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.

WWF All-American Wrestling (9/4/83)

Welcome to the inaugural episode of WWF All-American Wrestling, Vince's foray into cable television. Long before Monday Night Raw, Vince got his start on the USA network with All-American Wrestling. Rather than make it must see TV, Vince came out of the gate with the first episode being a greatest hits montage of WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund. Nothing says make your debut on cable with matches people have already seen before. This would be theme for All-American's entire 11 year run to be honest. Let's get to the show.

Host/Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

We start with Vince's voiceover of Backlund's victory over "Superstar" Billy Graham on February 20, 1978 before going to Vince in the studio welcoming us to the premier of All-American. He comes out and says this entire show is a Bob Backlund tribute. Vince makes long pauses during the intro, maybe he was nervous. We cut to commercials and the first one is an ad for Playboy Magazine....I don't remember THAT being plugged 10 years later. 12 issues for only $18.50, a rare bargain. Let's get to our first clip.

Match 1

Bob Backlund vs "Superstar" Billy Graham for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

We're joined in progress for Backlund's title match with the Superstar on February 20, 1978 at Madison Square Garden. Graham gets a go-behind but Backlund reverses it causing Billy to retreat to the ropes. Backlund pulls Graham to the center of the ring but the ref makes him break the hold. Billy stalls but Bob gets a headlock in. Graham sends Bob off but Backlund counters with a sunset flip for 1...2...nope. Graham locks in a full nelson as Vince says this will be hard for Backlund to break out of it. Backlund almost effortlessly breaks it and Graham complains to the referee. Graham gets in a headlock but Bob sends him off the ropes only to eat a shoulderblock. Graham comes off the ropes again and Backlund hits the rolling prawn hold for 1...2....noooooo. Somehow Graham kicked out of Backlund's finisher and Backlund goes to the side headlock. Graham rakes the eyes and hits a bodyslam but Backlund counters with an inside cradle for 1...2...nooooo. Bob whips Graham into the corner and Billy begs off. Bob sends Billy into the ropes but misses a dropkick. Graham kicks away at Bob then drops a forearm to the neck. Graham sends Bob into the ropes then applies a bearhug. Vince Jr on commentary says its over but Backlund refuses to give it up. Backlund somehow breaks the bearhug and hiptosses Graham in the process. Graham goes back to the bearhug but after a few minutes Bob not only breaks it but applies one of his own. Bob actually gets Graham to the mat and ref counts 1...2....no. Graham rakes the eyes to break the hold but Bob locks in an abdominal stretch. Billy counters with a hiptoss but Backlund catches Graham with an atomic drop. Bob covers and the ref completely misses Graham's foot on the bottom rope for 1..2.....3 that's it. BOB BACKLUND IS THE NEW WWWF CHAMPION! We cut here for this TV show's purpose. This was the changing of the guard as Backlund became Vince McMahon Sr's pet project while the Superstar was never the same again.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Backlund by pinfall (new WWWF Champion)

Back in the studio Vince says Bob is still the champ to this day but he'd be tested again and again. Vince says one of Bob's best challengers was Ken Patera who had even more strength than Graham. He says we'll see Patera's match with Backlund after commercial. The commercial is a record for The Great Singalong which is all country music.....yeah. We also get a trailer for the movie Natural Enemies starring Hal Holbrook. USA Hot Spots will be airing on 10 PM on Monday Night's.....gee, wonder what's on Monday nights on USA these days. Let's get to the match.

Match 2

Ken Patera vs Bob Backlund for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

We're joined in progress for the title defense by Backlund against Patera on January 21, 1980 at Madison Square Garden. We're at the point where Patera has a bearhug on the mat and nearly pins Bob with it. Backlund then rallies to get back to his feet but Patera brings him back to the mat for another two count. Backlund battles back to his feet and literally deadlifts Patera with the hug still applies into a reverse atomic drop to break the hold. Backlund rallies with right hands but they both shoulderblock each other only for Patera to fall on Bob. Vince shouts "OH NO!" as the ref counts 1....nope, Backlund didn't even let the drama build. Bob rolls on top for a 1 count of his own then counters a Patera suplex with one of his own. Bob gets a one count then Patera covers for a one count. They keep trading pin attempts then Patera hops up to the second rope. Patera nails an axehandle smash then gives the sign for the full nelson. Bob counters the attempt and Patera swings and misses with a right hand. Bob lands the atomic drop and covers for 1....2....nope, this time the ref sees the foot on the rope. Bob and Ken slug it out until Patera shoves Backlund into the referee. The ref is out as Patera applies another full nelson but there's no ref. Backlund kicks off the ropes to break the hold as another ref gets in to ring the bell. Backlund and Patera slug it out in the center of the ring as the locker room empties. Backlund and Patera throw guys out left and right before order is restored. We cut here with no winner or loser declared on the clip, but the match did end in a draw. Backlund vs Patera kept the feud going throughout most of 1980.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: No one (Draw: Backlund retains)

Back to the studio, Vince gives the folks at home a PO Box to write in to see what they think of All-American. Vince says 1982 was a "rough year" for Backlund and sends us to commercial for Globe Life Insurance. Back to Vince says Freddie Blassie introduced The East/West Connection of Jesse "The Body" Ventura and Adrian Adonis to take down Backlund. For some reason Vince sends us to the Adonis match first despite Ventura getting the first crack. Oh well.

Match 3

Adrian Adonis vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship

We go back to March 20, 1982 at the Philadelphia Spectrum to watch the East half of the East/West Connection take on Backlund. We're joined in progress with Adonis cowering in the corner. Backlund whips Adonis into the corner where he flips himself in a tree of woe. Backlund chops him down and delivers a piledriver. Backlund covers but Adonis kicks out. Adonis locks in the Goodnight Irene sleeper as Vince says no one has ever escaped the hold and pretty much gives a eulogy to Backlund's title reign. Backlund then powers up and gets to his feet with the crowd in a frenzy. Adonis goes for the rolling prawn out of the corner but Backlund reverses it for 1.....2....3 and Backlund wins it. Short and sweet compared to the previous matches but since they only had an hour for the show including commercials, they had to keep it short from here on.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Backlund by pinfall (still WWF Champion)

Back to Vince in the studio who says Backlund had many close calls in 1982. Vince sends us to Jesse Ventura's title shot which was actually six days before Adonis at Madison Square Garden.

Match 4

Jesse "The Body" Ventura vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship (Ivan Putski is the guest referee)

We're joined in progress at Madison Square Garden on March 14, 1982 six days before the Adonis title defense. Ventura locks in a bearhug then lands a reverse atomic drop to put Backlund on the mat. Jesse drops a knee on the throat of Backlund. Putski almost refuses to count Bob's shoulders down so Jesse goes to a piledriver. Jesse covers for a very slow 1 count and even Vince Jr on commentary admonishes Putski for that. Jesse hits an atomic drop and covers for a 2 count then puts Backlund in the Body Breaker. Vince says we have a new champ but Backlund kicks off the ropes into a modified northern lights suplex for 1...2....nooooo. Jesse goes for another Body Breaker but Bob reverses it into the rolling prawn hold for a very fast 1, 2,3 by Putski to end the match. Kind of weird to have Backlund essentially needing Putski to win but a win is a win.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Backlund by pinfall (still WWF Champion)

Back to Vince who admits Puski gave Jesse a fast count. Vince says 1982 was a very tough year for Bob and next up was a challenge from "Playboy" Buddy Rose.

