After a lot of reruns, the AWF kicked off their "new fall season" with new episodes on KTSC. Episodes from their first taping never made it to YouTube, though, which means you have missed out on Tony DeNucci's "retirement" match with Mr. KK. (These shows had a really weird placement of the hard camera and I suspect they were taped in, like, a church. Also, you have been spared Johnny Parks' Australian accent on color commentary!) Anyway, DeNucci isn't gone - he kinda owns the fed, after all (kayfabe!) so he was storylined in as the "new Executive Director."
I don't think we actually skipped as many episodes as they have numbered, but nonetheless we'll go with their labeling and by the time we get to the bottom of this post, you'll be ALL CAUGHT UP.
Here now is
EPISODE 64 - aired 10/15/11
From Little Falls, MN (taped 9/24/11) MR. KK vs. OX! Get to know CRAVEN KNYTE! RYAN CRUZ vs. JOHN JOHNSON! And they finish early, so they have to kill five minutes with a "classic match" - UDO MANGLESDORF vs. TONY DeNUCCI from Howard Lake
EPISODE 65 - aired 10/22/11
From Little Falls, MN MIKEY WIPEOUT vs. DANNY DANGEROUS! Get to know OX! UDO vs. CRAVEN KNYTE! Classic Match: ROB JAMES vs. RYAN CRUZ from Finlayson (Episode 32)
EPISODE 66 - aired 10/29/11
From Little Falls, MN JOHNNY PARKS vs. APOSTLE 13! Get to know ARIYA DAIVARI! ARIYA DAIVARI vs. THE WILDCAT!
EPISODE 67 - aired last night! (11/12/11)
From Hayward, WI (taped 10/8/11) GUNNER CLASH vs. APOSTLE 13 EL MUERTE vs. - wait a minute - TONY DeNUCCI? Also, this is a "no DQ" match! And in the main event: PAUL BREWSKI vs. JOHN JOHNSON!
Doesn't the rise of heel authority figures roughly coincide with the decline of heel stable managers?
Back when you had guys like Albano, Heenan, Blassie, Sheik Adnan, JJ Dillon, (fill in the guy for your local territory).. you had the face put through hell by the manager and his stable, until finally someone like Jack Tunney or Verne Gagne would be dragged out to restore fairness, and order the heel to finally fight the face straight up. With the rise of the heel authority figure, today's face is forced to jump through a long series of hoops to finally get their deserved shot at the heel and/or title.
So I'd say that one role supplanted the other. And like for the McMahon family, I imagine local promotions found that it was easier/more economical to have the heel role played by someone they didn't need to negotiate a contract with, someone who wouldn't jump to another job. But you really can't have strong heel managers *and a competent heel authority figure.
(And while the idea was fresh, and worked so perfectly with Austin/McMahon - putting Cena through the same heel authority figure gauntlet feels more like "oh, this is just what we do to keep the title off the face and build to a match", rather than having established deep resentment and motivation for a big revenge match between the wrestlers themselves.)
From Kenyon, MN (Turns out that Kenyon-Wanamingo High School IS in Kenyon): BLACK STALLION vs. PAUL BREWSKI UDO MANGLESDORF & MR. KK vs. TNT TOMMY MASON & TONY DeNUCCI
EPISODE 74 aired 1/21/12 (sorry I didn't post it a week ago!)
In our main event of the evening from Kenyon, WILD CAT finally gets a shot at the AWF Heavyweight Championship as the title is on the line against champion ARYA DAIVARI - and just to make it interesting, it's MASK vs. TITLE! Also tonight, in a match with absolutely NO implications, ROB JAMES takes on one half of the Barking Spiders, OX! (DRINKING GAME: take a drink every time Parks' commentary confuses Rob James and referee Rod Page) PLUS: get to know RYAN CRUZ! MIKEY WIPEOUT joins Draper and Parks on the call.
Finally got a slew of episodes posted to YouTube. I feel like some were skipped in here, but perhaps I can't tell the reruns from the firstruns anymore.
By their labeling, this is EPISODE 75 aired 2/18 (taped 1/7)
From Monticello, MN BLACK STALLION vs. PAUL BREWSKI JOHN JOHNSON vs. TONY DeNUCCI
EPISODE 76 aired 2/25
"LIVEWIRE" JOHNNY PARKS & JOHNNY "THE HITMAN" REEVES (teacher - with The Herminator) vs. 6% BODY FAT" ROB JAMES & CRAIG "HIGH FLYIN'" GUYEN (teacher - with "Gentleman" Joe Roush) WILD CAT and RYAN CRUZ vs. ARYA DAVARI and HIS MYSTERY PARTNER
Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read
SHAWN DAVARI
EPISODE 77 aired 3/3
Just one match: THE MONTICELLO RUMBLE PLUS an EXTREMELY old highlights package (which doesn't translate well to "HD")
EPISODE 78 aired 3/17 (well, the parts that weren't pre-empted for high school basketball aired)
from Becker, MN (taped 1/28) ROB JAMES vs. CRAVEN KNYTE BLACK STALLION vs. RYAN CRUZ
Tonight's half hour was COMPLETELY pre-empted by high school basketball, so I don't know if we continued from Becker or not. When it's posted to YouTube, I'll try to remember to continue bringing it over here!
Benoit has to try to carry A-Train 2 straight weeks? Anyone else think Rikishi will be gone very quickly if Catchphrase ever just decides to focus on movies? Torrie actually jobs?
Thread rated: 7.07
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