Post by fifthhorseman on Feb 18, 2014 22:08:19 GMT -5
Joey Styles: Welcome, live tonight and every Thursday night, to AWA Throwdown! I am Joey Styles, alongside my broadcast partner, Josh Mathews, and we are going to dive into action right away, with six matches scheduled on the card tonight. Not one, not two, but three AWA Heavyweight title matches, featuring Edge! Big Van Vader! Drew McIntyre! Magnum T.A! Daniel Bryan! And Stan "the Lariat" Hansen! The winners move on, one step closer to the prestigious AWA Heavyweight Championship - and for the losers, well, there are no consolation prizes in the American Wrestling Association. Ask Michael Elgin - he lost to the King, Harley Race, who now awaits his tournament opponent in the final four.
Josh, tell us about the rest of tonight's action.
Josh Mathews: My pleasure, Joey, and hello fans. First, though, an announcement that Jake "the Snake" Roberts is leaving the AWA. He first endured an embarrassing defeat via the DDT at the hands of "the Chosen One", Drew McIntyre. Last night, he was knocked out by Nigel McGuinness's Tower of London, no doubt still suffering from the McIntyre match. Because of that, Roberts decided to move on - at least for now. However, I have been assured that the AWA commissioner is already talking to new talent.
All right then, the rest of the card. Art Barr faces Verne Gagne in Television title action; the Rock and Roll Express battle the BlueBloods in a steel cage, each in a quest to capture the Tag-Team titles; and Adam Cole looks to stay alive in the Intercontinental tournament when he locks up with Ethan Carter III. By the way, that match is on next!
VS.
Better explain it now: Cole, Carter, and Tully Blanchard are on one side of the Intercontinental bracket, while McGuinness, Brody, Henry, and Roberts were/are on the other side. Cole/Carter/Blanchard are going at it round-robin. The winner of the round-robin, determined either by number of pins, or with least time needed to win as a tiebreaker, will move on - each men wrestles twice to get to the final. Just like on the other side. McGuiness and Brody have each wrestled once, and will battle each other for the other final spot.
Settled? Great! To recap, then: Carter actually wrestled the better match, proving he's much more than a jobber-squasher. In technical terms, he was on offense for 68.9% of the bout. However, his overconfidence was his downfall, and Cole battled back. The ROH alumnus won via pinfall, clean, in a contest that saw both men's stock rise.
VS.
An excellent match, as one might expect with these two equally-sized opponents. The "Chosen One" made everybody forget about the 3MB era, wrestling Edge as a true equal. It was back-and-forth, inside and outside and ring. In the end, JJ Dillon's scouting report must have made the difference, and Edge defeated McIntyre with the Downward Spiral.
VS.
Believe it or not, Morton was the face in peril. The BlueBloods countered the Southern-style grappling employed by the Rock and Rollers, and tried to keep them on the mat for as long as possible. Fortunately, Gibson eventually got in the ring, clearing house and enabling Morton to gain enough recovery time to execute their famed double dropkick on Williams. Unfortunately, Regal was the legal man, and he rolled up Morton for the three-count.
VS.
It was as vicious and as brutal as you would expect. The Gary Hart-led stablemates fought tooth and nail, allegiance be damned. Blood was spilled, haymakers were thrown, and via the move of the night, Vader pinned Hansen after a top-rope moonsault. After the match, Hart led them back to the dressing room, where they - it's true! - smiled and laughed about the brawl that just occurred.
VS.
Art Barr continued his improbable match to the AWA Television title by upsetting the legend Verne Gagne. Admittedly, it was not without controversy. Barr and Gagne fought gamely for the better part of 15 minutes, with Gagne slowly but steadily wearing the aerialist down. However, while the referee was momentarily distracted by Barr's manager, Vickie Guerrero, Ken Shamrock raced to the ring and attacked Gagne's ankle. Unable to stand, Gagne was soon done in by Barr's high frog splash.
VS.