Match 5

"Playboy" Buddy Rose vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship

This match was from the August 30, 1982 show from Madison Square Garden also joined in progress.  Rose hits a scoop slam then goes upstairs and jumps down but notices Bob has moved out of the way. Rose lands a dropkick and covers for 1...2..nope. Rose goes for a suplex but Bob counters with the crossface chicken wing. Rose desperately tries to break it but can't. The ref calls for the bell and Bob is the winner. Guess we're going to run through these opponents due to time constraints.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Backlund by submission (still WWF Champion)

Back to Vince who puts over the crossface chicken wing, ironic as the hold would be much more deadly a decade later. Vince says when we're back from commercial, we're going to a rematch between Billy Graham and Backlund only this is the karate pants Graham that gets the title shot. We go to a 5 record Mo-Town collection of 50 hits commercial.....long before 2 cds, there were 5 records. If you're into Mo-Town, its actually a damn good collection for only 19.95. Back to Vince who admits that Graham's foot was on the rope when he lost the title. Vince then says he went from a bodybuilder to a karate master to get his belt back. We're actually shown the angle that sets up Billy's rematch with Backlund. Bob was wrestling Swede Hanson when Graham came out to ringside and grabbed Backlund's belt. Hanson repeatedly stops Bob from getting at Graham as Billy cuts a promo saying Bob doesn't deserve it. Bob wins his match with the rolling prawn hold but Hanson continues to keep Backlund occupied long enough for Graham to nail Bob with the belt. Graham then smashes the world title belt and rips it apart. Vince Jr asks what he's doing and Graham just continues to smash the belt. Arnold Skaaland inside the ring revives Bob and we cut here. There was actually more to this but we're under time constraints. Back to Vince who says Graham would face Backlund in a series of matches and enjoy every single moment (Ha!). We now go to a lumberjack match held at Madison Square Garden.

Match 6

"Superstar" Billy Graham vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship in a Lumberjack Match

This was from the December 28, 1982 show at Madison Square Garden. We're joined in progress with Backlund getting Graham in an arm-ringer. For whatever reason Swede Hanson is the guest referee and Backlund goes for a shoulderblock only for Graham to pull Swede in the way. Swede shockingly doesn't attack Backlund but rather yells at Billy for pulling him in the way. Backlund jumps into Graham who pulls him outside into the heel portion of the ring. The faces run over and throw both guys back in the ring. Buddy Rose and Tony Garea yell at each other as Graham gets in a karate chop to the throat. Billy hits another chop to the throat which sends Backlund down in front of Rocky Johnson. Graham lands a third chop before shoulderblocking Bob in the corner. Vince says Graham abandoned his power moves for his karate arsenal. Bob tries to get his foot outside but Rose pushes it off right in front of Hanson who tells Buddy to beat it. Graham sends Bob off and locks in the bearhug but Bob punches him off. Billy goes for another bearhug but Bob counters with the crossface chicken wing. Mr. Fuji looks on concerned as Hanson calls for the bell. Bob refuses to let go and we cut here. I bet the extra curricular activity was fun with Backlund getting revenge for Graham destroying the title belt. Normally lumberjack matches are complete poo but since we only watched a few minutes, its all good.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Backlund by submission (still WWF Champion)

Back to Vince in the studio who says as the calendar turned to 1983 it only got tougher for Backlund. Vince says when we return we'll go to a match between Backlund and Magnificent Muraco. The commercial is for waterproof gold chains called Marigold for 19.95 with a lifetime guarantee. Also we get a preview for Miami University vs Florida University tonight at 9 PM. Fun fact, Florida led by running back Neal Anderson beat Miami that night. Miami then went undefeated the rest of the season winning the NCAA title in dramatic fashion over Nebraska University on the final play of the national championship game. Last commercial is for Thursday night baseball with the New York Yankees playing the Milwaukee Brewers (back when the Brewers were in the American League) and the Cincinnati Reds face the Los Angeles Dodgers. Back to Vince who says Don Muraco started to rise through the ranks and earned a title shot against Backlund as the current WWF Intercontinental Champion.

Match 7

WWF Intercontinental Champion Don "The Magnificent" Muraco vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship in a Texas Death Match

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon

We go back to March 20, 1983 in Madison Square Garden for Backlund vs Muraco one year to the day after Bob faced Adrian Adonis in Philadelphia. Once again we're joined in progress with Backlund getting Muraco in a side headlock. Monsoon says Monsoon always visits hospitals and schools to see the kids. Muraco sends him off the ropes and Backlund shoulderblocks him down but falls through the ropes. Muraco tries to slam Bob back in but Backlund rolls through and hooks the leg for 1...2...nope. Backlund scoop slams Muraco and we cut here. There was only 10 minutes left in the show and we still had two more matches to cover. For anyone that cares, Backlund won the match by pinfall.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Not shown (Backlund won it)

Back to Vince who says Backlund survived Muraco's challenge and moved on to Philadelphia to meet "Iron" Mike Sharpe. Its easy for us to laugh at the idea of Sharpe being a contender but you have to go back to 1983 long before he became a hall of fame jobber to understand why he got a title shot. Let's get to the match.

Match 8

"Iron" Mike Sharpe vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship

Commentator: Gorilla Monsoon

We're joined in progress on April 30, 1983 at the Philadelphia Spectrum for Mike Sharpe getting a title shot at Backlund. Bob covers Mike for a two count and goes for a piledriver but Sharpe backdrops him out of it. Sharpe turns his forearm pad around and goes for a lariat but Bob does his rolling prawn with bridge for 1....2...3..to win the match and we cut here. At this point they're just blowing through highlights due to time constraints.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Backlund by pinfall (still WWF Champion)

Back to Vince who says Backlund has been enjoying success but now runs into former WWF Champion Ivan Koloff. When Koloff defeated Bruno, he was 289 pounds but was down to 237 when he faced Backlund in the Philadelphia Spectrum. This will be the final match/highlight on the show.

Match 9

"Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff vs Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Championship

Commentators: Dick Graham and Gorilla Monsoon

We're joined in progress on June 4, 1983 in the Philadelphia Spectrum for the soon to be 41 year old Koloff trying once again to regain the heavyweight crown. Koloff does a backbreaker and covers but Backlund kicks out at one. Koloff sends Bob off and gets a boot to the ribs before locking in the bearhug. Monsoon says its like having a python wrapped around you as Graham has no idea how Backlund will get out of it. Bob grabs Ivan's head and slowly pushes him down to get both knees up to break the hold. Backlund is sent into the buckle but Bob ducks under a clothesline and locks in the crossface chicken wing. Ivan gives it up and Backlund is the winner.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Backlund by submission (still WWF Champion)

Back to Vince who says he hopes everyone is enjoying this edition of All-American Wrestling and if they have any suggestions they should send a postcard to WRESTLING, PO Box 1538, Greenwich, CT 06836. Write them today and see what happens! Vince goes to one last commercial before Backlund will join us for an interview. The commercial is for Consumer Reports Buyer's Guide. Basically long before the internet existed, you had to buy books and magazine to see what places had the best deals. All for just $14 dollars, my how times have changed. Back to Vince with Bob Backlund himself holding the green & gold belt. Bob speaks in a low voice and says he's been an underdog his whole life, coming from the wrong side of the river. He started wrestling when he was 10 years old and talks about how he was never expected to be successful yet still won the NCAA Wrestling championship. He thought he had it made when he turned pro and he started at the bottom, sleeping in the trunk of his car because he couldn't afford a hotel. He had to work out with kids at the YMCA to keep in shape then fought and climbed for the WWF title. He appreciates all the friends and fans he's made in the last 5 years and doesn't want to let anyone down. Vince thanks Bob for joining us for this episode and signs off by saying next week's episode will be centered around the Superfly himself, Jimmy Snuka. 

