Legendary NWA Star Magnum TA talks about his most memorable rival "WWE Hall of Famer" Tully Blanchard!
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Saturday, December 19, 2020
AWA Nick Bockwinkel's face turn - Winnipeg Version Part 2, Then American Version
AWA Wrestling fans may not know that Nick Bockwinkel's babyface turn in October of 1985 had to be redone for the Winnipeg market. Winnipeg had been part of the AWA territory since the early '70s, but beginning in the summer of 1984, instead of our Winnipeg AWA TV show airing the same AWA squash matches as the AWA TV show in the other AWA cities, we started to have our own squash match TV tapings that replaced them. They were first held at Norberry School, then after a year they were moved to Holy Cross School. They were held on Friday, the day after the AWA card at Winnipeg Arena every third or fourth Thursday. For some inexplicable reason, Greg Gagne stopped being a part of the Winnipeg AWA cards and didn't do the TV tapings, either, around mid-1985. He was still active in the AWA but he stopped coming to Winnipeg. The main version of the Nick Bockwinkel face turn that aired in the United States involved Nick getting involved in a match betwen Greg Gagne and Larry Zbyszko to attempt to take the numbchucks away from Larry, his tag-team partner at the time. So for the Winnipeg tapings, the AWA had to break up Larry and Nick in a way that didn't involve Greg Gagne. And maybe numchucks, too, because I think numbchucks might be illegal in Canada. It's hard to make a comparison for the numchucks, because those became more part of Larry's gimmick as 1986 arrived and went on, and the AWA lost Winnipeg to the WWF in late January 1986. So in Winnipeg, Larry became pissed off that Nick agreed to team with Mad Dog Vachon for a match at the Winnipeg Arena against Russians Boris Zhukov and his manager Chris Markoff.
In part 2, you see, as part of the Holy Cross tapings, friction between Larry and Nick when Larry forgets to come out for an interview, Larry's pissed-off interview, Larry attacking Nick in the ring, Nick's asking promoter Wally Karbo for a match against Larry (where Nick has to mention Mad Dog Vachon's name because Larry seemingly forgot - if you want to see Larry talk smack about Mad Dog Vachon, go to my part 1 of this video, it's at the very end of that part 1), and finally, a short clip of the U.S. version of the angle with Greg Gagne. That clip of the U.S. version came from a 1989 "Tribute To Nick Bockwinkel" episode of the ESPN AWA show that TSN in Canada aired every Wednesday. That could have been the first time we Canadians got to see the U.S. version! You see, as us Winnipeggers saw the Norberry/Holy Cross tapings on our local TV show, the viewing public across Canada saw, on TSN, not the ESPN show yet, but an AWA show that was also shot in Winnipeg, but at the arena card at Winnipeg Arena the night before the Norberry/Holy Cross tapings. What TSN aired on that hour-long AWA show was complete matches from the Winnipeg Arena. It would start with a match from the most recent house card at the arena, then there would be some interviews, then they would show a classic match, meaning a match from the Winnipeg Arena in the early '80s joined in progress, then some more interviews and finally one more match from that most recent house card at the Winnipeg Arena. When the AWA lost Winnipeg in late January 1986, that's when TSN started to carry the AWA's ESPN program. The reason I said ".....COULD have been the first time....." above was because I didn't witness what you just read about TSN's Winnipeg-shot AWA show first-hand, I had to get the info from someone else. That's because here in Winnipeg at the time, those of us who lived on the west side of the Red River, like me, had to subscribe to a cable company that did not have the technical capabilities to provide TSN until September 1987. So, by the time I could see the AWA on TSN in September 1987, it was the straight ESPN show that TSN was giving us every Wednesday. (It actually sounds from reading that like Canadians watching the AWA on TSN in 1985 never saw the Winnipeg version of the Nick face turn, either, because the Norberry/Holy Cross matches weren't used on the TSN AWA show, but again, I have no idea from first-hand experience. Maybe they made an exception and aired it. Any interviews on that show probably would have referenced that version and not the U.S. one.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAbdGjfyrZs
Bob Backlund vs Larry Zbyszko (08/16/1985)
August 16, 1985. Boston, Massachusetts. Pre-match interview with Larry Zbyszko included. from Wrestling For A Cure.
Larry Zbyszko vs Nick Bockwinkel (11/14/1985)
November 14 1985, Winnipeg, CANADA. Revenge time, Ray "The Crippler" Stevens also gets involved in the match.
Larry Zbyszko vs Greg Gagne, Bockwinkel turns babyface
November 4, 1985. Atlantic City, New Jersey. Nick Bockwinkel also gets involved in the match. This is the match where Bockwinkel turned babyface. Pre-match interview with Larry Zbyszko included.
Battle Royal for AWA World Heavyweight Title
February 7. 1989. St. Paul, Minnesota. Combatants include: Akio Sato, Steve Ray, Wayne Bloom, Derrick Dukes, Mike Enos, Tommy Jammer, Pat Tanaka, Tom Zenk, Paul Diamond, Greg Gagne, Ken Patera, Ricky Rice, Larry Zbyszko, Wahoo McDaniel, Manny Fernandez, Sgt. Slaughter, Colonel DeBeers, Mike George. Pre match and post match interviews included.
Tracy Smothers vs Josh Lewis AWA Central States Title Match Supreme Surviving the Steel 2019
Tracy Smothers challenges AWA Central States Heavyweight Champion Josh Lewis w/ "Custom Made" Eric Draven for the title at Supreme Wrestling Surviving the Steel 2019 Night 1
All Pro Wrestling: Dylan Drake vs Matt Hardy
All Pro Wrestling: Friday The 13th June 13, 2014 • Bayshore Center Daly City, CA
Sgt. Slaughter vs Nord The Barbarian (AWA)
May 3, 1986. Las Vegas, Nevada. King Kong Bruiser Brody interferes in the match. ESPN TV taping
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