Wrestling Results - December 18, 1994 (AWA's last hurrah)

[Joe Neglia]

AWA - Treasure Island Resort and Casino, Red Wing, MINN

Mike Enos defeated Buck Zumhofe
Erik Watts defeated Wayne Bloom
Bobby Darren and Karate Kid defeated Little Tokyo and Cowboy Lance
Larry Zbyszko defeated Tito Santana

This was the last card run under the AWA banner. Though they had actually ceased operations a couple of years earlier, the Gagnes busted out two more shows in 1994, and this was the final one. There were only 345 fans in attendance.

Nick Bockwinkel was the guest referee for the main.

CMLL - La Arena Coliseo, Mexico

Guerrera Púrpura and María del Ángel defeated Flor Metálica and Zaori
Escudero Rojo, Rey Bucanero Jr. and Reyes Veloz defeated El América, El Supremo #2 and Kundra
Américo Rocca, El Hijo del Solitario and Ringo Mendoza defeated Cachorro Mendoza, El Hijo del Gladiador and Jaque Mate
Corazón de León, Ringo Mendoza and Vampiro defeated Bestia Salvaje, Black Magic and Gran Markus Jr.

Corazon de Leon = Chris Jericho

Black Magic = Norman Smiley

WCW - Braunschweig, Niedersachsen, Germany

Alex Wright defeated Jean-Paul Levesque
WCW World Television Title Match - Johnny B. Badd (c) defeated Bobby Eaton
Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated Harlem Heat (Booker T and Stevie Ray)
Sting, Marcus Alexander Bagwell and The Patriot defeated Arn Anderson, Paul Roma and Bunkhouse Buck

Not a bad card for this era. Nothing special, but I don't see any outright dogs on it either.

[chazraps]

Footage of that last AWA show exist?

[Larryhausen]

And maybe that CMLL show as well? I never thought I'd want to see Jericho and Vampiro team against Norman Smiley, but here we f***ing are!!!

[Dragonfly]

Why did the Gagnes think bringing the AWA back was a good idea? Were they trying for a revival? Needed the money? Bored as hell?

[BorneAgain]

Kind of astounding in a year where Lucha was starting to make its way into the States and ECW was slowly changing the business, that the Gagne's figured that was the ideal time for the AWA revival.

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2018 0:20:59 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

AWA - Treasure Island Resort and Casino, Red Wing, MINN

Mike Enos defeated Buck Zumhofe
Erik Watts defeated Wayne Bloom
Bobby Darren and Karate Kid defeated Little Tokyo and Cowboy Lance
Larry Zbyszko defeated Tito Santana

This was the last card run under the AWA banner. Though they had actually ceased operations a couple of years earlier, the Gagnes busted out two more shows in 1994, and this was the final one. There were only 345 fans in attendance.

Nick Bockwinkel was the guest referee for the main.

Was it definitely Verne? Or at least Greg? And not Dale GagneR?

[timelimitdraw]

In 1992, Verne and Greg got a permanent injunction barring Dale Gagner from ever using the AWA trademarks (which is how WWE was able to sue years later). They managed to keep the library and trademarks even after Verne and Greg declared bankruptcy because the wrestling business had gone downhill so much that they had little value.

Greg has claimed that he pitched Bischoff on the idea of relaunching the AWA on one of their B shows, building Hogan up as AWA champ, then building Hogan-Flair as a title unification. Although Bischoff didn't go that way, my guess is these casino shows were a way to make a little extra cash and ensure that the trademarks were still active if they were able to get him to change his mind and buy the AWA trademarks and library down the road.

I don't think Dale tried launching his AWA until 1996 as a small indy, eventually doing the territory/licensing deal in the early 2000's.

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2018 19:41:54 GMT -5 timelimitdraw said:

In 1992, Verne and Greg got a permanent injunction barring Dale Gagner from ever using the AWA trademarks (which is how WWE was able to sue years later). They managed to keep the library and trademarks even after Verne and Greg declared bankruptcy because the wrestling business had gone downhill so much that they had little value.

Greg has claimed that he pitched Bischoff on the idea of relaunching the AWA on one of their B shows, building Hogan up as AWA champ, then building Hogan-Flair as a title unification. Although Bischoff didn't go that way, my guess is these casino shows were a way to make a little extra cash and ensure that the trademarks were still active if they were able to get him to change his mind and buy the AWA trademarks and library down the road.

I don't think Dale tried launching his AWA until 1996 as a small indy, eventually doing the territory/licensing deal in the early 2000's.

If Gagner was barred from using AWA in 1992, how did he run as AWA in 1996 and forward? Wasn't the whole problem with him that he kept ignoring court rulings and running shows as AWA and calling himself a "Gagne" but Verne and Greg weren't involved? Just wondering if there's anything solid out there indicating that this show in particular was actually run by Verne or Greg.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Verne why you went ahead and tried to steal from Hogan? Ten years later you’re broke.

[Joe Neglia]

The 94 shows were run by Greg Gagne far as I can tell. We had a thread on it a few years back: officialfan.proboards.com/thread/492197/awa-shows-1994

[Jumpin' Jesse Walsh]

Good to see Bobby Darin came back from the dead for one night just to work on an AWA show.