Well that wraps up the first ever episode of WWF All-American Wrestling. It was definitely a choice showing Bob Backlund highlights and next week is going to be nothing but Jimmy Snuka highlights. At least Snuka may be more entertaining depending on which highlights they choose to showcase. There's not much to say on this other than Backlund was champion for five years at this point and Vince was expanding into cable television. Unfortunately Bob's monotone delivery and mat based matches weren't what Vince was thinking when he needed a larger than life star to move the needle. But that's a story for another day. The next Madison Square Garden show wouldn't be until October 17 and it just happened to be one of the most important in wrestling history. Until then, yay for Bob Backlund.

WWF at McKeesport (3/7/80)

McKeesport Vo-Tech Senior High School

McKeesport, PA

March 7, 1980

Believe it or not, the only reason this is worthy of a write-up is 2 minutes of footage found by John Arezzi of one particular match. Apparently someone in the crowd filmed a bit of Hulk Hogan vs Tito Santana so by golly we got us a write up. This is going to be quick, thankfully.

Match 1

Jojo Andrews vs "Killer" Joe Abby

As I've mentioned earlier, Jojo was only 19 when he made his WWWF debut in 1976 so he's still only 23 here. "Killer" Joe Abby was a Pennsylvania local legend who started wrestling in the 1950's and he would have been 49 years old here. He fought in the Korean War shortly after high school so he was definitely a badass in his day. Apparently Jojo Andrews got the duke in this one.

Winner: Jojo Andrews by pinfall

Match 2

Billy Berger vs "Luscious" Johnny Valiant

Jobber to the stars Billy Berger takes on Johnny Valiant in this one. Not surprisingly, Valiant got the victory.

Winner: Johnny Valiant by pinfall

Match 3

Baron Mikel Scicluna vs Gorilla Monsoon

The big rematch from WWWF television where Muhammad Ali infamously hopped in the ring to challenge Monsoon. Monsoon got the victory here.

Winner: Gorilla Monsoon by pinfall

Match 4

"The Incredible" Hulk Hogan vs Tito Santana

And now we get to only match with footage of it. Thank goodness someone brought an 8MM camera to this show and kept the footage alive for 40 years before it was converted to digital. Santana was one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions with Ivan Putski at the time, and Putski will be seen later. Ironically Hogan is in the yellow tights so its definitely weird to see essentially Hulkamania against Tito. The footage starts with Hogan locking in a chinlock on Tito but Tito fighting out of it. Santana rocks Hogan with right hands but misses a dropkick. Hogan whips Tito into the corner and poses for the irate crowd. He whips Santana into the other corner but misses a charge. Tito goes upstairs and hits a crossbody for 1....2..no, Hulk kicks out. Santana sends Hogan into the corner where a charge eats knee. Hogan covers Santana and hooks the trunks for 1...2....3 that's it. Wow, no legdrop? Then again this was still heel Hogan so he didn't need it when he could simply cheat. The footage ends with Hogan leaving and the size of the crowd is pretty small, even for that era's standards. Still, Hogan beats Santana.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Hulk Hogan by pinfall

Match 5

"Polish Power" Ivan Putski vs Bobby Duncum

The other half of the tag champs is also in singles action against the rough and tough cowboy Duncum. Apparently Duncum got himself disqualified and Putski was announced the winner. Least one of the tag champs got a victory.

Winner: Ivan Putski by disqualification

Not much to say about a long forgotten house show that looked to be in front of 200 people if that. If it wasn't for someone recording a few minutes of Hogan vs Santana, nobody would have been the wiser. If you're wondering why it was only a 5 match card, there was actually a Sam Mushnick super show going on in St. Louis that night where Bob Backlund defended the WWF title against Dick Murdoch. The main event was Ric Flair vs Jack Brisco 2 out of 3 falls.....hell that sounds like the better show. Still, this show is what it is, a house show. Can't judge it too harshly for that.

WWWF at Madison Square Garden (10/23/78) INCOMPLETE

Madison Square Garden

New York City, New York

October 23, 1978

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel

After 4 weeks of hype its time for the big monthly show at Madison Square Garden. We have a loaded card and its finally time to settle some issues. We got a big overdue rematch between Bruno Sammartino and "Superstar" Billy Graham. WWWF Champion Bob Backlund defends against the 6'9 Ernie Ladd and the tag team titles are on the line with "High Chief" Peter Maivia and "Chief" Jay Strongbow taking on the champs, The Yukon Lumberjacks. Unfortunately some of the matches are missing. Let's get to the action anyway. Howard Finkel is our ring announcer and he welcomes everyone to the show. He gives the run down of the state athletic commission, the doctor at ringside, the timekeeper, Isaac Padilla the referee and himself.

Match 1

"Unpredictable" Johnny Rodz vs "The New Zealand Flash" Del Adams

Rodz we all know but who the hell is Del Adams? Apparenly he was also known as Jim Ray. Adams is in the beige trunks with Rodz in the blue. Rodz refuses the handshake and aggressively attacks Del. Johnny hiptosses the guy but Adams returns the favor. They lock up and Adams locks in a full nelson before Rodz eventually breaks it. A second attempt is thwarted by Rodz and he locks in an armbar as Vince runs down the card. Rodz continues to work over the left shoulder with forearm smashes and a hammerlock. Eventually Adams backdrops Rodz but Rodz takes Del down and drops a second rope knee on him. A right hand drops his opponent as Padilla admonishes him for the clenched fist. Rodz continues to punch and kick before dropping an overhead forearm. Rodz whips Adams in the corner and continues to punch/kick him. Adams reverses a whip into the corner and punches away at Johnny. A terrible looking right hand to the mid-section drops Johnny and he begs off in the corner. Adams chokes Johnny in the corner with his boot before the ref breaks it up. Adams tells Rodz to get back to the center and they exchange strikes. A headbutt by Adams drops himself harder than Rodz sells it. Another right hand by Rodz drops Adams and he lands a leg drop. Adams recovers and dropkicks Rodz down where he begs off again. Adams drops Rodz with a knee to the midsection and goes for a single leg crap but Rodz makes it to the ropes. Rodz continues to attack with strikes and kicks before completing a second rope stomp. Rodz lands two elbow drops but misses a third. Adams goes on the offense with strikes and a hiptoss but a cheapshot by Rodz gives him the upperhand back. He floors Adams with an elbow but misses another elbow drop. Adams hits a sunset flip and Adams pops up like popeye. Rodz begs off but Adams whips him into the buckle. He whips Johnny into the opposite corner but misses the charge, eating ringpost. Rodz pounces on him and hits a double underarm suplex. Rodz rolls over and covers for 1...2....3? Yes...Johnny Rodz wins! ITS A MIRACLE!


