WWF All-American Wrestling (9/11/83)

Welcome to this week's edition of WWF All-American Wrestling. Last week Vince McMahon Jr presented the inaugural episode as an hour long tribute to WWF Champion Bob Backlund. This week's show will be centered around the most popular star on the roster, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka. No disrespect to Bob Backlund but he was considered "boring" by today's standards with monotone interviews and mat based wrestling. Jimmy Snuka was the opposite with cocaine fueled promos and death-defying dives to make him a hot commodity in wrestling. Not to mention unlike Backlund, he came to WWF as a heel and had a great story arc for his face turn. I'm sure this episode will cover all of it. Unlike the first episode, my copy of this one has no commercials so it should transition more smoothly.

Host/Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

We don't even start with an intro by Vince, we actually start with a highlight. Jimmy Snuka's WWF debut on January 25, 1982 on Championship Wrestling where he hits the Superfly Splash on Jeff Craney. THEN we go to Vince wearing a horrible plaid suit who welcomes us to the show. Vince runs down what we're about to see including his face turn. When we come back, we'll go to Jimmy's debut that the clip in the intro was from.

Match 1

Jeff Craney vs "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka (with Captain Lou Albano)

Commentators: Vince McMahon Jr and Pat Patterson

This was the WWF debut for the Superfly from the WWF Championship Wrestling shown on January 26, 1982. Craney was a local New York/Pennsylvania jobber and we all know Snuka by now. Bell's gone and Patterson praises Snuka's ability. Snuka is actually wearing wrestling boots as he chops Craney down. He drops a few knees on him before slugging away at Craney in the corner. Snuka snapmares Jeff and drops a fist. Patterson says there's plenty of Samoans in wrestling but Snuka's the only one from the Fiji Islands. Jimmy headlock punches Craney then delivers forearms in the corner. Snuka scoop slams Craney and drives a knee to the chest. Snuka then hops up top and nails the Superfly Splash for 1....2....3 and that's it. The crowd cheered the splash but booed the outcome. Albano gets in the ring to celebrate with Jimmy as Joe McHugh announces Snuka the winner. To put Snuka over even more, Craney is stretchered out to make it look like the Superfly Splash is dangerous. Vince says Craney was a mile from the corner and Snuka still hit the splash. Patterson says that's why he's called the Superfly.

Time of match: 2:58

Winner: Snuka by pinfall 

Back to Vince who says Snuka was amazing but was a different man then. He says Albano not only controlled Snuka financially but his mind as well. When we come back, we're going to see the infamous cage match between Snuka and WWF Champion Bob Backlund. Vince brings up last week's show where Bob said he's never met anyone like Snuka. Vince gives the rules of the cage match and says Snuka pulled off an incredible feat but thankfully doesn't give away what it was. Let's head to the match.

Match 2

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka with Captain Lou Albano vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship in a steel cage match

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

We're joined in progress from the cage match on June 28, 1982 between Snuka and Backlund. This would be the height of Snuka's heel run as his unorthodox style was making him a fan favorite despite being a heel. One of the many cases throughout history where fans simply refused to boo. We're at the part where Snuka sends Bob off the ropes but Bob reverses the whip and sends Snuka face first into the cage. Snuka blades and Backlund slingshots Snuka into the cage as the crowd pops. Bob rakes Snuka against the cage and pounds away at the bloody mess. Vince says Snuka is getting the beating of his life as Bob continues the onslaught. Snuka fights back with chops to the throat but Bob sends him into the cage again. Bob goes to leave the cage but Snuka grabs Bob's ankle and hits him with a thrust kick. Snuka drops Bob with a a series of chops and scoop slams him. Snuka goes up to the second rope and drops a knee. Snuka drops an elbow as Vince says a pin will get you nowhere in this match. Snuka drops a knee to Backlund's head and hits a vertical suplex. Snuka climbs to the top rope then goes to the top of the cage. He goes for the Superfly Splash but Backlund rolls out of the way for a tremendous pop. Backlund crawls out of the cage to win the match and retain the title. Even though this was only a clip, the high flying tactics if Snuka didn't go unnoticed. He was prime for a face turn and after coming up short against Backlund, it was only a matter of time. Snuka diving off the cage was talked about for a long time after even though Bob won the match.

Time of match: Joined in Progress

Winner: Bob Backlund (still WWF Champion)

Back to Vince who insinuates it was Albano's call to have him jump off the cage. Vince says Albano poisoned the mind of Snuka but one man felt that Jimmy was being manipulated. That man was the first ever WWWF Champion "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers. By 1982, Rogers was semi-retired and hosting a segment on WWF television called Buddy's Corner. It was there in October of 1982 where Buddy had Jimmy and Captain Lou on to discuss the way Albano was handling Jimmy. Buddy "Today my guests, one is invited and the other I don't give a darn about." Hahahahaha. Buddy says Albano doesn't need an introduction and what goes around, comes around. Buddy reveals he looked into Snuka's contract with Albano only to find there is no contract and Albano is legally not his manager. Albano screams that he's a liar and storms off while Snuka just sits there. Rogers tells Snuka that he's a free man but his money is gone. Rogers and Snuka stand up and hug each other signifying Snuka's face turn. Jimmy himself says he doesn't say much but he wants Rogers to be his manager. Rogers says he'll give him an answer shortly. Albano comes back to shout at Buddy but Buddy takes his jacket off.

Snuka then heads to the ring to face Ray "The Crippler" Stevens managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie and Jimmy gets a huge face pop. Joe McHugh announces the match but Albano hits the ring and starts shoving Jimmy. Snuka unloads on Albano but he's attacked from behind by Stevens. Stevens uses Blassie's cane to choke Snuka while Albano pulls something out of his pants to hammer Jimmy with it. Blassie cheers the two of them on as Albano hammers away. The camera shows Snuka is busted wide open and they throw him over the top rope to the concrete floor. Stevens then hits a piledriver on the floor as Patterson says we won't be seeing Snuka for a while after that. We cut here as Vince says revenge would be Snuka's. Snuka would get his hands on Stevens at Madison Square Garden and we cut to that.

Match 3

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka with Buddy Rogers vs Ray "The Crippler" Stevens with Freddie Blassie

Commentators: Vince McMahon Jr and Gorilla Monsoon

The Buddy's Corner/Ray attacks segment was from October of 1982 and Snuka now gets Stevens at MSG on December 28, 1982. They slug it out to start but Snuyka gets the upper hand with a jumping headbutt that has Stevens begging off in the corner. Snuka unloads in the corner and snapmares him to the center of the ring. Snuka nails a second rope fist-drop and Stevens bails to the outside. Ray goes to get back in but Jimmy kicks him in the head back down. Snuka rams Stevens' head into the apron. Back inside Ray begs off as Snuka stalks him. Monsoon makes a dated reference by saying the winner gets all the purse money as Stevens looks to have hit a low blow on Jimmy. Ray takes over with right hands then chokes him on the middle rope. Ray gets a thumb to the throat and starts hammering away with forearms. Ray goes for the piledriver but Snuka backdrops him out of it. Snuka drops Stevens with a right hand then rams his head into the mat. A chop to the throat floors Stevens and a knee to the forehead causes Ray to wither around. Stevens gets away with another low blow as Monsoon asks if the Superfly will fly tonight. Ray slugs away at Snuka in the corner then hits a snapmare. Ray goes upstairs for Bombs Away but Snuka catches him and slams Ray off the top rope. Snuka gets all fired up as the crowd explodes. Snuka beats the crap out of Ray with right hands and sends Ray flair flipping over the top to the floor. The ref counts and Ray can't make it back in, Snuka wins it by a count-out. Kind of a lame blow-off for a feud that started with a piledriver on the floor but they didn't want to make Ray look too weak since he was Bob Backlund's next opponent. Superfly gets his revenge and it was on to 1983 for him.

