WWF All-American Wrestling – September 2nd, 1990
by Scrooge McSuck
- For those not familiar with All-American Wrestling, it was featured on the USA Network on Sundays at noon in my area, the same time slot of Wrestling Challenge. AAW was nothing more than a compilation of Challenge and SuperStars from that particular week, but on the rare occasion, they might slip in a feature match you wouldn’t see anywhere else. And I mean rarely.
- Your hosts from the WWF studios are Mean Gene Okerlund and Hillbilly Jim. Jim sure got a butt-load of gigs in the WWF, I tell you what. They hype SummerSlam from the week before (no details), and clue us in on what to expect during the hour. In action, the Warlord, Jimmy Snuka, Demolition, the Boss Man, and Earthquake, a special interview with Sgt. Slaughter, and a Special Report. Okerlund cries about Slaughter calling him a maggot. Oh well, at least Slaughter didn’t waste time trying to come up with new material for him.
1. Tugboat vs. Playboy Buddy Rose:
From Wrestling Challenge, I believe. Tugboat was “injured” about three weeks earlier on SuperStars at the hands of Earthquake and Dino Bravo, taking him out of SummerSlam. Heenan claims that Buddy Rose is the Boss Man’s mother. Rose tries a shoulder-block to start, but Tugboat is too fat for even him. Repeat the same spot. Rose hammers away, but Tugboat no-sells, so Rose goes to the midsection and works them over good in the corner. Irish whip to the corner is reversed, and Tugboat sends Rose back and forth. Back drop by Tugboat, followed by a scoop slam, and the big splash is enough for the three count at 1:53. Tugboat toots his horn to the delight of dozens!
- Special Report with Lord Alfred Hayes, brought to you by SummerSlam, available on Coliseum Video September 27th! Fall-out from SummerSlam! Mr. Perfect and Bobby Heenan complain about their loss to Tornado, the Tornado gloats about his victory over Perfect, the LOD gloat about costing Demolition the Tag Titles, and Dusty Rhodes, wearing a goofy fucking hat, whines about Sapphire being bought by Ted Dibiase. All this and more happened last week at SummerSlam!
2. The Warlord (w/ Slick) vs. Scott Colantonio:
From SuperStars of Wrestling. Jobber boy tries a dropkick, but Warlord simplyt shrugs him off. Irish whip, and the Warlord comes off the ropes with a diving shoulder tackle. Scoop slam and a gut-wrench suplex follows. Clubbing across the back, and a delayed vertial suplex. Warlord ends this squash with the running powerslam at 2:13. Is this the Warlord or Davey Boy Smith wrestling?
- Live from the Event Center with Sean Mooney. No actual card is hyped, so everyone cuts generic promos, for the most part. Rhythm & Blues mention the Hart Foundation in their promo, but then Ronnie Garvin cuts a rambling promo about nobody in particular. He just probably wanted to get out of the studio, or something.
3. “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka vs. Barry O:
From SuperStars of Wrestling. Roddy Piper is on commentary, and he makes a verty vague reference to his past with Snuka. Nothing is mentioned particularly, but we all know the biggie. The coconut over the head incident. Snuka opens with arm drags and armbars. Snuka with a dropkick and another arm drag. Barry O comes back with a clothesline, and plants Snuka with a scoop slam. Barry O drops an elbow for a two count. Irish whip is reversed, and Snuka comes back with a big chop. Snuka with a suplex, and the Superfly Splash ends Barry O’s afternoon at 2:47. Match of the Night, probably at a whopping ½* if I were to give out ratings for squashes.
4. Demolition vs. Jim Powers, Jim McPherson, McReary:
A All-American Wrestling exclusive, with the wonderful voices of Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes calling the action. We’re also joined in progress, from Springfield, MA. Crush tags in and quickly takes McReary down with a tilt-o-whirl back breaker, then applies a BEARHUG? Smash tags in and pounds away on the scrub in the corner. Throat toss into the good guy corner, and McPherson (no relation to Dallas) takes his turn at getting an ass-whoopin’. Smash pounds on him and chokes away. Ax tags in and does the same (and nails a stiff clothesline), screaming more than usual the whole time. Crush tags back in and takes McPhertson down with a throat grab. Smash in with a scoop slam, and all three Demolition pound McPherson into puddy. The Decapitator finishes it off at 3:14. Jim Powers comes in and is quickly nailed with a clothesline by Ax. Feh…
- Mean Gene Okerlund interviews Sgt. Slaughter, who is really pissed at Nikolai Volkoff for whatever reason. It doesn’t take long for Volkoff to come out and confront Slaughter on his verbal abuse, and a pull-apart erupts, with Volkoff gaining the higher ground, waving the American flag the whole time. FILLER FEUD!
5. Big Boss Man vs. Mike Williams:
From Wrestling Challenge. Heenan says Boss Man has the same haircut as his mother, and later in the match claims he would rather be handcuffed to the Boss Man inside a steel cage with an electric fence and roof than go out on a date with BBM’s mother. Typical Boss Man squash. Punches a lot, splash across the back with opponent throat across the middle rope, and the Sidewalk Slam ends Williams’ afternoon at 2:16. And that’s the end of that chapter.
- Hillbilly Jim has a present for Gene Okerlund, because he’s so gosh darn nice to all the humble folk in Mudlick, KY. Hillbilly’s friends cousins nephews dealer, Pud Ford, nephew of someone not named Tennessee Ernie Ford, is a famous painter from Mudlick, and Hillbilly presents Okerlund with an original painting of a guy about to anal rape two horses. Exciting television at it’s finest, folks!
6. Earthquake (w/ Dino Bravo & Jimmy Hart) vs. Ron Cumberland:
From SuperStars. Boss Man cuts an inset promo, as does Bobby Heenan. Wow, that feud was getting a lot of talk time on the weekly shows. Quake’s only impressive offense is throwing a dropkick, which he actually makes contact with. Other than that, it’s the usual. Clubbing, powerslam, elbow drop, and the Vertical Splash is all she wrote at 2:09. After the match, Quake drops ass two more times, and Cumberland gets to do a stretcher job.
- More Event Center Promos! This time we hear from Bobby Heenan and Rick Rude about how good looking Rude is compared to everyone else, and the Bushwhackers ramble nonsense that I can’t understand.
- Mean Gene and Hillbilly Jim bid us farewell, but not before hyping next weeks program. We’re going to see Nikolai Volkoff, Rick Rude, the Legion of Doom, the Bushwhackers, and Bad News Brown(?) in action. I say (?) because Bad News was released right after SummerSlam, so my assumption that this was taped before the PPV are probably correct. Also, Brother Love is going to have the Queen, Sensational Sherri on his show.
Final Thoughts:
A perfect example of what fans had to sit through back in the day unless they had cable to watch PrimeTime Wrestling on the USA Network (yes, AAW was on USA too, but it was rehashed SupertStars/Challenge stuff). A handful of jobber squashes, a few interviews, Event Centers, a SPECIAL REPORT/Update, and the occasional feature match, probably featuring Tito Santana. Not the greatest television, but it’s still special to me dammit!