Time of match: 9:39

Winner: Johnny Rodz by pinfall


Vince Jr and Gorilla Monsoon present an award and honors the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. We have kids and board members in the ring. Gorilla presents a check of 17 grand to the chairman. She thanks the crowd and gets a nice ovation from the crowd. Once this is over we go to the next bout.

Match 2

Victor Rivera vs Dominic Denucci

This match wasn't recorded for some reason but Rivera wins it.

Time of match: 4:11

Winner: Rivera by pinfall

On to the next match

Match 3

Baron Mikel Scicluna vs SD Jones

SD is in the white trunks and Scicluna is in standard attire. Vince says Scicluna is known to bend the rules as heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner has a ringside seat for tonight's show. Scicluna was Gorilla Monsoon's opponent when Muhammad Ali hit the ring and Ali fought Chuck Wepner before.....useless information I know. Scicluna stalls to start before they roll around the ropes. Baron gets a right hand to the ribs and an arm ringer to start. Scicluna takes over with a chinlock and milks it for several minutes. Finally SD takes over with his own arm ringer and Vince on commentary gets so bored he starts talking about Bob Backlund against Ernie Ladd coming up. Scicluna reaches for the ropes but he's yanked back down by Jones. Scicluna takes a swing but Jones ducks and continues to wrench the wrist. Scicluna goes for the ropes again only this time he rakes the eyes. Scicluna gets in another punch to the ribs and takes over with another neck twist. Vince is trying to say anything he can to keep from falling asleep as Scicluna's nerve hold has SD flat on the mat. Suddenly Jones springs to life and powers out of it....only for Scicluna once again grabs the neck and drops Jones down. This time Jones attempts and eye rake and the fans love it. Scicluna recovers to stomp on Jones and re-apply the nerve hold. God this is getting ridiculous, at least switch up the holds. The referee catches Scicluna pulling the tights and sticks a finger in his face, but doesn't make him break the hold. Jones gets to his feet and elbows Scicluna off but the Baron recovers to re-apply the hold. Even Vince goes "Ahhh, not again." Jones knocks Scicluna off only for Baron to re-apply the same damn nerve hold. Jones elbows out of it again, kicks Baron in the ribs and hits a headbutt to a HUGE pop. Jones threatens to kicks Baron in the junk but lets him go. Baron takes Baron down and covers for a delayed two count. Baron begs off in the ropes then begs off in the corner. SD grabs Mikel and goes for the arm-bar followed by another headbutt. Jones rams Mikel into the buckle and covers for 1...2...nope. Jones locks in a chin-lock but Baron powers out of it. Scicluna gets a few right hands in and uses the five count to blatantly choke Jones. Scicluna lands forearms to the neck and goes back to the nerve hold from earlier. Scicluna then pounds away with forearms to the neck again but Jones starts to power up with left hands to the ribs. Jones hits an aftershock and covers for 1...2....no. Jones hits Scicluna with a left but Baron mule kicks him. Jones gets a side headlock but Jones lets go with a big left hand. Jones hits a big headbutt that stuns Scicluna so hard that Jones gives him a big hug to keep him from falling. Jones hits another headbutt and hugs him again much to the crowd's delight. A third headbutt has Scicluna falling face first Greg Valentine style and Jones covers for a deuce. Scicluna sends Jones off the ropes and they collide. Jones takes a bump while Scicluna windmills to the ground. Jones rallies with left hands and covers for two with the referee out of position. Jones rallies with left hands and headbutts and covers for another two count. Chuck Wepner looks on as Scicluna misses a knee drop and Jones covers for a deuce. Jones is whipped off and sunset flips for a one count. The bell rings out of nowhere and this one's over. The time limit has expired but they're not done yet. They trade punches and Scicluna raises his hand thinking he's won. Howard Finkel announces a draw and we cut here. Bad, bad match but the crowd loved it, especially when Jones rallied and Scicluna kept dropping like a dead deer.


Time of match: 20:00

Winner: No one (time limit draw)

Match 4

Chief Jay Strongbow and "High Chief" Peter Maivia vs The Yukon Lumberjacks (Eric and Pierre) for the WWWF Tag Team Championship

Days earlier Maivia turned heel on Arnold Skaaland and Bob Backlund but was still scheduled to team with Strongbow against the Jacks. Vince says before the match starts that Strongbow must have patched things up. Right off the bat Strongbow argues with Peter on who starts the match. Bell's gone and Strongbow still yells at him at the apron. Strongbow and Maivia go nose to nose then Jay says to hell with him and heads to the middle of the ring to face Pierre. Pierre backs him into the corner and backs off. Strongbow goes to meet him but Maivia decks Jay from behind. He leaves to a chorus of boos and apparently we got a handicap match. Pierre stomps away on Strongbow but he rallies in the corner until Eric tags in. Eric punches away on Strongbow and rams his head in the buckle. Eric sends him off and Strongbow runs into a big boot. Eric covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Kind of academic after Maivia left as Vince says it was more or less 3 on 1. Fink announces the Jacks are still the champs as the fans are mad. The match itself was nothing special but it was more or less to show Maivia's heel turn was for real.

Time of match: 3:04

Winner: Yukon Lumberjacks by pinfall (still WWWF Tag Team Champions)

Match 5

Jerry "Crusher" Blackwell vs Tony Russo

Blackwell is billed from Stone Mountain, Georgia the eventual hometown of Jake "The Snake" Roberts. Vince calls Blackwell a rotund individual. Blackwell was the Mike Shaw of his time, a very mobile big man. Bell's gone and Russo eats a shoulderblock. Russo dropkicks him and hits a shouldertackle to move Blackwell into the corner. Blackwell hits a forearm and sends him into the buckle. Jerry whips him into the other corner but misses the avalanche.  Russo tries to whip Jerry but Jerry knocks him down with a right hand. Another right hand drops Russo and a snap mare leads to more boots. Russo tries a headbutt but Blackwell lands two forearms. Blackwell with a snapmare and drops a leg to the back. Blackwell stomps Russo in the ass and applies a bearhug. Russo tries a bell ringer but Blackwell doesn't budge. Blackwell backs Russo in the corner and hits the big avalanche. Back to the bearhug but Russo won't give it up. Russo powers out of it, kicks Blackwell in the gut and sends him into the buckle twice. Russo rallies with forearms and Blackwell teases falling but moves out of the way of Russo's dropkick. Blackwell hits a diving headbutt and a scoop slam. Blackwell hits a first rope big splash and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. That was a complete squash for no other purpose than to put over Blackwell as a mean looking fella. Vince says our main event is next.

Time of match: 5:01

Winner: Blackwell by pinfall

On to the next match.