Time of match: 6:50

Winner: Jimmy Snuka by count-out

Back to Vince who says Stevens was one of the toughest opponents Jimmy has ever faced. Next up for Snuka would be the WWF Intercontinental Champion Don "The Magnificent" Muraco. The feud started because Muraco was jealous of the attention Jimmy was getting despite being the IC champ. We're shown a highlight from May 31, 1983 where Snuka was about to wrestle a match when Muraco just spit on Snuka. Snuka just smiled at him and told him to bring it. When Muraco was on the floor taunting, Snuka plancha'd over the top to the floor onto Muraco back before planchas were a thing in the US. Snuka ripped Muraco's clothes off and beat the crap out of him as the crowd goes crazy. The jobbers had to hold Snuka back but Muraco uses the distraction to beat Snuka in the head with a microphone. They continued to slug it out as even Snuka's scheduled opponent tried to break the fight up. Snuka is busted wide open as we get a big red X with the word "censored" on it because apparently a bit of blood was too much. Vince in the studio said Snuka finally got his hands on Muraco in the Philadelphia Spectrum in our final match on this show.

Match 4

"Superfly" Jimmy Snuka with Buddy Rogers vs Don "The Magnificent" Muraco for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Commentators: Dick Graham and Gorilla Monsoon

The previous clip was in May and now this match was from August 13, 1983 at the Spectrum. Gary Michael Capetta does the introductions as Snuka gets a great pop. Muraco throws the belt at the feet of Snuka as special guest referee Swede Hanson holds the belt up. Muraco throws it at him again and Snuka goes crazy on him early. Snuka beats the crap out of Muraco in the corner and locks in a chinlock. Muraco powers out of it with elbows to the stomach then floors Snuka with a shoulderblock. Snuka leapfrogs over Muraco twice and nails him with a big chop. Snuka splashes Muraco and covers but Muraco gets his foot on the rope. Jimmy snapmares Muraco into the center of the ring and locks in another chin-lock. Muraco grabs the hair but Swede yells at him "watch the hair!". Monsoon says neither Muraco or Snuka was the type to surrender as Muraco makes it back to his feet. Muraco sends Jimmy off but eats a shoulderblock followed by a flying dropkick. Snuka snapmares Muraco again then goes back to the chinlock. Muraco gets back to his feet again and catches Snuka with a low blow. Hanson never saw it and Muraco takes over with a sleeper hold of his own. Snuka then serves it back to Muraco with a low blow of his own. Snuka chops Muraco then drops him with a jumping headbutt. Jimmy goes up to the second rope and flies across the ring with a headbutt. Muraco is busted wide open as Snuka sends him head first into the ringpost. Jummy snapmares Muraco again and lands a diving headbutt. Jimmy heaves Muraco over the top to the floor. Snuka lands and axehandle smash to Muraco on the floor and Swede starts to count Muraco out. Muraco slides back in only for Jimmy to do another jumping headbutt. Dick Graham asks how much more can Muraco take as Jimmy does another diving headbutt. Jimmy then goes to finish off Muraco with a Superfly Splash but Muraco pulls Hanson in the way, Jimmy landing on both of them. Muraco low blows Snuka again then steals Hanson's belt. Muraco whips Snuka with the belt but Jimmy grabs the belt and pelts Muraco with it. Jimmy sends Don off the ropes and Snuka whips him in the gut with the belt. Snuka hands another headbutt to send Muraco over the top to the floor. Hanson calls the match off as Muraco bails to the back, Jimmy winning by disqualification. The fans in the Spectrum are mad as we cut here. This was just a preview of the mayhem that these two would be causing at Madison Square Garden down the road. For now, Muraco escapes with the belt....barely.

Time of match: 11:24

Winner: Snuka by count-out (Muraco retains)

Back to Vince who says Muraco hasn't heard the last of Snuka....that's for sure. Vince says when we return we'll have an interview with Snuka himself. Back from commercial, Vince says he started out under Albano and asks what that was like. Snuka says he didn't know what Albano was doing and he doesn't feel good about letting Lou swindle him. Vince says the man took his money and misguided him, only to leave him for Ray Stevens. Vince says Stevens failed to put Snuka out and Jimmy says he can't explain how he felt but he didn't give up. Finally Vince says Muraco is going to get his and thanks Jimmy for his time. Vince says Snuka will be in action next week on All-American Wrestling as there will be a profile on Andre The Giant. We're shown a clip of the Wild Samoans battling Snuka and Andre at MSG including Snuka doing the Superfly splash off Andre's shoulders for the three count. Way to give away next week's show for those who hadn't seen that match before!

That wraps up the second edition of All-American and it was definitely better than the first. The first was trying to cram as many Bob Backlund highlights into 45 minute program as they could while this one kept it to a few matches, plus Snuka was far more entertaining. Bit of a side tangent but there was a question a while ago that asked if Hulk Hogan never came to WWF, who would have replaced Backlund as champion? The logical answer would have been Snuka as he was the number 1 babyface in the company by 1983, especially after what he would do at MSG a month from now. But, with the arrival of Hogan, that pushed Snuka to the side and he'd never again be the top face. Andre The Giant was making bank as an attraction around the country and Japan so he didn't need to be tied down by being WWF Champion. The next MSG show wouldn't be until October 17 and it just so happened to have the next Muraco and Snuka match. Stay tuned for that.

WWWF Championship Wrestling (2/4/78)

 

WWWF Championship Wrestling

Philadelphia Arena

Philadelphia, PA

February 4, 1978

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

Ring Announcer: Gary Michael Capetta

Vince McMahon opens the show shilling how tough and powerful everyone is. Vince says we have to go to commercial first before we get to today's card. Back from break Vince says viewer discretion is advised as we go to the ring. Gary Michael Capetta runs downs the VIPs before we go the first bout.

Match 1

Nikolai Volkoff vs Tony Garea

Nikolai is billed from Mongolia which was a carryover from Beppo Mongol. Bell rings and Nikolai backs him into the ropes twice. They trade forearms before Nikolai gets a headlocked punch. Nikolai gets a waistlock but Tony counters with a headlock takeover. Volkoff reveres into a hammerlock to put Garea on his back. They trade bridges but tumble into the ropes. Volkoff stomps Garea and taunts the irate crowd before delivering a running knee to the ribs. Nikolai does his overhead press backbreaker and covers for 1..2....no. Nikolai gets sunset flipped but too close to the ropes. Tony rallies with forearms and Nikolai backs off. Tony rallies with armdrags but Nikolai headbutts him in the ribs. Tony is thrown into the corner but reverses a whip of his own. Tony jump kicks Nikolai but a charge eats double knees. Nikolai goes for a scoop slam but Tony grabs the knee pad to land on top (why don't you see that anymore?) for 1..2...no. Garea goes for a monkey flip but Nikolai cartwheels out of it. Nikolai arm drags Garea but Tony goes for a double underhook. Nikolai tries a monkey flip but this time Garea cartwheels out of the way and lands a dropkick. Garea punches away at Volkoff and they circle around again. The referee warns Nikolai about using his fists as Garea goes for a small package but the referee takes forever to count because he's checking the shoulders like in actual wrestling. Tony forearms Volkoff and takes him over for a 1 count. Tony grabs an arm ringer and Nikolai begs off to the crowd's delight. Tony drops knees on Volkoff's arm but he kicks Garea off. Nikolai rallies with forearms and a takeover for 1..2....no. Nikolai goes to the front headlock but Tony does a fireman's carry takeover for 1...2..nope, foot on the rope. The bell inexplicably rings as they trade blows in the middle of the ring. The time limit has expired as the crowd boos. Good way to protect both guys on television forcing them to go see the house shows. Now modern day fans won't like this match because they're used to flippity flop at the barber shop, but this was classic wrestling with holds and counters. Nobody could get an advantage and it'll have to be settled another time.

Time of match: 10:00

Winner: No one (Draw)

Vince runs down our card before we go to break. Back from commercial its on to the next match.

