WWWF Championship Wrestling (5/7/77)

WWWF Championship Wrestling
May 7, 1977
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Arena

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

The show opens with Vince Jr in the canary yellow suit running down the card. We also get an announcement from Vince that we have a new WWWF Champion as "Superstar" Billy Graham had beaten Bruno Sammartino the previous Saturday night in Baltimore. We go to Vince narrating highlights of Graham vs Bruno in Baltimore....just not the finish. We go to Gary Michael Capetta in the ring for the introductions. This hour of wrestling is sanctioned by the state athletic commission, the timekeeper is JP Venom (at least it sounds like that's his name), the referees are Dick Woehrle, Dusty Feldbaumer and John Stanley and his name is Gary Michael Capetta. Wow, no shout out to the doctor at ringside or Phil Zacko? Joe McHugh would NEVER!

Match 1

Bob Backlund vs Jan Nelson

Oh look its Bob Backlund! For you youngsters, Bob was the 190 pound Division 2 NCAA wrestling champion for North Dakota State in 1971 and finished 5th as a senior in the heavyweight division in 1972. Legendary Minnesota trainer Eddie Sharkey (the guy who trained The Road Warriors, Barry Darsow, Rick Rude, The Berzerker, Tom Zenk and Nikita Koloff) trained Backlund for the professional ranks and he started making his rounds in the territories from 73-76, especially the AWA in Minnesota, For those that don't know the story, "Mean" Gene Okerlund claims that when Backlund arrived in New York in 1976, Gagne jokingly said "Try and make HIM a star." to Vince Sr. Vince took it as a challenge and basically decided to make Backlund the successor to "Superstar" Billy Graham come hell or high water. Backlund had beaten Tor Kamata in a Texas Death Match the week before (referenced by Kamata here) so now he gets....Jan Nelson. Nelson also was an AWA trainee as he came out of Verne Gagne's camp in 1976. Tragically the story goes he OD'd and died during a Grateful Dead concert in 1978. Backlund takes Nelson down before countering out of a tie up. Backlund hip rolls Nelson as Vince says he's playing around with him. Backlund gets in a hammerlock before they reverse each other. Nelson looks in a full nelson (no pun intended) but Backlund reverses it into a full nelson of his own. Nelson reverses it and Backlund sticks his foot out and somehow tosses Nelson over his shoulders down. That's one way to counter a full nelson! Backlund and Nelson wins a test of strength then arm drags Nelson down. Nelson backs Bob into the corner and Bob backs him off by cocking a fist. Backlund reverses a headlock into a hammerlock as Vince continue to sing his praises. Nelson tries to kick Backlund who grabs the leg and takes him down before applying a wristlock. Nelson elbows Backlund in the ribs and goes to down with smashes before backdropping Backlund. He covers for 1...and Bob powers out of it. Backlund hits a backdrop of his own followed by a double underhook suplex. Backlund hits the atomic drop and covers for 1...2.....3 that's it. Backlund celebrates like he just won a title as Capetta announces the victory before Vince goes to the highlights. If you're not a fan of technical wrestling, this would bore you. If you can appreciate storytelling, you can see why Bob was a favorite for Vince Sr.

Time of match: 5:32

Winner: Bob Backlund by pinfall

We go straight to the next match after the commercial break

Match 2

Johnny Rivera vs Professor Toru Tanaka (with "Classy" Freddie Blassie)