The main event saw a great, evenly-matched battle between two very different types of competitors. Bryan tried to keep the action at a high tempo with kicks and strikes, while Magnum T.A. used an "old-school" approach to keep Bryan down. Conditioning was never an issue for either man, and it went back-and-forth for nearly 20 minutes. The endgame saw Bryan reverse Magnum's vaunted belly-to-belly suplex with an overhead throw, giving him the necessary space to hit the running knee. Three seconds later, Bryan's hand was raised, taking him to the AWA Heavyweight semi-finals.
Josh, tell us about the rest of tonight's action.
Josh Mathews: My pleasure, Joey, and hello fans. First, though, an announcement that Jake "the Snake" Roberts is leaving the AWA. He first endured an embarrassing defeat via the DDT at the hands of "the Chosen One", Drew McIntyre. Last night, he was knocked out by Nigel McGuinness's Tower of London, no doubt still suffering from the McIntyre match. Because of that, Roberts decided to move on - at least for now. However, I have been assured that the AWA commissioner is already talking to new talent.
All right then, the rest of the card. Art Barr faces Verne Gagne in Television title action; the Rock and Roll Express battle the BlueBloods in a steel cage, each in a quest to capture the Tag-Team titles; and Adam Cole looks to stay alive in the Intercontinental tournament when he locks up with Ethan Carter III. By the way, that match is on next!
VS.
Better explain it now: Cole, Carter, and Tully Blanchard are on one side of the Intercontinental bracket, while McGuinness, Brody, Henry, and Roberts were/are on the other side. Cole/Carter/Blanchard are going at it round-robin. The winner of the round-robin, determined either by number of pins, or with least time needed to win as a tiebreaker, will move on - each men wrestles twice to get to the final. Just like on the other side. McGuiness and Brody have each wrestled once, and will battle each other for the other final spot.
Settled? Great! To recap, then: Carter actually wrestled the better match, proving he's much more than a jobber-squasher. In technical terms, he was on offense for 68.9% of the bout. However, his overconfidence was his downfall, and Cole battled back. The ROH alumnus won via pinfall, clean, in a contest that saw both men's stock rise.
VS.
An excellent match, as one might expect with these two equally-sized opponents. The "Chosen One" made everybody forget about the 3MB era, wrestling Edge as a true equal. It was back-and-forth, inside and outside and ring. In the end, JJ Dillon's scouting report must have made the difference, and Edge defeated McIntyre with the Downward Spiral.
VS.
Believe it or not, Morton was the face in peril. The BlueBloods countered the Southern-style grappling employed by the Rock and Rollers, and tried to keep them on the mat for as long as possible. Fortunately, Gibson eventually got in the ring, clearing house and enabling Morton to gain enough recovery time to execute their famed double dropkick on Williams. Unfortunately, Regal was the legal man, and he rolled up Morton for the three-count.
VS.
It was as vicious and as brutal as you would expect. The Gary Hart-led stablemates fought tooth and nail, allegiance be damned. Blood was spilled, haymakers were thrown, and via the move of the night, Vader pinned Hansen after a top-rope moonsault. After the match, Hart led them back to the dressing room, where they - it's true! - smiled and laughed about the brawl that just occurred.
VS.
Art Barr continued his improbable match to the AWA Television title by upsetting the legend Verne Gagne. Admittedly, it was not without controversy. Barr and Gagne fought gamely for the better part of 15 minutes, with Gagne slowly but steadily wearing the aerialist down. However, while the referee was momentarily distracted by Barr's manager, Vickie Guerrero, Ken Shamrock raced to the ring and attacked Gagne's ankle. Unable to stand, Gagne was soon done in by Barr's high frog splash.
VS.
The main event saw a great, evenly-matched battle between two very different types of competitors. Bryan tried to keep the action at a high tempo with kicks and strikes, while Magnum T.A. used an "old-school" approach to keep Bryan down. Conditioning was never an issue for either man, and it went back-and-forth for nearly 20 minutes. The endgame saw Bryan reverse Magnum's vaunted belly-to-belly suplex with an overhead throw, giving him the necessary space to hit the running knee. Three seconds later, Bryan's hand was raised, taking him to the AWA Heavyweight semi-finals.