Match 2

"Nobleman" Joe Turco vs Dino Bravo

The battle of the Italians only Bravo is residing in Montreal. Bravo had made his WWWF debut on January 31st and this is his TV debut. Bell's gone and they circle to start. Dino starts with an arm-ringer and Turco kicks his feet around to sell it. Turco forearms him against the ropes as Bravo locks in a sideheadlock then shoulderblocks Turco. Bravo hits a dropkick and covers for a 1 count. Bravo takes Turco down and drops a leg on his arm, Turco sells it like his arm fell off. Bravo gets a hammerlock but Turco retreats to the ropes. Dino then goes for the top wristlock but Turco backs him to the ropes with forearms. This is looking like the exact same match as the last one as Turco begs off in the corner. Turco's headlock is reversed into a wristlock and Bravo clocks Turco with a right hand. Bravo drops Turco with a Backlund Knees but Turco rams Bravo's head into the buckle. Bravo reverses it to ram his head in the buckle and drops Turco with a shot to the ribs. Bravo hits a russian leg sweep and an airplane spin. Bravo covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Really? Bravo goes to leave but forgets he needs his hand raised. Bravo waves to the crowd as Joe Turco sells the spin by crawling up Gary Michael Capetta's leg and have to be helped up by the referee. Okay, THAT was funny. Bravo getting a clean win in his TV debut was par for the course but Turco's antics made it somewhat entertaining.

Time of match: 4:57

Winner: Bravo by pinfall

Vince shills the WWWF Wrestling Action magazine (imagine finding one of those today) with Bruno Sammartino on the cover. Dusty Rhodes is featured in the magazine along with Ivan Putski. We go to break and when we come back, its time for the next match.

Match 3

"Pretty Boy" Larry Sharpe vs Mike Madera

If you don't know who Larry Sharpe is you need some serious education. Not only was he a successful territory wrestler, he founded the Monster Factory wrestling school in 1983 in New Jersey. Guess who he trained? King Kong Bundy, Bam Bam Bigelow, Chris Candido, The Headbangers and pretty much everyone that ever came out of Jersey not named DDP. At this time he was one of the Hollywood Blondes in Puerto Rico with Jack Evans. Madera escapes Sharpe's clutches twice but Larry drops him with a series of forearms. Sharpe gets a headlock and a shoulderblock before following with a headlock takeover. Vince on commentary says individually Sharpe and Evans are not the same as when they're together which is a creative way to say they're jobbers in WWWF but stars in Puerto Rico as a team. Madera rallies with forearms but the charge eats knee in the corner. Sharpe scoop slams Madera and gets a knee to the head. Vince says the tag team champs Mr. Fuji and Professor Tanaka will be here later and an interview with Spiros Arion. SD Jones takes on Baron Mikel Scicluna in the main event. Madera charges the corner but misses. Sharpe hits a suplex and covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Remember when THAT was a finisher? Vince says despite his recent jobbing, he gets a victory here. Total squash here, not much to say.

Time of match: 2:49

Winner: Sharpe by pinfall

We go to Vince who runs down the rest of the show before going to commercial. Back from break, its on to the next match.

Match 4

Danny Johnson and Terry York vs Professor Toru Tanaka and Mr. Fuji (with "Classy" Freddie Blassie)

Non-title match but who are the jobbers? Danny Johnson is the son of Canadian wrestler Bull Johnson and would later compete in WCW as Bullwhip Johnson. Terry York is actually future Toronto referee Terry Yorkston. He'd ref a lot of matches at the Maple Leaf Gardens after his wrestling career was over. Bell rings and Tanaka starts with York, Tanaka bowing his head before throwing out the ceremonial salt. No Mrs. Krieger to wipe it away this time. Tanaka puts Terry in the ropes and gives him a chop. Tanaka sends York head first in the buckle and uses a five count to choke him on the rope. The ref backs Tanaka off but Fuji snaps Terry off the top rope. Tanaka once again hides a choke from the ref and tags in Fuji. Tanaka uses a five count to choke York before he leaves. Fuji kicks away at York and applies a nerve hold. Tanaka tags in and chokes Terry on the second rope before York makes the tag to Johnson. Tanaka cuts him off and starts choking him as well. Tanaka brings him to the corner where Fuji tags in. Fuji beats up Johnson and York gets in the ring forcing the ref to drive him back. With his back turned, Fuji and Tanaka double team Johnson. Tanaka applies a nerve hold and drives him into the corner where Fuji gets a cheap shot with the ref not looking. York tags in and kicks Tanaka but he no sells it. Tanaka no sells more offense and elbows him in the throat. He hits a chop to the throat and runs into a chokeslam without an actual slam, hard to explain but but the cover still gets 1...2....3 to win the match. Tanaka and Fuji sold NOTHING in that match and Vince says they'll be champs for years to come. Give it a month, Vince.

Time of match: 6:03

Winners: Fuji and Tanaka by pinfall

Back to Vince who's going to interview Freddie Blassie and the returning Spiros Arion. Blassie says he turned him from a nothing babyface into the most vicious heel. He goes on to say Arion's family is filthy rich because they own 500 oil tankers. He says if Arion were to take the tankers out of the ocean, the ocean would go down the drain. That doesn't make sense but whatever. Arion himself says its all true and its hard to be humble because when you're as great as he is, he doesn't have to be. Blassie says Arion is heartless and he's after the WWWF Championship. Blassie calls out Billy Graham but calls Bob Backlund a pencil neck geek refugee from college. He calls Mil Mascaras a geek and Dusty Rhodes the "nightmare". Tony Garea, Larry Zbyzsko, Dominic Denucci and Chief Jay Strongbow are all geeks and Blassie laughs at his own jokes. Blassie says the only way to make money is to win and that's what Arion is going to do. Blassie apologizes to Strongbow and DeNucci then says they're not only ugly, but stupid. Arion says Blassie is the judge & jury, who's to leave and who's to die. Arion is the executioner and he's perfection, not scared of nobody and will prove it. Vince says they're out of time and they'll be back. Gotta love Blassie folks. Back from break its time for the main event.

Match 5

SD Jones vs Baron Mikel Scicluna

These two wrestle each other all the time in time limit draws and this should be no different. Bell's gone and Scicluna takes Jones down by the tights with the ref not seeing it. Scicluna continues to wrench the arm and Jones threatens to punch him but refrains. Scicluna stomps on Jones then goes back to the arm ringer. Jones backs to the ropes and Baron forearms him down. Scicluna hammers away on Jones but SD turns about to take Scicluna down by the tights for his own arm ringer. Jones continues to wrench away but Scicluna powers out of it. Scicluna punches away in the corner but Jones starts to hulk up. Jones hits a huge headbutt followed by an inbetween the legs kick. Scicluna hobbles around and Jones goes back to the leg-lock. Scicluna powers out of it and starts punching Jones down. Scicluna kicks away but there's the bell, curfew draw right? Wrong! For some reason Dick Woehrle awards the match to Jones and  Scicluna attacks after the bell. Jones rallies back to chase the Maltan away. Bad match because there wasn't much to establish before the bell. Back then you really needed 5-10 minutes to get a flow going compared to these days where you could do it right away.

Time of match: 5:48

Winner: Jones by referee's decision

Vince says a rematch between Jones and Scicluna is in order. He runs down next week's card which features a six man tag match with Nikolai Volkoff, Scicluna and Spiros Arion against Chief Jay Strongbow, Dominic Denucci and Peter Maivia. Vince Sr is trying to establish Spiros Arion as a big deal but Vince Jr failed to mention the big Madison Square Garden show coming up on February 20th. Usually they hype the shows weeks in advance but this show had nothing. As for this show, standard 1978 action with two competitive matches along with the three squashes. The next show is tonight's house show at the Providence Civic Center, I'll see you there.

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.

WWWF Championship Wrestling (4/23/77)

WWWF Championship Wrestling
April 23, 1977
Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Arena

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

The show opens with the trumpet intro with Vince McMahon Jr wearing a canary yellow suit in the intro saying viewer discretion is advised before running down the card. Tony Garea teams with Larry Zybysko against Tor Kamata and Johnny Rodz. Ivan Putski vs Jo-Jo Andrews with the return of "High Chief" Peter Maivia. Howard Finkel handles the pre-show introductions before the first match. This hour of wrestling is promoted by Phil Zacko sanctioned by the state athletic commission....you know the rest. The referees are Dusty Feldbaumer, John Stanley and Dick Woehrle and he's Howard Finkel. On to the first match.