Match 6

"The Big Cat" Ernie Ladd (with The Grand Wizard) vs Bob Backlund (with Arnold Skaaland) for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

Maivia was going to be the next big challenger for Backlund after turning on him so the writing was on the wall with this one. Ladd was one month away from his 40th birthday as well. Bell rings and they shake hands to start. Ladd gets a go-behind but Backlund counters it, sending Ladd to the ropes. Ladd and Backlund exchange reversals but Ladd makes it to the ropes. Ladd goes for the bearhug and yanks the tights for leverage but Backlund makes it to the ropes. Ladd hammers away with chops and forearms then throws Backlund down. Ladd and Backlund exchange chops and Backlund kicks the left leg to knock the big man down. Backlund slingshots Ladd to the middle of the ring and drops the leg on the left knee. Bob twists the left leg and tries for a leglock but the much taller Ladd snatches him and rolls over out of it. Backlund kicks away at the leg again and Ladd wants another hand shake. Backlund refuses and goes behind Ladd again before grabbing the left leg. He kicks the right leg to drop Ernie and goes back to work with a leg lock. Again Ladd uses his height to yank the tights to get free. Ernie shoulderblocks Backlund in the corner and hammers away. Ladd whips Backlund in the corner but misses the charge. Bob kicks away at the left leg and brings him to the center of the ring. Backlund jumps on the hamstrings of Ladd and applies another leg lock. Backlund then jumps on the leg before once again twisting it. Ladd makes it to the ropes and bails to the apron to get the circulation back. Ladd stalls for more heat and Ernie goes for the waistlock, but Backlund counters out of it and once again controls the left leg. Backlund rows it like an oar and Ladd takes the two count near fall. Backlund keeps pushing Ladd down with his own left leg to get Ernie's shoulders to the mat. Ladd kicks Backlund with his free leg and takes over with forearms and a chop. Ernie scoop slams Backlund and rams Bob's head into the buckle. Ernie does a hiptoss but Bob rallies with right hands and tries a headbutt to the leg that Ernie doesn't sell. Ernie then does the taped thumb routine by repeatedly punching Backlund with it, the second time sends Bob to the apron. The referee goes to check Ladd who makes sure he doesnt check the tights. Ernie sends Bob off the ropes and hits a big boot. Ernie does a double leg drop and covers but Bob powers out of it at 1. Ernie chops Bob in the throat, does a snap mare and a blatant choke. Ernie poses for the irate crowd and goes back to the thumb to the throat. He covers for 1.....2...the referee notices Ernie's feet are on the ropes and makes him break it. Ernie kneels on Backlund's neck and yells at the fans some more. Bob rallies with right hands and wghips him on the corner. He backdrops Ernie and drops a leg before covering for 1...2....nope. Backlund does his in between the legs atomic drop and Ernie falls into the ropes Andre The Giant style. Backlund charges but eats boot. Ladd backdrops Backlund and hits another taped thumb shot to the throat. Backlund bails to the apron but is brought in the hard way. Bob gets his own thumbs to the throat but is sent off the ropes. Backlund shoulderblocks Ladd down and Ernie leapfrogs (!!!) and hits a dropkick (double !!!). Ernie covers for 1....2....nooooo. Ernie whips Bob off the ropes and hits another big boot. Ernie hits a big leg drop but misses the big splash. Bob hits the big atomic drop and covers for 1......2.....3 to win the match. For 1978 standards that was damn good. They tried to be as realistic as possible with wrestling holds and the taped thumb. The crowd goes nuts as Backlund is declared the winner and still champ. This kind of match would be frowned upon today with its slow pace but this was highly regarded in its time.

Time of match: 17:24

Winner: Backlund by pinfall

Moving right along to the next match.

Match 7

Larry Zbyszko vs Spiros Arion (with Freddie Blassie)

This another one of those matches that isn't on Youtube or on the official MSG broadcast. Apparently Larry won after Arion was disqualified.

Time of match: 6:12

Winner: Zbyszko by DQ

Now we move to the other half of our double main event.

Match 8

Bruno Sammartino vs "Superstar" Billy Graham

This was the big rematch from Baltimore when Graham won the heavyweight title a year earlier. Now that Graham is no longer the champion, Graham got his ass kicked by Dusty Rhodes in August, didn't emphatically beat Strongbow in September and he desperately needs this win to get another crack at Backlund. They circle to start and Bruno throws Billy backwards to start. Billy gets a right hand in but Bruno applies a sideheadlock punch to drop the ex-champ. Bruno poses for the crowd and Billy Goes for a neck vice. He tells the ringside photographers here's your next cover and they snap pictures accordingly. Bruno powers out of it and punches Graham down. A big kick to the chest has Billy reeling and Bruno then goes for the waistlock. Bruno turns it into a full nelson but Billy gets his foot on the rope. The ref doesnt make Bruno break it for whatever reason and Billy goes down to the mat. Billy manages to crawl to the ropes and bails to the apron to stretch. Back inside Bruno whips Graham into the corner but the flying knee misses. Billy goes to work on the right knee with stomps and a leg-lock. Vince on commentary says Bruno has been all over the world which is why he hasn't been seen in a while. Bruno reverses the hold and rams Billy's knee into the mat. Billy crawls to the apron and out of the ring to stall for time. Billy crawls back in and they do the test of strength spot. Billy wins it at first then Bruno makes the big comeback. Graham sells his ass off and then hooks the bottom rope with his leg to break it. Bruno backs Billy into the corner but Graham whips Bruno into the other corner. Billy stomps away at Bruno and whips him again in the corner. Billy covers for 1...2..nope. Billy stomps away on him again and locks in a bearhug. Bruno breaks the hold and locks in a bearhug of his own. Billy makes it to the ropes but Bruno rams Graham into the ringpost. Billy blades on camera and Bruno attacks the cut forehead with fists. Bruno scoop slams Bruno and covers him for two but gets up before three. Bruno wants to make an example of him and continues to pound away as Graham is a bloody mess. Bruno stomps away in the corner and the ref checks Billy. Ref says let's go and Billy swings wildly. THIS causes the ref to hold Bruno back and call it off. Bruno wins it by referee stoppage. Typical Bruno match of his era where he beats his opponent to a bloody pulp much to the crowd's delight. Storyline wise, Graham has lost it. He got beaten senseless by Dusty Rhodes and now Bruno in return matches. Usually that's a clue the guy is leaving the territory. If you like bloody fistfights, this match was for you.

Time of match: 12:24

Winner: Bruno Sammartino by stoppage

This was actually NOT the last match on the card. We got two more although they're not on the official broadcast.

Match 9

Tony Garea vs "Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff

Speaking of ex champions, here's Ivan Koloff. Bell's gone and Koloff goes to work with forearms but misses a charge in the corner. Garea armdrags Koloff but eats a knee to the back. Koloff works on the back with punches and forearms then rams him into the corner. Koloff continues to pound away on the lower back and covers for just 1. The relentless Koloff continues to work the back and kicks Garea in the head. Garea catches the leg and kicks Koloff in the hamstring. A right hand stuns Koloff and Tony whips him into the corner. Tony hits a running knee then rolls him over for a two count. Garea pounds away in the corner and hiptosses him. Tony hits a dropkick then locks in an abdominal stretch. Vince points out Tony didn't have the toes around the ankle and Koloff hiptosses him. Tony shoulderblocks Koloff down but runs into a scoop slam attempt. Garea rolls out of it and goes for the O'Connor Roll for 1....2..noo, Koloff pulls the tights to reverse it for 1...2...3 to win the match. Short and sweet and Koloff gets the duke while Garea is irate. Koloff points to his head after the match to taunt the crowd as Garea wants more. Koloff leaves as Garea protests. That was a crash style match two decades before that became commonplace.

