AWA Road to Superclash III (9.18.88) review 

 

September 18, 1988 

 

We’re in Louisville, Kentucky for AWA’s ESPN TV taping. This is on the WWE Network as Road to Superclash III. Hosts are “Stagger” Lee Marshall and Frank Dusek. The Dusek’s were a wrestling family with four brothers. Essentially the Von Erich’s of 1930s Nebraska. Frank isn’t related to them, but his dad was the ‘cousin’ (the Lance, if you will) who replaced an injured Ernie Dusek in the original family. This is an entire TV taping, so there’s a LOT happening. Strap yourselves in. 

 

Top Guns vs. Terry Adonis & The Beast 

Yes, you are reading that correctly. “Top Guns”. They are John Paul, a future WWF jobber, and Ricky Rice, a future WWF jobber. They’re both from Minnesota. Terry Adonis was a territories guy, who’s almost at the end of his career and is, also, a future WWF jobber. The Beast? I have no idea but he’s wearing the same boots as John Nord.  

 

If you’re looking at all those names and thinking…why haven’t I heard of any of them? There’s a reason for that. Ricky Rice is someone I find particularly offensive. He SUCKS. He is so bad. Imagine if Shawn Michaels had no timing whatsoever. Terry Adonis just barely tolerates his bullshit and kicks out of his dropkick finisher, just to fuck with him. Rice dropkicked him, hard, in the throat. What a piece of shit.  

 

AWA International TV Championship 

Ronnie Garvin (c) vs. Scott Steiner 

This is not the hard-hitting dream match you might want it to be. Steiner is about six months in. 

He’s got the look but has only really worked in Memphis and is very basic. Garvin just turned up and they literally put a belt on him immediately. He only wrestled like 3 times for AWA and they didn’t get the belt off him. Ronnie stiffs the fuck out of Scotty with his Hands of Stone. Garvin wins with a punch. Hands of Stone baby. Scott Steiner stank of money. Cold hard cash.  

 

World Class World Championship 

Kerry von Erich (c) vs. Gary Young 

Young is managed by Downtown Bruno! You may know him better as Harvey Whippleman. A scrawny manager who befriended Sid Eudy and made his career working an assortment of oddball jobs in the WWF. He’s still there now. Kerry is over as fuck. He murders poor Bruno with a discus punch and the crowd even forgive him for taking lousy bumps for Gary Young’s awful, awful offence. Young tries a high crossbody and Kerry rolls through for a very quick pin. Young should have been obliterated and got nothing. He fucking stunk this ring up in this one.  

In 1:40 Young only managed two massive botches to be fair to him.  

 

Mike Enos vs. Greg Gagne 

Enos also looks the part and AWA could potentially have built quite the roster with all these young guys. They have no chemistry and fuck up the International. Greg is rubbish in this. I’ve found him to be passable during this flashback run but he sucks here. He finishes with a sleeper to absolutely no reaction.  

 

Madusa Micelli & Sylvia vs. Wendi Richter & Magnificent Mimi 

In the upcoming talent, and current AWA women’s champion, Madusa vs. former WWF champion Wendi, the AWA have a potential hot match.  

Mimi is has also been heated up as an opponent for Madusa.  

Unfortunately, she’s even less experienced than Madusa but she looks like a natural…at some things. It’s weird that she’s good at hard things but less good at the basics. Although the 1990s would produce a whole raft of guys with bad basics who could do cool shit. Mimi would go on to a minor film career; co-writing and starring in a lot of DTV martial arts films in the mid 90s. Sylvia is easily the least interesting woman in this. She looks like a model and wrestles like a model too. She’s Robert Fuller’s wife and has basically no training. The finish is a disaster with the referee fucking the count up. Madusa has a pin on Wendi but the idea is Wendi gets a shoulder up. They keep wrestling and improv a finish, but the ref won’t count it. Oh man, fuck you bitch. What a disaster this was. Wendi demands the title match afterwards, which would make more sense if she’d pinned her. Mimi looked like she could have been a big star based on this though.  