Match 1

Sylvano Sousa vs "High Chief" Peter Maivia

Sousa is in the red singlet with blue tights and Peter's in the white trunks. Vince calls Peter a "real bull". His grandson became a Brahma bull but that's a different story. Peter armdrags Sousa twice before chilling on the top rope. Sousa charges but Maivia somersaults away. He catches Sousa with a back elbow smash as the camera focuses on the tribal tattoos Peter has on his legs that were applied with a chisel, hammer and ink with no painkillers. I challenge anyone to get tats like that these days. Maivia gets in a headlock as Vince explains the ritual. Maivia snapmares Sousa and poses while Vince says "If you live through the ritual, you deserve to be Chief." Maivia whips Sousa into the corner where Silvano bumps to the ground. Maivia goes to the arm-bar and Sousa counters by ramming Peter's head into the buckle....no effect. Sousa goes to headbutt Maivia and hurts himself instead. Snap mare by Maivia is followed by two flying headbutts to the midsection. He applies a sidebackbreaker and gets the submission with a stump puller. He does the "I love you" sign and leaves as Vince says we'll be seeing more of him in the future. We certainly will.


Time of match: 5:16

Winner: Peter Maivia by submission



Match 2

Tor Kamata and Johnny Rodz vs Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko

Johnny has the green singlet with Tor in cammo swish pants. Larry is in the black trunks with Garea in his standard. Fink barely finishes the introductions when Rodz and Kamata attack. Kamata lays waste to Garea with Johnny taking out Zybysko in opposite corners. Eventually Garea fights back against Kamata and Larry gets the upper hand of Rodz. Larry whips Johnny and Garea hits a clothesline. Rodz literally runs around in the ring before bailing outside to regroup with Kamata. Vince "Johnny trying to find a place to hide." Garea and Larry isolate Rodza but Kamata repeatedly runs into the ring. Rodz begs off and Larry shows mercy. Zybysko takes his eyes off Johnny for a split second and Rodz kicks him. Kamata tags in and holds Larry for Johnny to come off the top twice with boots. Kamata kicks away at Larry before dropping him with a dropkick. Tor makes the cover but Garea throws him off before the three. Johnny and Kamata double-team Larry and Kamata covers for a two count. Kamata and Johnny exchange tags with moves before covering only for Garea to break up the count. Garea gets the hot-tag and cleans house but he's overwhelmed by Rodz, applying a chicken wing. Vince says Garea and Zybysko are undefeated as tag partners. Garea drops Johnny with a shoulderblock but eats an armdrag. Kamata tags in and works over Tony before Johnny once again comes off the top with a smash. Rodz drops the big leg but only gets a two count on the cover. Rodz misses the big splash. Larry nails Johnny for his trouble but on the other side Kamata chokes Garea. Kamata and Rodz completely botch a spot when Rodz holds Garea in a full nelson. Garea was supposed to duck when Kamata hits the big chop but he didn't move fast enough, so Kamata chopped Garea on the top of the head before Tony slid down. Kamata on the fly chops Rodz when Garea was already down and Vince says "Wonder why he did that." Kamata pretends to be shocked but Rodz picks up Garea and they re-do the spot. This time Garea ducks, Rodz gets dropped and Larry attacks Kamata. Garea covers Rodz for 1...2...3 and its over. Kamata acts shocked again as Rodz is irate. After the faces leave Kamtata knocks out Rodz and gets a chorus of boos in the ring. They shouldn't have re-done the spot because it made Kamata a lot more incompetent, but he shouldn't have clocked Rodz after Garea had already slid down.

Time of match: 8:07

Winners: Garea and Zybysko by pinfall


Vince catches Kamata on his way to the back. Kamata says "no mo tag team!" He's going solo from here on. Vince asks about Bob Backlund's challenge the previous week and Kamata says he only wants a Texas Death Match. There's your main event for next week's show.



Match 3

Haiti Kid and Hillbilly Pete vs Little John and "The Six Million Dollar Midget" Billy The Kid

Good grief, midgets. Vince gets a kick out of the 6 Million Dollar Midget monniker. Little John and Haiti Kid start and Kid takes advantage with a dropkick. John covers and Kid kicks out where John lands on the ref. The midgets pile on the ref and John eventually sunset flips the ref with Billy making the mock three count. Ha...ha...ha.... Billy makes the tag as Hillbilly does as well. Hillbilly mule kicks Billy but Billy drops him throat first on the second rope. Right hands drop Hillbilly before Little John tags in and hits a big backdrop. A scoop slam is followed by a right hand but Hillbilly makes the tag. Haiti Kid ass bumps both opponents down before going to work on John. Haiti hits a backdrop and headlocked punches before a headbutt. Haiti slingshots John into the center of the ring before slingshotting him into an interfering Billy. Hillbilly gets in and puts Billy in an airplane spin while Haiti puts John in an airplane spin of his own. Hillbilly and Haiti Kid cover their opponents and the ref counts the double pin 1....2....3 and its over. A dazed Billy puts John in an airplane spin after the match not realizing who was in the spin.

Time of match: 3:02

Winners: Hillbilly Pete and Haiti Kid by pinfall


Back to Vince, he says still to come Putski vs Andrews as well as Ken Patera in action.



Match 4

Pete Austin vs "The World's Strongest Man" Ken Patera with Captain Lou Albano

Austin is in standard attire with Patera in the Olympic singlet. A svelte looking Albano shouts at the fans before the action begins. Patera goes to work with elbows to the nose on the top rope. Forearms to the back are followed by ramming the head into the buckle. Albano tells Vince that Pete is a psycho case. Patera gets in a side-headlock as Vince says Patera was a great athlete but then Albano got a hold of him, poisoning his mind. Patera continues to land forearm smashes as Vince blames Albano for his heel tactics. Patera scoop slams Pete and drops a few elbows. Ken poses for the irate crowd before landing a backbreaker. He covers for 1..2..nope, he pulls him up for more punishment. Ken locks in a bearhug and Pete gives it up. Albano gets in the ring as Patera drops his overmatched opponent and screams "Woooooooo!" Who does he think he is, Ric Flair?

Time of match: 4:19

Winner: Ken Patera by submission



Match 5:

JoJo Andrews vs Ivan Putski

Before Fink can finish the introductions Putski grabs the mic away and screams "POLISH POWAHHHH!" He tries to cut a promo but somehow Fink gets the mic away so he can finish. Jojo Andrews was born Jimmie Lee Banks and got his start as an 18 year old for The Sheik's Big Time Wrestling in Detroit in 1975. He would have been about 20 years old here. Putski is in standard trunks and he starts with a headlock. Putski drops the big guy with a shoulderblock while going back to the headlock. Jojo gets in a few thumbs to the throat as Vince brings up last week's encounter. Putski serves the same punishment back as referee Dick Woehrle admonishes him back. Putski gets in a rear chinlock and screams "Yes sir!!! Polish powahhhh!!! Andrews powers out of it as Vince says they sellout everytime. Wait 14 years Vince. Putski whips Andrews off the ropes and hits the Polish Hammer. He does the aftershock and covers for 1...2...3 its over. Putski gets the duke and once again rips the mic away from Fink to scream into it after the match is over. We get it Ivan, we get it!