Time of match: 3:16

Winner: Koloff by pinfall

Let's go to our final match.

Match 10

Dino Bravo vs "Crazy" Luke Graham

Our final match has the demented Graham taking on Italian babyface Bravo. Bell's gone and Bravo pushes Graham against the ropes. Dino gets a side headlock as Graham waves a finger saying "No." Graham switches to a front headlock but Bravo turns it into a hammerlock. Graham drops to one knee and snap mares Dino over. Graham gets a punch to the face and rams his head into the buckle. Graham unloads in the corner and goes back to the front headlock. Graham goes for the foreign object and waffles Bravo in the throat with it. Problem with doing the same gimmick is it loses its luster, especially after Ernie Ladd did it earlier. Graham does a blatant choke and bites the forehead of Dino. Luke scoop slams Dino and covers for 1...2..nope. Luke for some reason thinks he's won and raises his arms in victory. Dino dropkicks him into the corner and rolls him up for 1...2....3 to win the match. What the hell was that? Luke still thinks he's won after Dino leaves as the crowd begins to fill out. Guess they were pressed for time after all the important matches were over and they had to keep this short and sweet. Fink says the match was over 5 minutes which is BS but oh well.

Time of match: 3:24

Winner: Bravo by pinfall

Vince runs down the card we just saw and tells us we'll return to MSG on November 20th. Tomorrow night the New York Knicks will meet the Atlanta Hawks as well. The Knicks ended up winning that game 113-109 with Ray Williams leading the charge with 23 points. Useless information, so what? As for the show, standard MSG card with your ups and downs. Those were big ups though with Backlund/Ladd being great and Bruno beating the hell out of Graham. That time limit draw between Jones/Scicluna was the shits and the final matches were rushed due to the time constraints. Now that Billy Graham has been beaten into oblivion and Ernie Ladd failed to beat Backlund, its on to Peter Maivia. Its all but given that Maivia will get the next crack at Backlund on November 20th. Our next house show is tomorrow night in Spotswood, New Jersey. I'll see you there.

WWWF All-Star Wrestling (2/11/78)

WWWF All-Star Wrestling

Hamburg Fieldhouse

Hamburg, PA

February 11, 1978

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

Ring Announcer: Joe McHugh

We are days away from the big Madison Square Garden showdown between WWWF Heavyweight Champion "Superstar" Billy Graham and number one contender Bob Backlund. This was taped on February 1st but broadcasted today. Vince runs down today's card then sends us to Larry Zbyszko with a special message to donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. Larry says they can't take on diabetes alone and needs help to fight against it. Larry looked uncomfortable cutting this promo, the WCW Larry would have nailed it. On to our first match after Joe McHugh's introduction. Captain Lou Albano pantomimes jumping rope during Joe's introduction and Butcher Vachon is laughing hysterically.

Match 1

Pete Austin and SD Jones vs Butcher Vachon and Baron Mikel Scicluna (with Captain Lou Albano)

Last week Jones and Scicluna settled nothing in a time limit draw so now they're on opposite ends of a tag team. The bell rings and Albano immediately runs into an SD Jones right hand much to the crowd's delight. Albano bails and Scicluna starts with SD.....nevermind, its Butcher. Butcher tags in and locks up with Jones then shoulderblocks him down. Jones hits a backdrop and Butcher bails to the outside. Vachon gets back in and tags in Mikel Scicluna. Jones locks in an armringer and Austin tags in to take over with it. Scicluna backs him in the corner and hammers away on him.  Scicluna hammers away again and Austin fights out of it with forearms. Scicluna hits forearms to the chest against the rope then sends him into Vachon's knee. Vachon tags in for an open handed chop against the chest. Vachon rakes the back and Jones tags in. Buther begs off and Jones rallies with left hands and a whip to the corner. Vachon whips Jones in the corner and tags Baron in. Scicluna snap mares Jones and Baron stomps away on him. Jones goes for the blatant choke and the ref tells him to break it. Vince says Baron is usually a loner but doesn't mind teaming with Vachon. Jones rallies with a headbutt that dazes Scicluna to tag out to Vachon. Jones headbutts Vachon down and Austin tags in....and just walks around Vachon. He then covers him for a 1 count as even Vince says Austin has no idea what he's doing. Austin locks in a chinlock with Vachon's foot clearly out of the ring but the ref doesn't see it. Austin hits some of the worst forearms I've ever seen and whips Butcher into the opposite corner. A charge eats boot and Butcher tags out to Scicluna. Baron hits a series of forearms and sends him into the corner where Vachon tags back in. Butcher hits a double stomp to the chest and tags out to Scicluna. Baron hits a kneedrop and covers for 1...2...3...to win the match. Vince says SD Jones did well individually to further drive home the point Austin sucks. Butcher and Scicluna did their jobs as heels with their rugged styles but Austin hampered that match. Maybe SD will choose a better partner next time.

Time of match: 5:35

Winners: Scicluna and Vachon by pinfall

After the match, Vince hypes up our main event up next as we go to break. Back from break we go right to the next match.

Match 2

"High Chief" Peter Maivia vs Stan "The Man" Stasiak (with The Grand Wizard)

Former WWWF Champion Stasiak takes on the Samoan chief Maivia here. Vince says Peter doesn't take kindly to Grand Wizard. Bell's gone and they lock up to start. Stasiak starts with a waistlock and Peter reverses into a front headlock. Maivia lets go just to yell at Wizard some more. Maivia armdrags Stasiak and goes for the waistlock. Stan tries a wristlock but Maivia lifts him off the mat onto the top rope. Stasiak regroups with Wizard and avoids a headlock by grabbing the rope. Maivia headbutts Stasiak in the mid-section but Stan rallies with right hands. Stasiak works over Peter in the corner and applies a nervehold. Maivia has the crowd cheer for him to get up and he steps through the ropes. Stasiak continues to hammer away and goes for the heart punch, but Maivia blocks it with some chops.  A European uppercut drops Stasiak and Maivia kicks him out of the ring, literally. Stan regroups with Wizard and gets back in. Maivia taunts him as Vince says Peter will mix it up. Maivia goes to the full nelson but Stan can't break it. Stan gets a foot on the rope and gets in a punch to the ribs. Stan pounds away in the corner and goes for the heart punch. Maivia blocks it again with a headbutt. An uppercut sends Stasiak over the top rope to the floor much to the crowd's delight. Wizard distracts Maivia allowing Stasiak to get the upperhand. Stasiak chokes Maivia against the second rope before stomping away at him. Maivia falls to the floor and Stan repeatedly keeps him from getting back in. Maivia pulls him out and starts beating the crap out of him. They both get counted out as Peter didn't make it back in to beat it. Joe McHugh delivers the bad news to the crowd as Stan shouts "Bull" to a nearby camera. That was pretty good for a 1978 TV match. The uppercut to the floor popped the crowd.