Good to see Tanaka again and this time he's got Blassie with him. In real life, Blassie loved Tanaka and claimed he was the more professional of the duo of Tanaka and Mr. Fuji. By now Tanaka was 47 years old and on the downside of his career (but he had plenty of movies to be in) but the fans still throw stuff at him on the way to the ring. Tanaka throws the ceremonial salt in the corners and ties up with Rivera. Tanaka chops away at Rivera and rakes him across the top rope. Tanaka gets in a front headlock as Blassie goes over to yell at McMahon. He calls Tanaka the greatest Japanese wrestler of all time and they're going to the top. Rivera rallies with right hands but a chop by Tanaka stops him. Tanaka gets in a nerve hold and twists the neck much to Blassie's delight. Tanaka rams Rivera into the buckle as McMahon says Tanaka hasn't been around in a while. Rivera rallies with right hands and rams his head in the buckle. Tanaka cuts him off with a chop to the throat but Rivera continues to rally with forearms. Rivera shoulderblocks Tanaka but it barely fazes him but a second attempt eats a karate kick. Tanaka applies a cobra clutch before throwing Rivera to the mat. He covers for 1...2...3 and that's it, Tanaka wins. Later on that would be a submission hold but Tanaka settled for a pinfall. Blassie distracts the ref as Tanaka kicks at Rivera for some more heat. They were building Tanaka as a solo here, maybe he would be fed to Backlund this time. Either way he disposes of Rivera.

Time of match: 5:27

Winner: Tanaka by pinfall

We go straight from commercial to our next match.

Match 3

Billy White Wolf vs Moose Monroe

You're not gonna believe this, the "Native American" White Wolf is none other than the Iraqi born Adnan Al-Kassie. Yes GENERAL ADNAN. 13 years before he was Sgt Slaughter's manager, he was Billy White Wolf. His opponent Moose Monroe was your standard brawling, tough looking fella. Billy was one half of the tag champs at the time with Chief Jay Strongbow.....another fake native American. They stall to start with Monroe yelling at the crowd for some heat before Monroe goes to work with forearms to the back. Monroe rams Billy's head into two different buckles before continuing to pound away with forearms and kicks. Monroe rams him into a third buckle which fires up Billy. Monroe begs off and take a breather but Billy fires away with forearms and chops to the chest. White Wolf picks up the legs and jumps between them to deliver an Aftershock to Monroe. Wolf splashes Monroe and covers for 1...2....3 that's it. Pretty pathetic to lose to that kind of combo after taking no damage the entire match, but that's jobber matches for you. Capetta shakes referee Dick Woehrle's hand after the bell for no reason but that's okay.

Time of match: 2:45

Winner: White Wolf by pinfall

We come back from commercial straight to the next match

Match 4

Don Serrano vs George "The Animal" Steele (with Captain Lou Albano)

Half man, half animal....even as a heel The Animal was always very entertaining. Here he gets to feast on another Puerto Rican jobber (is Vince Sr ever going to get over the Pedro Morales riots?) and he bumrushes him in the corner to start without taking his signature black & red shirt off. Steele bites the poor guy and lands a forearm before throwing his shirt off. Steele attacks the left arm with a ringer and some kicks before being taken down. Steele continues to work over the left arm by standing on it with one foot and stomping with the other. Captain Lou nods in approval and applies the hammerlock. Serrano gives up and that's it, Steele wins easily. Steele starts playing dumb and bites into the turnbuckle. Vince Jr says he has a "fetish" for the buckles as Steele bails to scare some fans outside. Vince goes to the replay before going to commercial. Steele had turned 40 years old the previous month but he was still an attraction for sure.

Time of match: 2:08

Winner: George Steele by submission

We go from commercial straight to the next match.

Match 5

Mike Madera vs WWWF Heavyweight Champion "Superstar" Billy Graham (with The Grand Wizard)

Graham is making his TV debut as the new champion against yet another Puerto Rican jobber. Graham poses for the crowd with the belt and gets a huge pop from the crowd. Graham poses some more as Capetta says this is a NON-TITLE match. Grand Wizard shows the belt to the crowd and they cheer. If you think Vince Jr is behind the times these days, the fans were cheering FOR Graham and Vince Sr refused to turn him face. Legend has it that Vince didn't think fans would get behind him as a face because of his build. Hulk Hogan seven years later proved otherwise. Wizard slathers oil all over the Superstar which no doubt will make Madera happy to have to roll around with Graham in it. Wizard leaves and the bell finally rings with Graham towering over his opponent. He delivers forearms to the chest then stomps away on the guy. Graham rams Madera's head in the buckle and stomps away some more. Graham scoop slams Mike and stomps away at him. Graham heaves Madera over the top rope to the floor as the crowd cheers. Madera crawls back in only to get thrown over the top rope on the otherside. Madera gets snapped back inside and Graham totally botches a German suplex. Graham rolls over and covers Madera for 1....2...3 that's it. Graham wins it and poses for the crowd some more.