Time of match: 4:43

Winner: Putski by pinfall


Match 6

Johnny Rivera and SD Jones vs Baron Von Raschke and Stan "The Man" Stasiak (with The Grand Wizard and Freddie Blassie)

Guest commentator: Gorilla Monsoon

For those that don't know the bad guys, Jim Raschke was a star wrestler and football player for his hometown Nebraska University from 1959-62. Verne Gagne loved amateur wrestlers so he convinced Raschke to be an AWA referee in 1966. Since Raschke was very odd looking, Verne convinced him to be Baron Von Raschke, an evil German who goosestepped around the ring not unlike Waldo & Fritz Von Erich. Raschke made a whole career of being a vicious heel. Ironically Bruno Sammartino's last successful title defense was beating Raschke before losing to Billy Graham.  Stasiak still drew as a heel so he was paired with another rough heel in Raschke. Stasiak was managed by Wizard with Raschke managed by Blassie, lot of fashion in the ring with those two managers. Jones is in the purple singlet with Johnny in standard trunks. Stasiak and Baron are in their standard attire. Referee Dick Woehrle tells Wiz and Blassie to hit the bricks so we can start. Stasiak starts with Rivera and the size difference is incredible. Either Rivera is really short or Stasiak is taller than advertised (6'4). Rivera gets the wristlock in and Stasiak quickly retreats where he tags in Raschke. Baron applies the fireman carry takeover before getting the armbar. Monsoon sits in on commentary and Vince asks him about Backlund/Kamata. Rivera gets the upperhand on Raschke and he retreats before Stasiak tags back in. Rivera applies a head scissors while Monsoon says the Pennsylvania state athletic commission has sanctioned the Texas Death Match for....next week on Championship Wrestling. Wow, couldn't wait for the Garden huh? Well then again it would make next week's show less boring. Raschke interferes and nails Rivera, allowing Stasiak to throw the poor guy over the top rope. Raschke gets in as Vince says the rules are, there are none in a Texas Death Match. SD Jones gets the hot tag and cleans out the heels until Wizard props Stasiak back on the apron. Monsoon leaves as SD blocks the heart punch and delivers a headbutt, but Stasiak locks in a bearhug. Raschke tags in and delivers a bearhug of his own. Stasiak tags in and nails SD with the heart punch. The cover gets 1....2...3 and goodnight Jones. The heels celebrate their win as Blassie taunts Jones for good measure. We go to the replay of the heart punch.

Time of match: 8:24

Winners: Stasiak and Von Raschke


The ending credits appear as Vince says next week we got a Texas Death Match between Backlund and Kamata. That's it for this week's show, not much going on. What wasn't talked about is within a week would be Bruno Sammartino defending the WWWF Championship against Superstar Billy Graham. Any guesses on how that turns out? The next show after this one is tonight's house show at the Providence Civic Center. I'll see you there.

WWWF All-Star Wrestling (1/17/76)

WWWF All Star Wrestling
January 17, 1976
Hamburg, PA
Hamburg Fieldhouse

Its 1976 and the world is hopping mad! Just like last week, this week's edition of WWWF All-Star Wrestling is hosted by Vince McMahon Jr and Antonino Rocca after we see a brief highlight package. Vince hypes up tonight's main event which will see Bugsy McGraw take on Ivan Putski. Rocca says Putski will win. After we come back from commercial, Joe McHugh does the introductions. This hour of wrestling is promoted by Phil Zacko, supervised by the state athletic commission, the doctor at ringside is Dr. Fred Heinbach, the timekeeper is Mike Mitton, the referees are "Wee" Willie Webber & Dick Woehrle and his name is JOEEEEE McHugh.

Match 1

Sylvano Sousa vs "Superstar" Billy Graham

Graham enters the ring wearing a ridiculous fur hat & coat. He starts by posing for the crowd as a fan yells "Come on Sousa!" Rocca says Graham is "fanta-stick" as Billy clubs at Sousa in the ropes then rams his head into the buckle twice. He punches and kicks at Sousa before delivering a forearm to the back. Sousa tries to fight back but Graham kicks away. McMahon hypes up the upcoming Bugsy McGraw vs Ivan Putski showdown as Graham tosses Sousa through the ropes, but oh no! Sousa's foot is tangled up so Graham kicks at him outside before hilariously ripping off the ring mat and heaving it on top of Sylvano. Sousa crawls back into the ring where Graham whips him into the corner. Sousa runs into the bearhug and he quickly submits. Graham refuses to let go as Wizard gets in to distract the ref. Finally the ref catches Billy so he lets go. Vince goes to commercial and we break here. Standard jobber match but fun to see Graham rip the ring mat off.

Time of match: 3:34

Winner: Superstar Billy Graham by submission

Moving right along to the match.

Match 2

Bugsy McGraw (with Captain Lou Albano, The Grand Wizard and Ivan Koloff) vs Ivan Putski

Before the match, Vince questions what the hell Koloff and Albano are doing out there and Rocco doesn't like it either. Putski tells Dick Woehrle to get rid of the other two but he can't. Putski leaves but comes back with the tag team champions Louis Cerdan and Tony Parisi to even the odds. Albano, Wizard and Koloff retreat to the outside as McGraw is totally irate. McGraw and Putski tie up as Bugsy is at least foot taller than Putski. Bugsy backs Putski into the corner but they tie up again and this time Ivan heaves McGraw into the other corner. Another tie up has Ivan going to the headlock and Bugsy flails around. The mic picks up Albano screaming something as Bugsy gets in a wrist-lock. Ivan almost counters it but Bugsy remains in control. Putski then uses both hands to power out of it, throwing McGraw down. McGraw regroups with Albano before attacking Putski from behind. He whips Ivan into the corner and goes to down until Putski reverses it. Bugsy then shoves Woehrle halfway across the ring and Koloff gets in, Suddenly its a pier six brawl with everyone in there as the crowd pops. The bell rings as Parisi and Cerdan beat the crap out of Albano and Koloff with Wizard standing outside. Suddenly Bobo Brazil of all people hits the ring and clears the heels out. The faces shake hands inside the ring as the heels retreat. McHugh announces the ref disqualified both men and the match is a draw. Putski grabs the mic and calls Bugsy a bum before challenging him to come back and fight. Putski calls them yellow dogs and Vince says Albano won't be coming back. If there was a Survivor Series in those days that would have been a hell of a match with Bobo, Cerdan, Parisi and Putski against Koloff, Bugsy, Billy Graham and Ernie Ladd or whatever. As it was, at least they told a story with PUtski having the presence of mind to get the tag champs to help out.

Time of match: 6:32

Winner: No one (double DQ)

After the break we're back with Vince sporting a TERRIBLE 1970's haircut interviewing Cerdan and Parisi. Cerdan says the heels are too talented to stoop that low. He calls Wizard the "weasel" and stumbles over his words. Vince asks why Koloff was there and Tony says that Albano is still mad they beat The Blackjacks. Parisi says they're gonna keep the belts for as long as they can because its for the fans. Vince hints a potential match against Bugsy and Koloff. Cerdan says they have open contracts and he wants to bust Albano wide open. Cerdan once again bitches about heels interfering and says this is the wrestling capital of the world. (Jim Crockett might disagree). Cerdan calls McGraw "quacky" as Vince brings up Jerry Blackwell and Louis Cyr as well. Cerdan says they stay in shape by playing raquetball and handball. Not exactly Celtic Warrior Workouts like today. For those crying that this was a bad promo, its 1976. Dusty Rhodes and Billy Graham were few and far between. Bruno and Backlund weren't exactly Hogan-esque on the mic either. On to the next match.

Match 3

Johnny Rivera vs Louis Cyr (with Freddie Blassie)

Yet another Canadian (to go with Koloff, Cerdan, Parisi) as Cyr takes on Rivera here. For you youngsters, Rivera would jerk a lot of curtains for Madison Square Garden shows in the 70's. Vince hypes up Ivan Koloff is up next followed by Ernie Ladd vs Pete Sanchez on last. Cyr chats with Blassie as the bell rings. Referee Wee Willie Webber tells Blassie to make like a banana and split before they lock up. Cyr throws Rivera around with hip tosses and headlocks. Rivera then locks in an arm ringer but Cyr throws him off. Cyr slams Rivera into the buckle and then does a unique move where he gets in an over the shoulder backbreaker and chokes Rivera on the rop rope. Cyr covers for 1...2...nope, Blassie says to torture him some more. Cyr drops Rivera again and covers for 1....2...nope, he pulls him up again. Cyr rakes the face of Rivera as Blassie cuts a promo to Vince and calls Cyr his Yukon champion. An uppercut drops Rivera and and pulls him up again. Rocca puts over Cyr's brute strength as Cyr bearhugs Rivera into the corner. Cyr pulls him up after another two count as the fans get bored. All of a sudden Rivera rallies with right hands but Cyr takes over with a big left. Cyr delivers a perfect gut wrench suplex and looks over to a laughing Blassie for appreciation. Cyr sends him off and delivers a big boot. Cyr does a belly to belly suplex and a shoulder breaker. Cyr covers for 1...2...3 and thankfully its over. Up close Cyr looks like a young Gorilla Monsoon from the 1960's and this match was to establish Louis as a mean old bastard. Bruno Sammartino would have his hands full if Cyr comes challenging.

