AWA Superclash III

This was Verne Gagne's final chance of beating Vince McMahon and the WWF. The WWF had become huge, going national and breaking the tradition of wrestling being a territorial sport. This was the AWA's only pay per view show as they brought in wrestlers from Jerry Jarrett's CWA and Fritz Von Erich's WCCW. The show took place on December 13, 1988 from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago and did not even draw 2,000 fans. The main event was Jerry Lawler vs. Kerry Von Erich in a match that would unify the AWA and WCCW Titles. Lawler ended up winning the match. Even though Gagne recruited former WWF stars Wendi Richter, Sgt. Slaughter, the Iron Sheik and Michael Hayes, the show was a complete failure as pay per view buyrates were no better than the live gate. The AWA closed down a few years later after losing the majority of its wrestlers to the WWF and WCW. WCCW and the CWA joined together to form the USWA.

This card could almost have been seen as one of the final nails in the coffin of what was once one of the greatest promotions in the history of professional wrestling. For years the AWA was one of the most famous wrestling promotions in America. The list of their former stars reads like a who's who of professional wrestling. Stars like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, the Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes and Curt Hennig all got their first big pushes in the AWA. However, by the mid 1980's all of the big names were either working in the WWF/E or in Jim Crockett Promotions. Also, mismanagement on the part of Gagne, who didn't want to change with the times, led to the end of the promotion and this card could be seen as one last desperate attempt to save it. In fact, the only memorable thing about this card was that it marked the first appearance on pay-per-view of future WWF/E star Mick Foley, who wrestled as his most famous alter ego Cactus Jack. Unfortunately, that was the only memorable thing. This definitely was a sad way for the promotion to end.