Torch Arena Report Flashback - 23 years ago
Originally Published: Torch Newsletter #31

AWA "Superclash Showcase"
November 26, 1988
Bloomington, Minn. at the Met Spors Center
Report by Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

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(1) "Untouchable" Del Wilks pinned Mike Enos at 8:43. This is not the way to open a wrestling card. Neither guy wanted to do anything, and neither guy was in the position to do anything. Both are new to the AWA and should be trying to prove themselves. It was filled with headlockes and head scissors and chants of "boring, boring" across the arena. Wilks won with a leg drop.

(2) Larry "The Butcher" Cameron pinned "Untouchable" Burt Timmons at 1:51. Larry worked the crowd as he usually does and got some heat back into the building. He squashed Timmons with a powerslam in basically a squash match.

(3) Wendi Richter pinned Madusa Miceli in 13:11 for the AWA World Ladies Title. It was supposed to be Magnificent Mimi's title chance, but she couldn't make it, so, to the fans's delight, Wendi replaced her. It really wasn't a wrestling match, but it was fun. Madusa came to the ring in a Santa hat. They brawled in and out of the ring, missing the required amount of moves, and after a screwed-up victory roll, Wendi sat on Madusa for the pin. Wendi is now champion.

(4) Jimmy Jack Funk pinned Derrick "Starfire" Dukes in 16:58. This was a decent match with a blend of rest holds and high spots. Dukes came off the top rope with a crossbody block, but the momentum rolled JJ on top of Derrick for the three count.

(5) Michael P.S. Hayes and Iceman Parsons fought to a Double DQ in 12:03. This was the best match of the night. Hayes put on the performance of the night. He had the crowd rocking equal to when Hogan comes here. He was full of charisma. There was even talk that he should be the next AWA champion. They brawled onto the floor for the DQ.

(6) Sgt. Slaughter beat The Iron Sheik via DQ in 12:30. "What a difference four years makes" was repeated all around the arena. This was nothing compared to their WWF days. They exchanged abdominal stretches, but overall the match was pretty bad. The crowd was into it, though.

(7) Robert Gibson & Greg Gagne pinned Badd Company (Paul Diamond & Pat Tanaka) in 9:20 to win the AWA World Tag Titles. It was kind of funny when Greg Gagne got more boos than Badd Company. The match was just an average TV-type match with little happening. Gagne pinned Diamond with a sunset flip. Ricky Morton no-showed and they gave an excuse about his plan that no one bought.

(8) Jerry Lawler beat Wahoo McDaniel via DQ in 16:33. This was an entertaining main event. It was the same match these two are having around the horn. Jerry used a chain throughout the match. Wahoo stole it, used it, pinned Lawler, apparently won the title, was checked for a weapon, and the chainw as found, so Wahoo was disqualified.

Notes: The attendance was only about 1,500 and a lot of those were give-aways. However, there was severe weather and every TV and radio personality was telling everyone to stay home and not drive. With Kerry Von Erich no-showing and Ricky Morton no-showing, the card was left in shambles. Though, to their credit, they ended up putting a pretty decent card together. (***)

[Torch photos credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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