finish either way. DUD

 

Tully Blanchard (w/Christopher Love) def Tommy Jammer in 14:54- I'd say Tully is here to class up the joint, but this is soon after he was fired from WWF and had a contract offer from WCW withdrawn due to a positive test for cocaine, so end of life desperate AWA is about the only place that would take him. He looks like a guy that's been out of it for a while and reportedly he wasn't in a much better place mentally either. The worst of his demon fighting days. Jammer, well, he's a jobber barely out of training and would stay in the Minneapolis area for the few years his career lasted, so Tully's not exactly being paired with the best here. Tully is announced as a former WWF and NWA World Tag Team champion. Don't forget NWA TV and US champ. In the mid '80s he seemed like a surefire future world champion before his personal life went downhill, consuming his career. I've got a lot of notes written down here, but let me sum up most of the match for you: Jammer holds a hammerlock. A lot. Tully goes to the floor, Jammer pulls him back in by the arm and puts the hammerlock back on. Rinse and repeat. It's literally 10 minutes in before anything else happens, getting me to wonder if Jammer knows any other moves or if that's all they taught him. Tully eye pokes out of the corner. They both go to the floor, getting back in Jammer snaps Tully's arm over the top rope, and puts on....A SHORT ARM SCISSORS! It's a new move! Well, it's variety at least. Tully slowly works his way out, goes to the floor again and stalls for a while. When he gets back in Jammer puts back on the HAMMERLOCK! Drink! Tully tights pulls Jammer to the floor. Back in Tully with a snap mare and kneedrop and finally some offense. Jammer gets a knee up in the corner. They both hit the ropes. Jammer blocks a hiptoss and hooks in an abdominal stretch. Tully gets out and goes to the floor again. Jammer goes to suplex him back in. Love grabs Jammer's foot, Tully falls on him, and Love holds Jammer's foot down to allow Tully to get the pin. Wrestlemania 5 finish. Truly, how the mighty have fallen. After the match they fight some more in the aisle and Tully gives Jammer's leg a couple of chairshots that are better than anything in the match. 1/2*

Intermission time means promo time....oh no it doesn't, not here. It's been so long since I've done a show with an intermission that gag is probably lost anyway. "Intermission time in the arena means promo time on TV" is how it usually goes. The ring announcer has a big announcement though: after literally months and months of negotiations, the "NWA recognized world champion" RIC FLAIR is coming to town! Why in the hell did they not book him for this show?

 

Lumberjack Match: "Yukon" John Nord def Kokina Maximus (w/Sheik Adnan Al-Kassie) in 12:08- Kokina Maximus! Yes, it's very young Yokozuna when he was only a svelte 350 pounds or so rather than a small orbital object. Nord would later huss his way into WWF as the Berzerker. The story here, at least partially, is Sheik has a bounty out on the lumberjack Nord, probably because he pressed some wild flowers or put on women's clothing and hung around in bars or something. The briefcase he's been toting around all night has the bounty money in it. Maximus is here to collect. What in the blue hell does Nord have on his head? If he shot it, it almost looks like he needs to shoot it again to make sure it's dead. Everyone's still messing around when the bell rings. When they finally decide to get going there's some slow lockup break games and a test of strength. Nord punches and Maximus does his patented tumble out of the ring, about the one thing he could still do toward the end of his WWF run. The lumberjacks mills around. One of them is wearing a tucked in polo shirt, which I'm sure is a violation of lumberjack match dress code somewhere. Shoulderblock standoff as the match continues to move in Rotunda Time. Even that might be too generous. The lumberjacks are just having some casual conversations outside with each other which is funny to watch. Nord dives in Maximus' vicinity and he sells it. Maximus headbutts, and he hooks in the dreaded Nerve Pinch of Time Stalling +2 because lord knows this match has been absolutely breathless and needed to slow down. The ref does arm drops and Nord's goes down like four times and the ref still lets the match go. Maximus throat thrusts and a clothesline send Nord 360 to the floor. The lumberjacks make a show of disagreeing but don't do much about it. Back in Maximus throws a back rake into his punchy chokey heel offense before going back to the nerve hold. Nord dodges an avalanche and hits a big boot. Sheik gets on the apron and the face lumberjacks push him in the ring. Maximus takes his sweet ass time getting in position, then avalanches Sheik as Nord dodges. Nord hits Maximus with the briefcase. I guess lumberjack also means no DQ. "Money" files everywhere as Nord gets the pin. After the bell Maximus sees that the fake money inside the briefcase really was actual in story fake money and turns on Sheik for having no real money to offer. DUD

 