 

Badd Company vs. Nature’s Best 

I always liked Badd Company because Pat Tanaka was portrayed as a wrestler, rather than an Asian wrestler. Then they went to WWF, and they stuck a hood on Paul Diamond and called him “Kato”. I’m not saying the WWF is institutionally racist but there are plenty of examples. The most famous guy in this match is not on either team but is rather the manager of Badd Company; one Diamond Dallas Page. He’s already running the “Diamond Dolls” gimmick and has “Jennifer” at ringside. Nature’s Best are brothers Bill and Darryl Justin. They’re just here to take a bunch of cool double teams from the tag champs. The finish is a superkick/German suplex combo, which RULES.  

 

Rock N’ Roll Express vs. Terry Adonis & The Hangman 

Adonis gets another gimmicky partner. Hangman has a half-assed cowboy gimmick. RNR are fresh out of the NWA and are clearly excellent still. Surely you want them versus Badd Company on the PPV for maximum awesomeness? This is very short. No prizes for guessing the winner. 

 

King Parsons vs. Michael PS Hayes 

Hayes is very over!  

I’ve never seen Hayes as a singles wrestler because that involves him having to do stuff. He was always better on the microphone and the apron. There are some ugly spots here, including a flying clothesline from Parsons and missed back elbows that are nowhere near. The Samoan Swat Team run in to beat up Hayes, but Buddy Roberts and Kerry von Erich make the save. This was really bad until the non-finish.  

 

Terry Garvin vs. Steve Cox 

We’re supposed to believe Terry is related to Jimmy Garvin because he has the same look. Cox was in UWF and would have a run in Global a few years after this. That’s about all he did. Cox finishes with a Russian legsweep in short order. 

 

We get a word with Stanley Blackburn (BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!) the onscreen authority figure of the AWA. Boy, has he aged in the last couple of years. Vince McMahon’s expansionism certainly took its toll on some people in the territories business. Blackburn talks about the assorted other promotions being involved in Superclash III. Including World Class, CWA and promotions from other countries.  

 

Sgt Slaughter & Keith Erick vs. Soldat Ustinov & Teijo Khan 

This is billed as USA vs. USSR. If that concept sounds somewhat dated in 1988, it’s because it is, and the USSR would cease to exist in 1991. Jimmy Snuka is supposed to be Sarge’s partner but he’s bailed on this whole shindig (probably because he’s from Fiji). Presumably there was a WWF offer to get him to not do the show as he re-emerged in WWF a few months later. Comms suggest Sarge will carry his team here. Everyone in this stinks. Sarge, a wonderful worker when I started doing this circa 1984, is a shell of his former self. Working in a deteriorating AWA has not been good for his career. The heels work boring heat on Erick for the entire match. Sarge hot tags in, gets the Cobra Clutch but Colonel De Beers strolls out here, Sarge gets distracted and is counted out. 

Post Match is where things get fun. De Beers, the big racist, kills Keith Erick with a piledriver on the floor. Sarge cuts a promo over the corpse of Keith Erick, where he demands a Boot Camp match against De Beers at Superclash III and recites the pledge of allegiance.  

 

Manny Fernandez vs. Wahoo McDaniel 

This is to set up a strap match (I AM SHOCKED) at Superclash III. I have seen roughly 17 Wahoo strap matches in the last two years. Manny is based in the AWA while he’s working for NJPW. After that run, 1989 basically, he would not appear anywhere major ever again. Wahoo will be making a few WCW appearances under the Slamboree gimmick. Despite this being a nothing match Wahoo still blades during it. Or maybe some of his scar tissue got busted up. Both guys have big forehead scars from years of blading. They brawl outside and get counted out. This was just two old guys punching each other for 7-8 minutes, so naturally I thought it was good. It certainly had more energy and competitiveness than anything else on the show. 