Time of match: 2:17

Winner: Billy Graham by pinfall

We go to commercial then straight to the main event

Match 6

Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko vs Baron Von Raschke and Stan "The Man" Stasiak

No managers for the heels so this is going to be straight up as Larry starts with Stasiak. Stan gets in an arm lock and uses his taped right hand to punch him when he's not looking. Larry reverses it and Stan tags in Baron. Rascke backs Larry into the rope and hammers away with forearms. Baron works on the pectoral muscle before locking in an armbar. Vince Jr says his signature brainclaw has helped him and Stan have been undefeated as a team since forming. Baron and Stasiak make frequent tags to keep Larry in their corner but Larry finally backdrops Raschke. Zbyszko arm drags Raschke and makes the hot tag to Garea.  Garea pummels Raschke in the corner and backdrops him. Tony scoop slams Baron and covers for a 1 count. Garea puts his head down and eats a boot to the head. Stasiak tags in and goes for the heart punch early, but Garea blocks it with a punch to the gut. Stan recovers and rams Tony's head into the buckle. Stan clubs away and goes for another heart punch but instead punches the buckle. Stan sells it like he broke his hand and tags in Baron. Raschke hip tosses Garea but misses an elbow drop. Stan tags in but Larry gets the hot tag to clean house. Stan does the Andre spot on the top rope and Baron gets caught as well. Tony and Larry pummel the tied up heels much to the crowd's delight before Raschke is freed. Garea and Zbyszko send Baron crashing into Stan before Stasiak is free. Stasiak turns it around with right hands to the head of Zbyszko. He covers for 1....2...nope, Garea breaks it up. Stan heaves Zbyszko threw the ropes to the outside but Tony helps him back in. Rachke then takes control of Larry with punches and kicks before tagging in Stasiak. They both kick him in the chest and Stan misses the heart punch again, this time punching the mat. Stasiak continues to manhandle Larry around the ring but Larry finally comes back with roundhouse rights. Raschke tags in but Garea gets in as the bell rings. Gotta love old era curfews, folks. The crowd doesn't explode out of their seats and sprint to the exit like MSG but the match is over with the faces beating up the heels. Garea and Zbyszko clean house as Gary Capetta announces the match is a draw. Garea raises Zbyszko's hand as the crowd cheers before we go to the replay of the chaos at the end. Would have been nice if they could have been given more time since the story being told was the faces trying their best to avoid the heart punch. Oh well.

Time of match: 8:33

Winners: No one (Curfew draw)

As the credits roll Vince quickly advertises next weeks card. Kitty Adams takes on Sheila Sheppard in a women's match, SD Jones takes on Ken Patera and more highlights of Graham vs Bruno from Baltimore. Normally this one would be a standard show but Graham having just won the title and becoming just the sixth man (7th champion) to hold the championship since 1963 was big news. Compare that to the title changing hands 9 times from 2020 to 2022 until Roman Reigns unified it. Fans were wondering who the new champion was going to be since traditionally heels were just transition champions but boy were they in for a surprise. Sadly Vince Sr already had his new champion in mind and when he'd be crowned but it wouldn't be for another year. There was no secondary title just yet so for the next two years it was just whoever Graham was facing and whatever tag teams Vince brought into the territory. Buckle up everyone for a lot of tire spinning. Then again, that's not fair to judge 1977 WWWF by today's standards where every match is supposed to be important or at least lead to something. Back then with guys coming and going it was a rarity for a non-title match to have importance. Bruno vs Zbyszko being a huge exception. Anyway it was May of 1977 and Graham is the new champ.