Time of match: 5:48

Winner: Louis Cyr by pinfall

Vince sends us directly to the next match.

Match 4

Pete McKay vs Ivan Koloff (with Captain Lou Albano)

Ironically it was McKay who lost to Louis Cyr last week and now he gets an angry Koloff who's not too happy about getting bumrushed by Bobo Brazil earlier. Albano stands directly in front of McHugh as he does the introductions and steals his mic to yell at the fans. The bell rings as Dick Woehrle tells Albano to make like a tree and leave. Albano finally makes his exit and yells at some old man in the crowd. The former WWWF champ drops McKay as Vince mistakenly calls Koloff "Bugsy McGraw" then saves himself by saying Bugsy was on earlier. Koloff locks in the iron claw early as Vince asks Rocca if Koloff is the same man that beat Bruno 5 years earlier. Rocca says he's faster than he was five years earlier and has a new system of training that lost a bit of muscle. He asks if Bruno is the same and Rocca says Bruno is smarter than five years ago. Albano runs over and asks what about him and Rocca yells at him that he's gonna "put censorship on television". Albano cuts a promo on Rocca as Koloff backdrops McKay. Koloff tosses McKay and delivers a big forearm to the back. Ivan taunts the crowd as Vince agrees that Ivan has lost some strength. Albano yells at McMahon for that as Vince puts over Cyr, Bruno, Putski, McGraw, Graham, Ernie Ladd, Brazil in terms of strength as Ivan drops a series of elbows and knees. The crowd gets bored as Ivan puts a foot on the chest for 1...2..nope. He takes his foot off and goes upstairs. He drops a knee and covers for 1...2..3 and its over. Vince hypes up the next bout as Koloff continues to stomp away after the bell. Koloff drops another knee as we cut here. Koloff proving he's still nasty five years later.

Time of match: 5:12

Winner: Ivan Koloff by pinfall

We go right to the final match

Match 5

Pete Sanchez vs "Big Cat" Ernie Ladd

Sanchez had beaten Johnny Rodz at Madison Square Garden the month before but now he's in the ring with the 6 foot 9 giant. Ladd comes to the ring wearing a cowboy vest and hat and hands his vest to the attendant. He squishes the hat on top of the attendant's head and the crowd laughs. Ladd drops to his knees to mock Sanchez for being so short and Pete dropkicks him much to the crowd's delight. He takes over Ladd with an armdrag as it should be noted the crowd really had nothing to cheer for all night apart from the Putski match. The crowd chants "Go Pete go" as Ladd complains about tights pulling. Another armdrag on Ladd has the crowd popping and thank goodness Ladd is letting Pete get some stuff in because everything has been boring so far. Ladd taunts the irate crowd and Vince says don't turn your back on Pete. Ladd backs Sanchez in the corner but misses a big forearm. Sanchez dropkicks Ernie in the back and Ladd falls on the top rope allowing Sanchez to gets a few kicks in. Sanchez rallies with right hands and sends Ladd head first into the buckle. Sanchez goes to work with right hands as Ladd reaches into his tights for something. Ladd slips on the tape for his thumb and nails Sanchez in the throat with it. Ladd nails Sanchez in the throat again as Willie Webber continues to give Ladd shit for using the thumb. Ladd slips the tape off and rams Pete's head into the buckle. The crowd chants "Go Pete Go" as Pete rallies with left hands and nails Ladd in the ribs to drop the big guy. Sanchez stomps away at Ladd but eats a headbutt to the ribs. Ladd starts stomping away and chokes Pete on the top rope. Vince praises Pete's effort as Ladd goes to ram Sanchez's head into the buckle. Vince says next week's feature match is Dominic DeNucci vs Ivan Koloff as Sanchez blocks Ladd's attempt and rams Ernie into the buckle instead. Sanchez rallies with right hands and whips Ladd into the other corner. Sanchez charges but right into the thumbs of Ladd. Ladd slips the tape on and nails Sanchez in the throat that sends Pete through the ropes to the outside. The ref counts out Pete and Ladd takes the coward's win. McHugh announces Ladd the winner as the end credits hit. That was actually a little bit of fun to see Sanchez hold his own with Ladd and Ernie having to resort to cheating tactics to win. Better than the straight jobber matches, that's for sure.

Time of match: 6:02

Winner: Ernie Ladd by count-out

Once again it would be unfair to rate 1970's shows by today's standards but some of it was a little fun. Putski bringing in Parisi and Cerdan as backup, Albano and Rocca yelling at each other, Graham ripping the mat off and Ladd bumping for Sanchez were the highlights for sure. Have to remember this was still a territory with guys coming and going so you'd be seeing a lot of these guys around the area for months on end. The Blackjacks dropped the belts and went somewhere else the same as Cerdan and Parisi will do the same eventually. As for the show, again, it had its moments but standard mid 70's action. It was all designed to get you to go to the house shows. Unfortunately next week's show has been lost to time so we won't get to see DeNucci vs Koloff. I know, can you believe it? Oh well.

WWWF at Madison Square Garden (3/17/75) Incomplete

March 17, 1975

Madison Square Garden

New York City, NY

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

The beauty of the territory days is you have no earthly idea what you're going to get month to month at Madison Square Garden. This card on Peacock Plus advertised Chief Jay Strongbow against Paul "The Butcher" Vachon, Dean Ho and Tony Garea challenging WWWF Tag Team Champions The Valiant Brothers in 2 out of 3 falls, Victor Rivera taking on Killer Kowalski and the main event, "Golden Greek" Spiros Arion takes on Bruno Sammartino for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship. There was a huge storyline with Arion going on where Arion turned on Chief Jay Strongbow in a match against the Valiants in late 1974 and when Bruno came in to ask what's his problem, Arion clocked Bruno too. Tonight Arion faces Bruno in a Texas Death Match for the strap. Unfortunately only five matches remain on this eight match card. Strongbow vs Vachon, Bruno vs Arion, Kowalski vs Rivera, Ho & Garea vs The Valiants and Ivan Putski vs The Wolfman. The tag match is not on Peacock but it is on YouTube.

Match 1

"Unpredictable" Johnny Rodz vs "Wild" Bill White

For those that don't know, Johnny Rodz was the original "jobber". He put over pretty much everyone for damn near 20 years and a lot of people respected him for being able to work with everyone. He paved the way for guys like Barry Horrowitz, George South and Duane Gill to make a living doing jobs. His opponent "Wild" Bill White was an amateur wrestling coach in Florida that caught the eye of Eddie Graham. He worked the territories from the 60's to the 80's. Apparently Johnny Rodz won this match, so much for him always losing.

Time of match: 11:31

Winner: Johnny Rodz

Match 2

Mike Paidousis vs Jack Evans

If you have no idea who Paidousis is, not even your parents would probably know either. "Iron" Mike began his career in 1950, TWENTY FIVE years before this match. He was 51 years old going into this match and most of his career has been lost to time, unfortunately. His biggest success was in the old Central States territory. As mentioned before, Evans was a veteran jobber for Vince Sr and was one of the masked "Mr. X" in the late 70's. According to the report, Paidousis won this match. Not bad for a 51 year old!

Time of match: 5:43

Winner: Mike Paidousis

Match 3

Manuel Soto and Pete Sanchez vs Hans Schroeder and Joe Nova

Talk about what could have been a fun tag match. The faces we already know while Schroeder was a Memphis mainstay who sometimes worked for Vince Sr as a German heel. He's best known for being the original Undertaker, a name he used in Memphis in 1989. Nova was a well traveled territory veteran working as Joe Nova or Butcher Branigan. Here he was Nova. Apparently Sanchez and Soto got the duke.