AWA World Heavyweight Championship: Larry Zbyszko def Masa Saito (c) in 16:01- Nick Bockwinkel is the special guest referee for this one. Saito's title win was hugely controversial, and I'm not talking just story controversial. It happened at a joint AJPW/NJPW Tokyo Dome show in February, and supposedly was Verne Gagne playing politics to keep his Japan partners happy, or possibly even done in lieu of monies owed to the Japan companies. Gagne makes an appearance, and when he shakes Zbyszko's hand Zbyszko gives him a "you're gonna pay me for this shit, right?" look. Both guys get mixed reactions from the crowd. I think Curt Hennig was the last truly over babyface AWA had on their roster. As Gagne leaves someone shouts "Keep up the great work Verne!". I really hope that was sarcasm. Then someone shouts "I got comp tickets!". Son, it's 1990 AWA, they're almost all comped. Nothing to brag about. Zbyszko is unhappy with Bockwinkel right from the start. Saito hits an ugly armdrag. Zbyszko gets a deadlift waistlock takedown. Saito turns it into a hammerlock attempt and they roll into the ropes. Zbyszko fireman's carry takedown into an armbar. Saito hits chops and a headbutt. This is already by far the best thing on the show. Of course as soon as I say that they kill the next 5+ minutes with a Saito sleeper that goes on forever. Zbyszko hits a reverse kick to finally get out for good, then a slam and cover for 2. Abdominal stretch. Zbyszko does the tights pull leverage game until Bockwinkel catches him. He hooks it on again but Saito reverses it. Well now technically it's a cobra twist since Saito's from Japan. The rules. Zbyszko hits some buckle shots that Saito shrugs off. He hits some chops that send Zbyszko to the floor. Now Saito gives Zbyszko some slow buckle shots. Zbyszko sunset flip off the apron for 2. Saito with a suplex. A normal one, not his namesake one. Zbyszko dodges a clothesline and hits a horrible swinging neckbreaker for 2. Saito hooks on a Scorpion Death Lock. Zbyszko gets to the ropes. Saito kicks Zbyszko's leg out of his leg for a bit and hits a clothesline for 2. Saito suplex! Zbyszko just kicks out! Midring collision. Another Saito suplex. All four shoulders are down, but Zbyszko just gets his up before 3. At first Saito is announced as the winner, but Bockwinkel raises Zbyszko's hand. Everyone argues for a few minutes, Zbyszko is handed the belt, and Saito attacks him. After that's broken up the ring announcer corrects herself and announces Zbyszko as the winner. The AWA was physically incapable of having a clean or non-controversial finish in a world title match. Zbyszko would be the last AWA World champion. *1/4

Another intermission for the cage setup.

 

Steel Cage Match: The Trooper and Paul Diamond def AWA World Tag Team Champions The Destruction Crew (w/Tully Blanchard) in 9:59- The Trooper is Del Wilkes sans mask. He'd go on to become The Patriot, the top star of GWF, a short lived promotion that grew from the ashes of not one but two territories: they took over the Dallas Sportatorium from WCCW, and they got the AWA's TV slot on ESPN. A lot of stars of the '90s got their start in GWF. I used to watch it almost every day after getting home from school, it was in the perfect late afternoon slot. I've got fond memories of GWF, but haven't gone back to revisit it at all yet. Maybe one day here. The Destruction Crew would later be in the WWF as The Beverly Brothers. Spoiler: they weren't really brothers. The titles aren't on the line in this one. We have another special guest ref, former Vikings player Bob Lurtsema. He'd become locally famous after retirement as the character "Benchwarmer Bob" in local TV commercials for a local bank, and this isn't his first AWA appearance, he and the Destruction Crew have priors. Once the Crew get physically drug into the cage it's on. After the inital donnybrooking Enos gets run into the cage. A bunch. Like an excessive amount. After a few shots he starts bleeding. He's wobblelegged and tries to tag out in the face corner while Bloom argues with Lurtsema. Diamond punches the cut and covers for 2. Enos eye rakes and tags out. Bloom blocks a couple of cage shots and eye rakes Trooper. He tries to climb out of the cage but Trooper stops him. They teeter on the top a bit before Bloom slowly falls back in. Trooper misses an elbow off the top and goes FIP. He takes some cage shot, some of them with Tully holding up a chair for a cage/chair double impact. That's actually good. And he's bleeding a bit. Diamond keeps trying to run in as the match breaks down into chaos, and not the good kind. The Crew double team, eventually have enough of Lurtsema trying to stop them and toss him aside. Doomsday device! Cover, but the dumbasses knocked the ref down on purpose and there's no one to count. Lurtsema snaps, throws Bloom into the cage, gives Enos the weakest legdrop in the history of mankind, and Trooper covers for the win. 1/2*

The Network copy moves into 15 or so minutes of raw post show Eric Bischoff interviews with some of the wrestlers. And I mean raw, with countdowns, some bloopers and everything. Frankly it's better than anything in the actual show. And that pretty much does it for the AWA. They'd lurch around like a zombie for a few more months, mostly to get matches in the can to fulfill their ESPN contract, before closing up shop for good in early '91.

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- From a pure in-ring match quality perspective this is easily one of the worst shows I've ever seen, down there with other greats like Great American Bash '91. Wrestlemania 9, King of the Ring '95 or Uncensored '95. But taking into account, once again, that AWA was in its death rattles, I'll go easy on the corpse, not to mention the fact that those shows had much more robust rosters and some major booking and/or corporate management issues to go along with the crappy wrestling. Sad to say, this was about the best AWA had to offer at this point.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: D-