- I never thought this day would come. Years ago, I recapped a 4-disc, 18-episode collection of a short-lived promotion that was shopped around in the mid 90's, funded by money-mark Paul Alperstein. The AWF had a death timeslot on the MSG Network in my area, but didn't find much success, doing limited shows and TV tapings filled with freebies. All of the episodes from that DVD set (which is long since out of production) were from the first "season", featuring the Tournament for a Heavyweight Champion, as well as some matches from the forgotten Tag Team Championship Tournament. It wasn't until years later I found out a second "season" was taped, but other than a few short clips, it was mostly lost to time and indifference... until now. An anonymous YouTuber has uploaded several episodes from this season, so you know what that means: Me suffering.
- Sgt. Slaughter is still the poster boy for the introduction, but we have a revamped montage featuring some new faces that weren't around for Season 1, to go along with the spoilers of who are the reigning tag Team Champions.
- From "last week", Ken Resnick is in the ring, along with manager "extraordinaire" Rico Suave, looking like an obese (and still living) Dino Bravo, and he just casually introduces us to Hawk and Animal, the Road Warriors (and to my surprise, they come out to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"). Animal says Tommy Rich and Greg Valentine don't want any of them, because they aren't a couple of Johnny Come Latelys. They're hit to bust heads and win titles. If you're going to have a bunch of has-beens in a promotion, at least the LOD were still somewhat relevant and had a cool factor around them in an era where the big two promotions were spinning their wheels trying to come up with the next big idea.
- Mick Karch and LORD ALFRED HAYES are "sitting at ringside" in front of the most obvious green-screen effect you'll ever find. Hayes was a victim of the WWF cutting costs in the Summer of 1995, and not to sound heartless, he had zero presence in the company since they scrapped Update and Special Report sometime during the Spring of 1994, other than recycling his voice for the paid sponsorship spots on each show.
- Ken Resnick is standing by for an interview with The Z-Man, Tom Zenk... or "Zink", based on the graphic on screen. Zenk has never worked in a promotion with rounds, but he's excited to be here. Resnick says there's a rumor of Zenk teaming up with Slaughter, but he won't confirm those rumors.
- Ken Resnick is at ringside with the AWF Champion, Tito Santana. He's scheduled to defend the belt against Bob Orton, the thorn in his side. Orton, along with Sheik Adnan-Alkahassie, comes to ringside, with Orton on crutches. Wait, I thought he was managed by Sir Oliver Humperdink! MR/. FUJI comes to ringside too, and the distraction allows Orton to reveal he's gold bricking and decks Santana with the crutch. OK, when was this taped? Fuji was still making semi-regular appearances for the WWF all the way through 1995. Commissioner Jim Brunzell shows up threatening a fine of $2,500 to Orton for his actions. I guess now we know how they keep funding this promotion. Resnick, the road scholar he is, calls this a premeditated attack.
- Ken Resnick is standing by with "The Family", Rico Suave and AWF Tag Team Champions, Greg Valentine and Tommy Rich. Suave downplays pooping his pants in the presence of the Road Warriors. The lighting is so bad, Suave looks like he's a key witness of a trial who's identity is being kept secret for a television interview.
- Some 50's inspired valet named "Angel Baby" babbles about something as we head to a commercial break. This wasn't me being lazy, the audio was poor. Whoever this is had to be either a relative or love interest of the promoter, because she's awful.
- Ken Resnick continues to get the most screen time. He's here to tell us all about the Tag Team Championship Match between Tony Atlas & Koko B. Ware and Greg Valentine & Tommy Rich. The match went the scheduled 10-rounds. The two judges at ringside each had a 6-4 score, one for each team, meaning the in-ring referee had the final say... and Resnick brings in VIRGIL, who scored the match 9-1 in favor of Valentine and Rich. Resnick has footage of himself walking in on Virgil receiving a cash payoff from Rico Suave. I wonder if he followed him after the show to Olive Garden for some meat sauce linguine?
- Mick Karch apologies that we won't be seeing Tito Santana vs. Bob Orton. Maybe we'll get an explanation next week, as well as an update on Santana's condition. Next week! The debut of The Road Warriors, The Z-Man and Fidel Sierra will be in action, and a tag team Main Event of Chris Adams & Charlie Norris vs. Mr. Hughes & Hercules.
Final Thoughts: It's been years since I watched the majority of "Season 1", and I can see a few differences already. Instead of an endless parade of squash matches, there was more focus on developing actual storylines. They're pushing forward with Santana/Orton over the AWF Title, introduced the Road Warriors as threats to Valentine and Rich, as well as a fictitious angle shot with VIRGIL, and pushed a rivalry between Tony Atlas and Nails. The other difference is lower production values. Ringside is a little dank, and the lighting for some of the interviews was poor. The roster is mostly the same, with a few additions and subtractions, but most of the "new" faces are tired faces cast-off from WWE (Virgil, Mr. Fuji, Lord Alfred Hayes, among others).