This was a major card for the AWA in 1983. Much like all the other promotions supercards were fairly rare and new at this time. So let's get to the action!
Our first match of the evening put Amateur great and Trainer extraordinaire Brad Rheingans against a man named Rocky Stone. Rheingans wins a pretty quick match, with little going on. It was a decent match with the crowd favorite going over though, so decent way to kick off the show 4/10.
Rock N' Roll Buck Zumhofe, maybe the most over hyped guy to never go anywhere took on Steve Regal ( The original not Darrin Matthews). In another decent match with nothing special going on Zumhoffe picks up a predictable win. 4/10
We finally get to some solid wrestling with two of the better guys around at the time. Jerry "The King" Lawler comes in to take on John "The Golden Greek" Tolos. The future WWE announcer takes on the future WWF manager. In a solid old school wrestling match the Future AWA champion Lawler picks up the win. 6/10
In a women tag title match Wendi Richter (WWE HOFer)and Joyce Grable defeat Velvet McIntyre (WWE Women's Champ) and Judy Martin (WWE Women's Tag Champ). Average women's match from the time period. 5/10
Next up we have my main man Wahoo McDaniel (One of the most underrated of all time) taking on Eddie Boulder. In a unadventurous match with a weak anticlimactic finish McDaniel takes out the future Brutus Beefcake. 4/10
We finally get through the midcard madness and into the three big matches of the night.
The first of these is a 6 man tag. We get the Highflyers Jim Brunzell and Grag Gagne teaming up with future AWA champ Rick Martel to square off against the heel team of Black Jack Lanza, Ken Patera, and Jesse Ventura. This was a good match but a weak DQ finish hurt it overall. 6/10
In the match that made this show memorable or the mid card main event if you will. Nick Bockwinkel put the AWA Title on the line against "The Incredible" Hulk Hogan. I am somewhat amazed at how over Hogan is here. In a really good match Bockwinkel one of the greatest in ring generals of all time carries Hogan until the ref gets knocked out. With the ref out Hogan knocks Bockwinkel over the top and then brings him back in and wins with his patented leg drop. As it appears we have a new AWA champion and the crowd goes bonkers it is confirmed that Hogan's throwing of Bockwinkel over the top is a DQ and Nick keeps the belt. This was a big deal at the time and really got Hogan over even more 8/10
The main event of the evening saw Verge Gagne the AWA owner come out of retirement to tag with Mad Dog Vachon (Who had the coolest voice ever) against Jerry Blackwell and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy. The Sheik was the AWA super villain for like 7 years. Think Bobby Heenan in the WWF. Mostly manager occasional wrestler threatening the fan favorites. In a solid main event in which Mad Dog took quite a beating the faces win and send the fans home happy. 7/10
Overall this was a good way to take the promotion to the next level and I would give it a 6/10 0verall. I was most amazed by two things. One How over Hogan was. Vince likes to claim he made Hogan but this proves he just stole him at the right time. And second, to continue with that point is how many of these guys and girls ended up working for Vince. Over half the card consisted of future WWF guys.
Our first match of the evening put Amateur great and Trainer extraordinaire Brad Rheingans against a man named Rocky Stone. Rheingans wins a pretty quick match, with little going on. It was a decent match with the crowd favorite going over though, so decent way to kick off the show 4/10.
Rock N' Roll Buck Zumhofe, maybe the most over hyped guy to never go anywhere took on Steve Regal ( The original not Darrin Matthews). In another decent match with nothing special going on Zumhoffe picks up a predictable win. 4/10
We finally get to some solid wrestling with two of the better guys around at the time. Jerry "The King" Lawler comes in to take on John "The Golden Greek" Tolos. The future WWE announcer takes on the future WWF manager. In a solid old school wrestling match the Future AWA champion Lawler picks up the win. 6/10
In a women tag title match Wendi Richter (WWE HOFer)and Joyce Grable defeat Velvet McIntyre (WWE Women's Champ) and Judy Martin (WWE Women's Tag Champ). Average women's match from the time period. 5/10
Next up we have my main man Wahoo McDaniel (One of the most underrated of all time) taking on Eddie Boulder. In a unadventurous match with a weak anticlimactic finish McDaniel takes out the future Brutus Beefcake. 4/10
We finally get through the midcard madness and into the three big matches of the night.
The first of these is a 6 man tag. We get the Highflyers Jim Brunzell and Grag Gagne teaming up with future AWA champ Rick Martel to square off against the heel team of Black Jack Lanza, Ken Patera, and Jesse Ventura. This was a good match but a weak DQ finish hurt it overall. 6/10
In the match that made this show memorable or the mid card main event if you will. Nick Bockwinkel put the AWA Title on the line against "The Incredible" Hulk Hogan. I am somewhat amazed at how over Hogan is here. In a really good match Bockwinkel one of the greatest in ring generals of all time carries Hogan until the ref gets knocked out. With the ref out Hogan knocks Bockwinkel over the top and then brings him back in and wins with his patented leg drop. As it appears we have a new AWA champion and the crowd goes bonkers it is confirmed that Hogan's throwing of Bockwinkel over the top is a DQ and Nick keeps the belt. This was a big deal at the time and really got Hogan over even more 8/10
The main event of the evening saw Verge Gagne the AWA owner come out of retirement to tag with Mad Dog Vachon (Who had the coolest voice ever) against Jerry Blackwell and Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissy. The Sheik was the AWA super villain for like 7 years. Think Bobby Heenan in the WWF. Mostly manager occasional wrestler threatening the fan favorites. In a solid main event in which Mad Dog took quite a beating the faces win and send the fans home happy. 7/10
Overall this was a good way to take the promotion to the next level and I would give it a 6/10 0verall. I was most amazed by two things. One How over Hogan was. Vince likes to claim he made Hogan but this proves he just stole him at the right time. And second, to continue with that point is how many of these guys and girls ended up working for Vince. Over half the card consisted of future WWF guys.