Time of match: 7:04

Winner: No one (Draw)

Back from break we get another interview with "Classy" Freddie Blassie and Spiros Arion. Blassie looks at some fat dude in the front row and Blassie says Arion would beat him easy. The sanitation department forgot to remove him the last time they cleaned the place. Vince calls him absurd and Arion says Gorilla Monsoon, Haystacks and fat guys like them are offensive. Blassie says the guy stinks and the flies keep circling over him as Vince is noticeably cracking up, so the camera zooms on Arion. Arion claims he's nothing but class as Vince complains about Blassie making fun of the fans and Blassie doubles down on it. Blassie says his walking stick is custom made while everyone else has 5 dollar canes. Blassie says he makes nothing but money and Vince asks if Arion is okay with Blassie profitting off him taking the beatings. Arion counters that he doesn't take beatings and the fans pay Blassie, not him. Arion says in 1978, he'll be WWWF champion. On to the next match.

Match 3

"Iron Greek" Spiros Arion vs Dennis Johnson and Pete Reeves in a Handicap Match

Arion gets two jobbers here. That is NOT Seattle Supersonics star point guard Dennis Johnson by the way. Usually handicap matches are for big guys like Haystacks or Andre The Giant, but then again....Arion was 6 foot 5 which was a giant in those days compared to other guys. Arion bumrushes the jobbers at the bell and rams their heads together. Arios stomps on Johnson and gets a knee to the chest. Arion kicks away at Reeves and rakes the eyes of Johnson. Arion whips the jobbers into each other and gets a full nelson on Johnson. Reeves punches away that Arion totally ignores. Arion throws Reeves through the ropes and Johnson gets dropped with a headlocked punch. Arion stomps on Johnson and hiptosses him. He covers for 1...2..no, Arion pulls him up. Arion drops both men with forearms and Spiros chokes Johnson on the top rope. Blassie goes over to Vince's table and cuts a promo saying Arion is the best since he's bored. The two jobbers start punching away on Arion as the crowd starts to make some noise. They whip Arion to the buckle and punch away again. Arion grabs both men and ram their heads together. Arion drops a knee to the groin of Johnson and scoop slams Reeves. Arion covers for 1...2...no, he pulls him up. Arion throws Reeves outside and he punches away at Johnson. Blassie chokes Reeves outside with the cane as Arion gets in the overhead backbreaker. The bell rings before he even gets Johnson all the way up and this one's over.

Time of match: 4:48

Winner: Arion by submission

We go straight to the next match

Match 4

Dominic DeNucci vs "Nobleman" Joe Turco

Another battle of the Italians after Turco met Dino Bravo last week on Championship Wrestling. They circle to start and Dominic pushes Turco back who complains of a hair pull. They lock up again and Turco gets in a forearm to the chest. DeNucci gets in a wristlock but Turco makes it to the ropes. Turco locks in a headlock and pulls the hair but DeNucci lifts him up by the leg. DeNucc reverses into a wrist lock and punches the left arm. Turco goes for a bear hug but Dominic bell rings out of it. DeNucci does a go-behind but Turco grabs the hair and forearms Dominic in the chest. Dominic gets mad and chases Turco around the ring before dropping him with a toe hold. Turco and makes his way to the ropes and they tie up again. Turco applies a wristlock and pulls Dominic down by the tights. Turco takes him down a second time and DeNucci bridges to avoid a count. Turco shouts "I got him now!" but DeNucci makes it to his knees. Turco bites the hand and takes him down by the hand. Turco forearms Dominic against the ropes and sends him off. DeNucci sunset flips Turco for 1...2...3 to win the match. DeNucci outsmarted Turco in an incredibly slow match.

Time of match: 5:48

Winner: DeNucci by pinfall

We cut to Vince shilling the same WWWF Wrestling Action magazine from last week with spreads on Bruno Sammartino and Andre The Giant. GPO Boc 1256 New York, New York 10001 if you're interested. On to the final match.

Match 5

Frankie Williams and Joe Marcus vs Mr. Fuji and Professor Toru Tanaka

The tag champs are in action in a non-title match against hall of fame jobber Williams and Joe Marcus. Marcus is a local Indiana guy and relative to Bob Marcus. Tanaka throws the ceremonial salt and bows in the corner and there's no Mrs. Krieger to wipe it away. Tanaka backs Williams in the corner to start and takes him down by the leg, choking him on the first rope. Tanaka chokes Frankie against the ropes and tags in Fuji. Fooj rams Frankie's head in the buckle and forearms him down. Williams rallies with right hands to stun Fuji and wake up McMahon. Williams applies a chin lock and tags in Marcus. Joe applies a headlock but Fuji powers out of it with a chop to the chest. Fuji scoop slams him and drops a leg. Tanaka tags in and applies a wristlock. Tanaka chokes Joe with his left hand while the ref isn't looking and rams his head in the buckle. Fuji tags in as Vince says he's the more vicious of the two. He was the bigger ribber for sure. Fuji applies a front headlock and walks into the wrong corner so he backs into his own for Tanaka to tag in. Tanaka elbows Marcus in the throat and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. The problem with too many squash matches is they're relatively boring. Luckily this was the last one on this card.

Time of match: 4:48

Winners: Fuji and Tanaka

We sign off and that was strange not to promote the Madison Square Garden show this Monday night. Backlund vs Graham is the main event but this show just showed us that Spiros Arion is a mean looking fella. Also telegraphing the winner of the MSG match because why would you build up a heel like Arion if Graham were to retain? Unless Billy Graham was about to turn face which would have been a smart thing to do considering how entertaining he is on the microphone. Still, this show served its purpose to set up the next potential contender and showcase how mean & nasty Fuji and Tanaka are. Our next show after this is the house show tonight at the Baltimore Civic Center. I'll see you there.

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 at Madison Square Garden (5/16/77) Incomplete

May 16, 1977

Madison Square Garden

New York City, New York

Commentator: Vince McMahon Jr

This is going to be an incomplete write-up as nearly the entire show has been lost to time but last two matches including the main event remains. This was "Superstar" Billy Graham's first WWWF title defense after beating Bruno Sammartino for the strap the month before. Traditionally heels were transition champions as Ivan Koloff put over Pedro Morales a month after dethroning Bruno and Stan Stasiak dropped it to Bruno nine days after beating Pedro. Well this theory would be put to the test because Billy's opponent tonight would be none other than Gorilla Monsoon, one month shy of his 40th birthday. Not that Gorilla wasn't popular in New York, he'd be beloved until the day he passed, but Gorilla's time had come and gone. Could this be that Graham would NOT be a transition champion? Let's find out. The only other match that has any footage is the semi-main event as the former champ Bruno takes on old rival George "The Animal" Steele. Let's get to it.

Match 1

Carlos Rocha vs Jan Nelson

As I mentioned in a previous writeup, Jan Nelson was an up and coming wrestler that would tragically pass away a year later. Remember at the 1993 Royal Rumble when legendary Puerto Rican promoter/wrestler Carlos Colon competed in the Rumble for absolutely no reason explained? Well back in 1977 legendary Portuguese wrestler Carlos Rocha joined WWWF in his 50's for a year long run for absolutely no reason. According to the program, Rocha defeated Nelson.

