And More AWA

Stan Hansen v Crusher Blackwell (6/28/86)

This was what you wanted it to be -- two surly beefies plastering each other and bleeding everywhere, kind of like what I imagine a Clay v Bobby fight in Sons of Anarchy would be. Stan goes into the post early and does this great drunken stagger sell, wobbling around outside the ring before stumbling back in, right into Blackwell's fists. Blackwell is about as broken down as you might expect a morbidly obese man that bumped like he bumped would be, but he'll still throw some awesome body shots and let Hansen hit him in the face a bunch. Hansen takes off his boot and drills Jerry with it, too. Like, this was one of the nastier boot shots you'll see. Then a referee tries to get involved and take Hansen's boot away, so Stan fucking kills him. Why would you even try that? Hansen's post-match promo rules as well, and I'm sad that this is the last Hansen match on the set. Pretty fucking good way to go out, though.


Curt Hennig & Midnight Rockers v Buddy Rose, Doug Somers & Alexis Smirnoff (6/28/86)

Maaaaaan, these six-man tags from this era are so much fun. I could watch an entire set full of Buddy Rose six-mans all day long. I loved the Bockwinkel six-man, and I thought this was even better. Rose's antics early on are great again, milking taking the robe off and then flexing after slamming Hennig a couple times. He also does his first super fast rope running sequence of the match where he gets some serious height on a backdrop. It's pretty amazing how a guy that's built the way he's built can move around with that kind of speed. You watch Michaels do it in '96 and it's impressive, but not necessarily unexpected. Dude is all cut up and actually looks like an athlete. You see the Ultimo Dragon trainees running the ropes a trillion miles an hour and it's impressive, but they all look like athletes. Buddy Rose is not exactly the most athletic looking guy in wrestling, but god damn is he amazing at rope running sequences. And well, if you didn't get that from the Hennig sequence, then you'll get it from the Michaels sequence a bit later that ends with him careening straight into a superkick to the chest. They sort of tease both Marty and Shawn going face in peril, then Smirnoff catches Hennig with a MEAN big boot right under the chin. Hennig is really awesome as the FIP here, and he seriously looks like one of the very best wrestlers in the world at this point. He worked WAY stiffer in the AWA than he did in the WWF, and once again he's throwing some GREAT punches. There's a bit before the hot tag where he and Somers are just teeing off on each other in the corner. He'll also take a potatoing right back, and holy shit does Rose smash him in the guts with some brutal running knees. I don't think I'd ever seen Alexis Smirnoff before this, and he isn't great or anything, but he has a painful looking falling headbutt to the cheekbone and reels off a few corkers of big boots. All of the Blonds/Rockers interactions are clearly building to something big, and I am STOKED for the run of matches between them coming up. This just ruled.