 

Rock N’ Roll RPMS & Hangman vs. Los Guerreros ‘88  

The Guerreros are Hector, Mando and Chavo Classic. This is the same Hangman from earlier. Los Guerreros are bringing lucha to the USA and blending it into American wrestling. It was ahead of its time and lucha never caught on in mainstream wrestling until Rey, Eddie etc were doing it in WCW some 6-8 years after this. The cameras miss some dives and Chavo finishes with a moonsault press! The RPMs attack afterwards to set up a re-match at Superclash III, where the RPM’s upgraded their partner by selecting one Cactus Jack. This was neat! *** 

 

Alan Reynolds vs. Colonel de Beers 

De Beers is managed by DDP, who warns everyone who wrestles De Beers will leave on a stretcher and has the Diamond Dolls carry the stretcher out here!  

De Beers pulls his punches here because Reynolds is white. De Beers finishes with a variation on the Pedigree. Arms were not hooked but otherwise, the same move.  

 

Samoan Swat Team vs. Ray Odyssey & Shawn Baxter 

SST are Fatu & Samu. Fatu you probably know better as Rikishi. He’s way lighter here. Samu has already had one WWF run under the name Samula. They’ll be on their way to WCW soon. Ray Odyssey, I know from ECW where he made a living counting lights.  

Baxter comes in with unbelievable hair. You can tell glam rock is making a comeback around this time. Every Rose Has its Thorn came out a few months before this. Just saying. Both jobbers make horrible mistakes. Baxter is late dodging a punch, causing a mess in the corner and Odyssey struggles to take a clothesline. SST get fed up and beat the shit out of him. If you can’t take a bump, you’re going to get bumped. Superfly Splash finishes Ray off.  

 

Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Adonis 

Adonis is in his third match here, facing current AWA champion Jerry Lawler. He beat Curt Hennig back in May with Hennig on his way to the WWF. Lawler wins with a punch. Adonis not deserving of the piledriver. 

 

Stud Stable vs. Bill Dundee & Brickhouse Brown 

Robert Fuller, Jimmy Golden, Downtown Bruno and Fuller’s wife Sylvia make up the Stud Stable. Based on his look, I’m surprised Brown didn’t get a stronger WWF run when he was there in 1986. He has a killer look. Dundee is a babyface here and it’s weird watching Sylvia go to town on him with a “Korean Kendo Stick”. The Stud Stable is a fun group because they’re not interested in getting themselves over at all. They just go out there, bump around and show ass for the faces. Sylvia goes crazy on Brickhouse with the kendo stick to save the pinfall and that’s a DQ. This was really fun. Second best match on the show. **½. Cactus Jack runs in to help the heels, so Jeff Jarrett runs in to help the faces. Damn, this is a wild brawl! Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant turns the advantage fully to the faces and why couldn’t they have done this as an eight-man tag at Superclash?  

 

Rock N’ Roll Express, Jeff Jarrett & Top Guns vs. Badd Company, Rock N’ Roll RPMs & Cactus Jack 

I feel bad for Foley, having to work a match with Ricky Rice. Mick is really young here, having debuted in 1986. He looks awkward but has a look and style that sets him apart from everyone else. Jarrett has learned how to throw punches from Lawler and is over because of it. Rock N’ Roll Express did not bring their work boots for this one, sadly. John Paul is forced to take the heat segment while Morton stands on the apron looking disinterested. RNR vs Badd Company looks like it could have made some money for the AWA based on this. Morton trips up Pat Tanaka and Gibson gets the pin. As if they jobbed out Pat Tanaka when they had both RPMs right there! This was ok but the heat segment was dull. 

 

Jimmy Valiant & Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry von Erich & Michael Hayes 

This is the main event, to set up the Lawler-Kerry main event of Superclash III. It was originally billed as Kerry & Kevin, but Kevin has a concussion. There is a lot of stalling here because no one wants to give away the Lawler-Kerry stuff for free.  

So, we switch to Hayes and Valiant doing silly stuff to fill time. They brawl outside and we have DCO. Meh. After the decision is rendered the title contenders fight some more. This is great for selling tickets and PPVs. I’m all in!  

 

The 411:

This whole thing was kinda fun to watch. It’s a shame they spent so long setting up a PPV that stinks so much. Admittedly, I’ve not seen Superclash III in a long time but my memories of it are basically that they dropped the ball and screwed the pooch. The best thing about Superclash III is AWA building up two top tier babyface guys and putting them head-to-head. Something that neither NWA nor WWF were considering at the time.