Time of match: 22:05

Winners: Sanchez and Soto

Match 4

Chief Jay Strongbow vs Paul "Butcher" Vachon

Our first match we can actually watch might be interesting. We all know Strongbow as the fake Native American but he's got the legendary Butcher Vachon as an opponent. The ref checks each guys and the bell rings. They criss cross and Jay fakes out Butcher. Jay stalks Butcher around the ring and makes fun of him. They stall for a bit before exchanging right hands following a tie-up. Butcher chops Strongbow in the chest but Jay serves it back to knock Vachon down. Strongbow unloads on Butcher in the corner but Butcher counters with a punch to the throat to knock Jay down. Vachon goes for the nervehold but Jay powers out and scoop slams him. Jay hits another scoop slam and Vachon bails to the outside to regroup. Back inside Vachon locks in a sideheadlock and turns it into a blatant choke. Vachon rams Jay in the buckle, bites then rakes his back. Strongbow then goes on the warpath as the crowd gets progressively louder with each kneelift. Jay charges Vachon in the corner but eats boot. Vachon sends him off the ropes and hits a big boot. He covers for 1...2...no, he pulls Jay up and says one more time. Uh oh! Sure enough, Butcher sends Jay off for another big boot but Jay counters with a Thez Press for 1,2,3 to end it with the fast count of the century. Rather than chase the ref for more heat, Butcher just leaves as Strongbow is declared the winner. Not much you can expect from these two. Clearly Strongbow's style bothered Butcher so Vachon had to resort to cheating tactics. Pulling up Jay was the mistake that cost him the match. Vince says our main event is next.

Time of match: 9:10

Winner: Strongbow by pinfall

Match 5

Spiros Arion (with Freddy Blassie) vs Bruno Sammartino (with Arnold Skaaland) in a Texas Death Match for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

Like I mentioned in the intro, Arion came to New York a huge fan favorite but made a shocking heel turn by attacking Strongbow and Bruno in a match against The Valiants. Now he's gunning for the strap and he's got a Texas Death Match! What's that you ask? Just a street fight, no rules just pinfall or submission. The announcer says "Texas style match" and calls everyone "great guys" during introductions. Bell rings and Arion does the slow head turn to revel in the boos from the crowd. The ref checks Arion first but when he checks Bruno, Arion jumps Sammartino! Arion kicks at the fallen Bruno who bails. Bruno gets back in the ring and unloads on Arion with punches, kicks and forearms. Bruno scoop slams Arion and covers for 1....2, nope. More forearms to the back of  Arion and football tackles in the corner stuns Spiros then he locks in a bearhug. A bellringer by Arion breaks the hold but Bruno goes back to knees to the head. Arion then gets his own kicks in before he whips Bruno into the corner. Arion punches the back of Bruno with Bruno falling into the ropes. More punches and kicks stun Bruno and he makes a cover...1....2..,no, Bruno kicks out. Bruno then gets in more punches and kicks to back Arion down. They slug it out in the center of the ring but a big right hand knocks Arion through the ropes to the outside. Bruno rams Arion's head into the apron and then to the buckle. Back inside Arion takes him down and kicks him directly in the balls. The crowd did NOT like that one as they boo loudly. Arion continues to kick away at Bruno then scoop slams him. Arion covers for 1...2..no. Arion goes for an atomic drop but Bruno counters with headlocked punches. Bruno attacks the back of Arion with forearms and and a big kick to send Arion through the ropes to the outside.  Some fan reaches over the guardrail and it looks like Arion got a piece of the fan with a right hand. Back inside Bruno uses a side headlock then punches away at Arion who drops to the ground. Bruno revs up the crowd then stomps on Arion. Spiros begs off but Bruno is having none of it, ramming his head into the canvas. Bruno goes for the rear-chinlock then stomps away at the back of Arion. Arion staggers to his feet and Bruno punches away at Arion and Spiros counters with a right hand of his own. A big right hand by Bruno drops Arion who bumps to the other side of the ring. Bruno stalks Arion but Spiros gets in a boot as Vince on commentary says Bruno took too long. Arion takes control with kicks and stomps. Arion sends Bruno off the ropes and punches him in the ribs. Bruno goes down and Arion kicks away at the fallen champion. Arion goes for another atomic drop but Bruno counters with a hiptoss and a bodyslam. Bruno covers for 1..2...nope. Bruno eats a knee to the ribs and Arion continues to stomp away. Arion sends Bruno off the ropes but Sammartino counters with a big kick. He scoop slams Arion and covers with Arion's foot on the rope. The ref doesn't notice it and counts 1...2....3 its over. The crowd cheers as Arion rightfully is pissed that he just got screwed. Even Vince on commentary says Arion got robbed as Spiros bitches to Bruno that his foot was on the rope. The announcer declares Bruno the winner as Vince goes to the replay where clearly Spiros' foot is on the rope. This meant another MSG match was in the works, most likely next month. As for this match, this was a brawl. Two guys beating the daylights out of each other, wrestling holds were mostly out the window. This is what the fans wanted in 1975 and the pops Bruno got for his comebacks were loud. As for now, Bruno is still the champ in a controversial decision.

Time of match: 14:51

Winner: Sammartino by pinfall (still WWWF Champion)

Match 6

Victor Rivera vs Killer Kowalski (with The Grand Wizard)

Talk about a treat. Latin sensation Rivera takes on 48 year old Walter "Killer" Kowalski in MSG. By now Kowalski was at the end of the line but could still sell a house with his presence. Kowalski towers over Rivera, the referee and Wizard as the bell rings with Wiz taking a hike. Kowalski ties up and....breaks clean? What are these shenanigans? Kowalski ties up, breaks clean....and slaps Rivera. Rivera unloads with roundhouse rights as Kowalski leans through the rope to stall. Kowalski gets a go-behind and starts kicking at the left leg. Kowalski applies his claw hold to the left leg and punches away at it. Vince says this is classic Kowalski to torture a body part. Kowalski misses an axehandle smash and Rivera lands an armdrag takeover. Kowalski powers out of it and goes back to work on the left leg. Rivera punches Kowalski but Killer goes back to the claw. Killer sells his arm hurt by Rivera's punch as he continues to claw away at the left leg of Rivera. Rivera punches again but Kowalski headlock punches him. Killer kicks away at Rivera and continues to punch away at the leg. Rivera gets back to his feet and takes him over with a wristlock. Rivera tosses him around the ring with control of the wrist and pounds away at the left shoulder. Rivera continues to punch as the crowd doesn't even pop, they're bored. Kowalski goes back to the claw on the leg and bites it but he misses another axehandle smash. Rivera grabs the ear of Kowalski to make him break the hold, hahahaha. Rivera drops Kowalski with a right hand but Kowalski lands a perfect single leg takedown to once again go back to the claw. Rivera grabs the ears and backs him into the corner where Kowalski rakes the eyes. They forearm each other down and Kowalski goes for the stomach claw. Rivera's shoulders are down and the ref counts 1..2...no. Rivera gets back to his knees but Kowalski kicks him then reapplies the claw to the stomach. Kowalski stomps the ribs then reapplies the stomach claw. Vince says the crowd is trying to encourage Rivera but they're silent. Rivera gets up and whips Killer into the buckle before dropkicking him into the buckle. Kowalski goes for another claw but Rivera is in the ropes to cause a break. Killer favors the left shoulder and kicks away at Rivera. Rivera continues to counter the claw hold with right hands and a big uppercut takes Kowalski nearly out of his boots. Kowalski tries to crawl away but Rivera throws him to the mat and applies a nerve hold in the ropes, utilizing the 5 count. Hey two can play that game! Rivera jumps on Killer's back and applies a sleeperhold. Kowalski gets him off in the corner but Rivera ties up Killer on the top rope Andre style. Rivera forearms Killer and hits a running tackle on him. He stands on the other rope to apply pressure but Killer breaks free. Kowalski makes a mad dash but Rivera drops him with a forearm. Rivera locks in a nervehold but Killer bites out of it. The ref warns him as Rivera swings wildly. Killer misses a right hand and gets mad, slugging it out with Rivera. Killer bites his nose again but Rivera returns the favor. Killer goes back to biting and the ref actually counts to five....that's it. Rivera bites Killer and he bails to the back. The announcer declares Rivera the winner by disqualification. To show how bad that match was, not even 1975 fans got into it. The reason why Killer vs Bruno worked in those days is Bruno would make the big comeback to blown the roof off whereas Rivera wasn't like that. Oh well, Rivera gets the duke

Time of match: 15:58

Winner: Victor Rivera by Disqualification

Match 7

"Polish Power" Ivan Putski vs The Wolfman.

