Larry v Bock!

Nick Bockwinkel v Larry Zbyszko (AWA, 7/18/87)

I never got this far into '87 when going through the DVDVR AWA set, which is a shame because I likely would've had this pretty high on a ballot that I never would've submitted on account of not finishing the thing. It was pretty great. This was babyface Bockwinkel, which meant it was really just heel Bockwinkel with a smile and slightly more courtesy than normal. He was also against Zbyszko so he could've done just about anything and been cheered for it. And considering Larry had cost Bockwinkel the world title recently, there was a whole lot of scope for what Bock was willing to do. He busted out every trick he would as a heel, only to raucous applause. First he jumped Larry from behind prior to the bell, then he had him on the mat and fully stood on his face with both feet, then started choking him with a foot across the throat, choking him with the ring ropes, choking him with the turnbuckle bolt, choking him with the apron cover, everything. He would make sure to break at 4.999 and even once he held up a hand to tell the ref' he had until the count of 5. When the ref' is over checking on Larry, Bockwinkel undoes the turnbuckle pad and rams Zbyszko's head into it and Zbyszko takes a GREAT exposed turnbuckle bump. People just lapped this up and you'd think Bockwinkel had been on a Lawler-esque babyface run throughout the decade and not been a despised bastard for much of the last 15 years. What a pro wrestler. Larry Z also has to be one of the all-time great stooge bumpers. He was incredible getting beaten up and down the place, during all of the stuff already mentioned but also in taking these crazy Mr Perfect bumps on his shoulder and neck whenever Bockwinkel would kick him in the leg. When he finally takes over he does so with an eye rake and an awesome spin kick right to the guts, then he does everything that Bockwinkel did earlier only people are irate about it now that the shoe's on the other foot. The back half of this felt like something you could easily see in a big arena title match, both of them trading piledrivers and backbreakers while doing some great last legs selling. I love how Bockwinkel really puts the clamps on someone when he's going for the win. He hooked Zbyszko in a sleeper here and Larry immediately grabbed the ropes, so Bock just whipped him across the ring and yanked him into an abdominal stretch on the rebound. Bockwinkel's character was always that of a thinking man's wrestler, a strategist first and foremost, switching to plan B as soon as plan A went out the window. I loved Bockwinkel using a roll of dimes after the ref' gets bumped, then in the post-match he scatters the coins over Zbyszko's unconscious body and not only admits to the referee that he hit Larry with the dimes, but explains how he concealed them in his trunks beforehand. Without the use of VAR the ref' can only call what he sees, confirms that the decision will not be overturned, and that Bockwinkel is and will stay the winner. And nobody throws a petulant rager like Zbyszko. You WILL be hearing from his lawyer.