 ttaco |
February 01st, 2008 12:39 GMT |
 
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Post: #451173
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At the time, I really enjoyed Rose & Somers, and Sherri made the act even better. Somers was underrated IMO and was glad to see him get to hold one of the tag straps. I liked Garvin and Regal individually, but them as tag champs just didn't do it for me. Garvin with more of a powerhouse type guy would have worked better, particularly against the Warriors.
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| geosch |
February 01st, 2008 22:42 GMT |
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Post: #451301
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Somers was a decent wrestler/worker, but was not title and main event material in my opinion.
He and Ustinov being declared champions, just demonstrates perfectly how bad the AWA had become by the late 80's. There is no way either guy should have been even in title matches, much less champions.
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Post: #451333
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Quoted from: geosch, February 01st, 2008 04:33 GMTQuoted from: Sign Guy77, February 01st, 2008 01:33 GMTI agree with BaronVonRaschkeFan05. DJ Peterson and The Trooper were a make shift team and were not credible champs. However, they really had nobody else at that point and they had to have the belts on someone. The Trooper was a pretty good singles wrestler on his way up the ranks, but DJ is someone I didn't see too highly ranked at the time. I saw him kind of like Jim Powers at that same time. He had lots of potential and was good, but he didn't seem quite good enough to be a major player. And Somers & Ustinov weren't a makeshift team?
Yes, they were makeshift, but they were more credible. Somers was a former tag team champion as was Ustinov. Trooper and DJ were guys just getting started with no real history as champions or main eventers.
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Post: #451365
PT: #19/37
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While the history books recognize Ustinov and Sommers as tag champs, I don't. They were only holding the belts (maybe a week?) long enough to drop them to someone because of Zuhkov's departure. Sommers was just a sub.
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| The name on the marquee says wrestling.
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Post: #451447
PT: #20/37
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Quoted from: okstampede, February 02nd, 2008 02:59 GMTWhile the history books recognize Ustinov and Sommers as tag champs, I don't. They were only holding the belts (maybe a week?) long enough to drop them to someone because of Zuhkov's departure. Sommers was just a sub.
Though you are correct that Somers was basically a sub for the departed Boris Zhukov, his title reign with Ustinov was from the beginning of October to October 11, 1987. They dropped the belts to Jerry Lawler & Bill Dundee in Memphis, TN. The latter dropped the belts in a bogus title change to Hector Guerrero & Carl Styles in Memphis on October 19th, and then Lawler & Dundee re-captured the belts on October 26th, again in Memphsi.
The Memphis title change to Guerrero & Styles was not recognized by the AWA office in Minneapolis. Lawler & Dundee then dropped the belts on October 30th to the "Original" Midnight Express, Dennis Condrey & Randy Rose with manager Paul Heyman in Whitewater, WI.
Condrey & Rose had a two month reign, and lost the titles to Marty Janetty & Shawn Michaels on December 27, 1987 in Las Vegas.
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| "THE AUTHORITY" GEORGE SCHIRE
I'M COMMITTED TO PRESERVING WRESTLING HISTORY.
NOT AN EASY TASK TO ACHIEVE WHEN WORKING WITH A BUSINESS THAT HAD A DECEPTION BASE, AND NO SENSE OF ITS OWN PAST.
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Post: #451538
PT: #21/37
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This message was edited by MickKarch on February 02nd, 2008 22:53 GMT
I did the ring announcing for the Whitewater show, and interviewed Paul E and the Express after the title change.The Whitewater tapings were a disaster. The lighting was terrible, and even though we taped I believe four weeks of shows, most of it wound up on the cutting room floor, because the quality was so poor, One moment I clearly remember from those tapings: I'm sitting with Rod Trongaard at ringside. Verne is doing color commentary. At one point, J.T. Southern (remember that guy?) was doing a hip toss or something. Verne, even though he turned away from the microphone, clearly says something to the effect of how stupid Southern was, that you never use that kind of a move in a Battle Royal, and he was going to be fired! 
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Post: #451544
PT: #22/37
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Do we always have to pick on Verne?
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| "THE AUTHORITY" GEORGE SCHIRE
I'M COMMITTED TO PRESERVING WRESTLING HISTORY.
NOT AN EASY TASK TO ACHIEVE WHEN WORKING WITH A BUSINESS THAT HAD A DECEPTION BASE, AND NO SENSE OF ITS OWN PAST.
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Post: #451594
PT: #24/37
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Mick....wiggle your ears! 
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| "THE AUTHORITY" GEORGE SCHIRE
I'M COMMITTED TO PRESERVING WRESTLING HISTORY.
NOT AN EASY TASK TO ACHIEVE WHEN WORKING WITH A BUSINESS THAT HAD A DECEPTION BASE, AND NO SENSE OF ITS OWN PAST.
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Post: #452121
PT: #27/37
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I agree that Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal were pretty bad. There was no way that I was going to believe that these guys were gonna beat the Road Warriors, even with the Freebirds interference.
I also did not care for the team that defeated them Curt Hennig & Scott Hall. Curt was great, but I was not really that impressed with Scott Hall & their teaming always seemed sort of random to me.
Ken Patera & Brad Rheignans was disappointing to me as well. I thought that they would be good at first with the whole Olympians thing, but they never realy clicked at all.
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Post: #452215
PT: #28/37
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To AWA fans, Doug Somers was pretty much a nobody. Even for someone who followed the other territories as I did, I'd never heard of him. To put him in a main event role was a joke.
Same with Ustinov. This was as bad as Bill Watts creating Kortisha Korchenko.
Regal and Garvin were better than Ustinov and Zhukov, and Dr. D and Hector Guerrero (classic stupid Memphis hotshot booking), and slightly better than Rose and Somers, only because Garvin was a legit major star, coming off a big run in Dallas. Regal wasn't horrible - at least people knew him as the LH champion, but they never should have beaten the Road Warriors, who were widely regarded as the best team in the world at the time.
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Post: #452275
PT: #29/37
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The only thing I can say, in Doug's defense, was that when he was teaming with Buddy Rose, he did deliver. Their matches with Michaels and Janetty were excellent, IMO. The presence of Sherri Martel certainly enhanced the team.
I do agree that the Garvin-Regal win over the Roadies was not a good thing and lessened the AWA in the eyes of many. When you're fighting for your promotional life and you have one of the most famous teams in the world on top, it is not smart to job them out.
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Post: #452291
PT: #30/37
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No doubt the Rose/Somers vs. the Rockers matches were some of the best of the 80's AWA, and Sherri was great as their manager.
One of the biggest problems I had with the Garvin/Regal team (and I posted the same thing over on WC), is that:
Why would the Freebirds, who were the top contenders, help ANOTHER team win the belts? From a logic point, it made no sense.
Plus, as an AWA fan, just about the only thing the AWA had going over the other territories, is that they had the best tag team in the world. After that, they never had the best tag champs, or the best world champion again, at least in the eyes of the magazines etc.
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