After spending most of his career in the territories, Ivan Putski makes his Madison Square Garden debut according to Vince. Born Jozef Bednarski, he actually made his name in Dallas at the Sportatorium portraying a concentration camp survivor (he would have been 4 years old in 1945). He was basically the big dumb babyface brute that Jim Duggan and Rick Steiner would play in later years. Now he's in WWWF and he's loud, obnoxious and a hit with the fans. Putski grabs the mic away from the announcer while he's trying to make the introductions and screams "POLISH POWAAAA". Vince calls him a "one man gang", ha! Wolfman doesn't wait for the introductions, he just bum rushes Putski to cause the ring announcer to head for the hills. Putski counters with a right hand and the ref manages to get Wolfman in the corner long enough to finish checking them. The bell finally rings as Putski grabs him with a headlock and punches him before catering to the crowd. Putski levels Wolfman with legit elbows to the jaw coming off the ropes and Wolfie bails to regroup. Back inside Wolfman bites and claws at Putski before hitting forearms to the upper chest. Wolfman continues to pound away until Putski powers out of a nervehold attempt and headbutts him down. Putski then hits a right hand and another headbutt to drop Wolfman. Wolfman goes for the bearhug but Putski counters it with a forearm to the back. Wolfman then bites the back of Putski and he yells to the crowd that he bit him. Wolfman goes to do it again but Putski returns the favor to a small pop. The ref warns both guys as Wolfman goes back to the bearhug. Putski powers out of it with forearms to the back. Putski applies a front facelock and then hits the Polish Hammer to the back of Wolfman to break another bearhug. Wolfman rakes the eyes and bites the forehead of Putski before attacking in the corner. Finally Putski has enough and goes wild on Wolfman with 20 forearms on the poor guy. He sends him off the ropes and applies a big bearhug of his own. Wolfman gives it up and this one's over. Putski refuses to let go until the ref threatens to reverse the decision. He lets go and the ref raises his arm in victory. The microphone lowers but Putski grabs it. Wolfman kicks at him and Putski hammers him out of the ring. The announces Putski the winner as some fan hands Ivan a beer. Putski chugs it as the announcer and the ref raise his arm simultaneously. Long before the Austin beer celebrations, we had Ivan Putski haha. Typical 70's WWWF match with the babyface explosion at the end.

Time of match: 6:21

Winner: Putski by submission

Match 8

Dean Ho and Tony Garea vs The Valiant Brothers (Jimmy and Johnny) in a 2 out of 3 falls match for the WWWF Tag Team Championship

Ah the legendary Valiant brothers. For those that don't know, just like the Graham family, there were 3 kayfabe brothers in the Valiant family. Handsome Jimmy, Luscious Johnny and Gentleman Jerry. As mentioned before, Jimmy made his WWWF debut in 1971 while Luscious Johnny met Jimmy in Ontario working for Dave McKigney and later became his storyline brother in Dick The Bruiser's WWA in Indianapolis. On May 8, 1974 the Valiants defeated Dean Ho and Tony Garea to become WWWF Tag Team Champions. Because people moved from territory to territory in those days, tag team champions didn't last very long.....but the Valiants are still the champs almost a year later in March of 1975. Who are their opponents? Dean Higuchi was a Hawaiian bodybuilder in the late 50's and opened his own gym in 1958. Some pro wrestlers while they were working in Hawaii for Ed Francis would drop by to work out including Rene Goulet and Karl Gotch. Someone convinced Dean to turn pro himself and he did in 1962. He was given the name Dean Ho because Japanese heels were very common in those days but Dean was a babyface. Francis wanted him to sound Chinese instead of Japanese. Know who else was an American Hawaiian of Chinese descent? Professor Toru Tanaka. We all know who Garea is obviously. The purpose of this match was to settle the year long feud once and for all. Vince says the brothers are wasting time to start the match, haha. Jimmy grabs Dean to start the match and rams him into the buckle. To tell them apart, Jimmy has "sweet heart" on his tights and Johnny has "Super Hero" on his. They double team Dean in their corner but Garea comes in to no avail. Johnny and Jimmy make frequent tags to pound away on Dean. Dean fights out and makes a mad dash to his corner to tag Garea in. Garea beats the crap out of Jimmy and locks in an abdominal stretch but Johnny comes off the top to smash Garea down. Jimmy misses a big right hand and Garea locks in another abdominal stretch. Garea spots Johnny heading upstairs again and this time cuts him off by press slamming him. He covers Johnny despite him not being the legal man with Dean chasing away Jimmy for 1...2...3 and just like that, the first fall goes to the challengers. The announcer declare the challengers the winners of the first fall as Vince says one more to go.

Second fall starts with Johnny still selling getting thrown off the top. Garea starts with Jimmy and Jimmy gets the upperhand. Jommy headlock punches Garea and brings him into their corner where the heels double team. Garea makes a comeback and beats up both of them but a charge in the corner eats boot. Dean grabs Jimmy's hair but Jimmy gets a headlock on Garea. Johnny tags in and picks up where Jimmy left off. Johnny rams Garea into the knee of Jimmy and tags Handome back in. They go for a double clothesline but Garea ducks under and punches both men down. Dean Ho gets the hot tag and cleans out both Valiant brothers before beating the crap out of Jimmy. Johnny tags in and Dean chops him around. Garea tags in and whips Johnny off the ropes but Johnny hits a sunset flip for 1...2...3 and the Valiants even it at one fall apiece. Heels rarely used a sunset flip so that was definitely surprising. The announcer says the Valiants have taken the second fall.

Third and deciding fall begins with all four men in the ring. Garea and Johnny pound each other before Jimmy hits Johnny by accident. Garea locks in an armbar and pounds on it before Dean sneaks in and takes Tony's place without the ref noticing....serving payback to the Valiants. Garea and Dean continue to switch off with Johnny throwing a fit in his corner with Vince hamming it up on commentary. They continue to double team Jimmy using heel tactics and Jimmy almost makes the tag but Garea stops him much to the crowd's delight. Jimmy powers out of it and hiptosses Garea, making the tag to Johnny. Johnny runs into an armdrag by Garea before he tags out to Dean. Dean holds Jimmy and Garea clocks him, causing Jimmy to stagger. Dean holds him again but Tony nails Dean by accident....RUH ROH! 9 times out of 10 this means a heel turn and Garea gets in to check on him. Jimmy grabs Dean and throw him into their corner for a doubleteam. Dean rams both their heads together and locks in another armbar. Dean tags Garea back in....so much for the heel turn. Garea gains control with a wristlock on Jimmy and Tony tags in Dean. Johnny comes in and the faces get double armbars in before ramming the brothers together. Tony leaves and Dean is left with Johnny. They pound each other but Garea tags in. Johnny cuts him off and throws him into Jimmy who tags in. Garea catches Jimmy with a rolling prawn for 1...2...nope, Johnny kicks him off. Dean gets in and stands on Jimmy for good measure before he leaves. Garea sends Jimmy off but their heads collide to knock them both down. Valiant gets to his feet first only to flop down. Garea hits a sunset flip of his own for 1...2, nope, Johhy kicks him on again. Garea hits a crossbody for 1...2., Johnny again breaks it up. Johnny tags in and Garea hits a backslide for 1...2, no. Jimmy saves him this time. Garea makes the tag to Dean Ho but the bell rings.....whoops. The faces forgot about the time limit and this one's over.  The Valiants bail as the announcer declares the bout a draw at one fall apiece due to the curfew. How do ya like that? It wasn't the Valiants or a devious manager that prevented Dean and Tony from winning, it was New York City's curfew. Either way the Valiant's retain. Pretty entertaining match and they kept everyone strong by having it end in a draw. 

Time of match: 12:13

Winners: No one: Time Limit Draw (Valiants retain)

Standard 70's show all things considered and people at the time loved it. Bruno and Arion beat the crap out of each other in an all out brawl while the Strongbow/Kowalski/Wolfman matches were more the babyface overcoming the crazy heel. Its a shame the entire show isn't available because seeing the first three matches would have been interesting. As of now Bruno & The Valiants are still the champs. If you're judging this show by today's standards, you're gonna hate it. The Kowalski match dragged a bit but that was because of mismatched styles. Watch Bruno vs Kowalski, THAT was more like it. I had a good time watching, on to the next show.