Winner: Carlos Rocha

Match 2

Ron Mikolajczyk vs Doug Gilbert

No, that's not infamous Memphis wrestler Doug Gilbert, he would have been 8 years old at the time. This is Doug Lindsay, a big rough territory heel. Ron is actually THE Ron Mikolajcyzk the former New York Giants offensive lineman. Apparently he became friends with Jerry Lawler when he was playing for Memphis in the ill-fated World Football League (think XFL in 1974) so he wrestled during the off-season. Imagine him vs Ernie Ladd? Anyway Ron got the duke here.

Winner: Ron Mikolajczyk

Match 3

Baron Mikel Scicluna vs "Polish Power" Ivan Putski

Finally people we know as two WWWF mainstays square off in a mid-card showdown. Apparently the bout ended in a draw. Its a shame the match has been lost to time.

Winner: No one (Draw)

Match 4

Chief Jay Strongbow vs Ken Patera

Patera couldn't stand Strongbow or his partner Billy White Wolf so tonight he gets Strongbow one on one. Unfortunately this match has also been lost to time and apparently it also ended in a draw. The feud was just beginning.

Winner: No one (Draw)

Match 5

Billy White Wolf vs Rocky Tomayo

Speaking of White Wolf, here he is in singles action against Peruvian wrestler Rocky Tomayo. Tomayo was a big rough heel mostly working the territories. Apparently White Wolf got the win in this one.

Winner: Billy White Wolf

Match 6

Larry Zbyszko and Tony Garea vs Nikolai Volkoff and Stan Stasiak

Another match that's unfortunately lost to time is this one. Zbyszko and Garea were the top babyface tag team behind White Wolf and Strongbow and here they take on veteran heels Volkoff and Stasiak. Apparently Garea and Zbyszko won the match

Winners: Garea & Zbyszko

Match 7

Bruno Sammartino vs George "The Animal" Steele

If you thought John Cena wrestled Randy Orton a zillion times between 2001 and 2021 Bruno vs Steele may have that beat. Bruno vs Steele was a WWWF mainstay that lasted for nearly two decades. Thankfully there IS footage of this match so let's get to it. We're joined in progress as Bruno chases Steele around the ring and rakes the eyes. Bruno puts the boots to Steele and whips George into the corner who Flair flips out of the ring. Steele takes a few moments to collect himself as some old lady hits Steele with her pocketbook a whole bunch of times while George just does his thing to shrug it off. Props to George for playing around with it rather than break character and tell a security guard to escort her out like you see today's softies do. The ref leans out of the ring to tell George to get back in and George stalls for more heat. Arnie Skaaland at ringside laughs at the old lady taking swings at George as he gets back in. George does the "foreign object" routine and punches Bruno with it as the crowd jumps up to complain. George clubs away at Bruno then kicks away at him. George gets the object out and nails Bruno in the throat with it. This continues two more times and George stomps away at Bruno in the corner.  The ref tries to pull Steele off Bruno as he continues to kick Sammartino. Bruno gets to his feet and George clubs away with forearms. Bruno then does a pseudo Hulk-Up and the crowd starts to buzz. My grandfather loved this part....Sammartino finally explodes and beats the ever-loving piss out of Steele with forearms, turnbuckle smashes and right hands to the head. Bruno whips Steele into the corner and stomps away at him with the ref trying to get him off. Bruno continues to go apeshit on Steele who blades on camera with the camera focusing directly on him....whoops. Bruno continues to kick away at the bloody Steele until the ref shoves him off.  Bruno stands on Steele and the ref once again pushes him off. The ref checks on Steele and calls for the bell saying George can't continue. It was almost the exact same match Pedro Morales had against Steele in 1973. The crowd roars as Bruno is declared the winner. For those that didn't get to watch a lot of Bruno, he was a lot like Hogan where he'd take a beating the entire match then explode at the end. It doesn't seem like much today but fans in the 60's and 70's loved it.

Time of match: Joined in progress

Winner: Bruno Sammartino by stoppage

Match 8

Gorilla Monsoon vs "Superstar" Billy Graham with The Grand Wizard for the WWWF Heavyweight Championship

As mentioned earlier, heel champions didn't last very long as both Ivan Koloff and Stan Stasiak had short reigns to transition to babyface champions. Using that logic, smart fans (if there were any) were excited to see if the near 40 year old Gorilla Monsoon would be the man in New York. Meanwhile, casual fans wanted to see Graham get his ass kicked so the Garden is rocking for the main event. Monsoon stalks Graham at the bell and they tie up. Graham tries to throw Monsoon around like he does all the jobbers but Gorilla doesn't budge. Graham tries another throw but Monsoon shrugs it off. Its funny because I can hear the commentator version of Gorilla from 10 years later going "Highly unlikely you're gonna move him like that." Monsoon then heaves Graham down and catches him with a giant swing. Monsoon bounces off the ropes and HITS THE BIG SPLASH FOR 1...2.....the referee's arm goes 2/3's the way down but he correctly sees Graham's whole legs are on the ropes. The crowd thought that was it as Monsoon kicks at the air in frustration. Graham rolls to the outside to get a breather then begs off inside the ring. Monsoon catches him with chops to the head before locking in an arm-bar. Graham sells like his arm is being torn off and Monsoon revs up the crowd. Graham rakes the eyes but his shoulderblock attempt backfires as he hits the deck. Monsoon goes for an elbow drop but misses. Graham kicks away at Monsoon in the corner but Monsoon starts getting up. Monsson starts shaking off Graham's forearms but Billy catches him in the bearhug. The crowd cheers as Monsoon looks to chop his way out but he starts to fade. Finally Monsoon catches Billy with a series of chops to the head to break free. Both men are down but Graham gets up first and clobbers Monsoon. Monsoon takes a big bump off the turnbuckle as Graham stomps away. Graham then locks in another bearhug but Monsoon makes it to the ropes. Graham holds on as they fall out of the ring and he rams Gorilla into the barricade multiple times. The ref looked to have counted to 20 but it doesn't matter as Monsoon is rolled in with Graham going upstairs. Graham hits a knee drop off the top rope, rolls Monsoon over and covers. Monsoon's foot is clearly out of the ring but the ref doesn't see it....1...2....3, that's it. Graham retains in his first title defense at Madison Square Garden. That was an interesting match because Graham was in control almost from start to finish apart from the initial big splash. Guess Graham survives another month as champion for now with a victory over Monsoon.

Time of match: 9:45

Winner: "Superstar" Billy Graham by pinfall

Its a shame the first six matches have been lost to time because it would have been interesting to see the tag champs in singles action along with Volkoff and Stasiask as a team. Hell it would have been funny to see Scicluna and Putski as well. Still the Bruno/Steele match was that generation's Cena vs Orton or Rock vs HHH and it had a hell of an ending. The main event was short and sweet as Gorilla was nearing the end physically and Graham was never the best technician. Still, two matches from the card remain and as long as there's wrestling fans, they'll always remain.