klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
WWWF House Show
Date: December 19, 1977
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York
Attendance: 22,085
Commentator: Vince McMahon
I know I’m old school but this is a stretch even for me. We’re pre-Vince Jr. buyout here and are a part of the NWA at this time. This is from back in the days of the reign of Billy Graham as the company’s champion but the REAL world champion is Harley Race at this point. This is a house show that was taped and put out on local TV as the local show. A lot of these guys are going to be unknowns but this would be like watching an FCW show from a year or so ago. Let’s get to it.
Baron Mikel Scicluna vs. Special Delivery Jones
Jones is returning here for some reason and I guess that’s a big deal? He was a much bigger deal in this era if nothing else so that could explain a lot. I’m pretty sure the Baron is the heel here. Yeah he definitely is. Jones is more famously know for being the guy that lost in “9 seconds” at the first Mania. Crowd is pretty dead here. Oh and this is World Wide Wrestling Federation so the name sounds very weird.
Wow it’s weird hearing about NWA Champion Harley Race. Both guys work on the arm and nothing happens. It’s weird to think that Hogan was over five years away at this point from winning the title. To give you an idea of the time frame here, John Cena is about 6 months old and Randy Orton wouldn’t be born for about two and a half years. The Baron hits Jones in the head and hurts his hand to set up a comeback.
And instead it’s even more arm stuff. Jones REALLY likes working on that part of the body. He gets rammed into the buckle and dances out to wake the crowd up a bit. That goes nowhere as this is a lot of mat work and stomping. Needless to say it’s not a particularly good match. Jones goes a little heelish here with two fingers in the eye. Baron is horrible at selling in any way, shape or form.
He claims to not be able to see and that goes nowhere. Jones works on the legs now to waste some time. Baron hits the big spot of the match: a monkey flip. Well I guess that’s what it was supposed to be but that might be a stretch. He stomps on Jones and that’s the time limit to end this at about 15 minutes.
Rating: D. Just boring as all hell with nothing but punches and kicks. It went WAY too long also which was the most annoying aspect of it. We don’t need to see these two get that long at all. Baron would somehow be in the Hall of Fame one day, although I have no idea what he did to earn it.
They brawl a bit more after the match ends.
Fink has a full head of hair here too.
We go to Australia of all places for a match from a show called World Championship Wrestling (limited relationship to the more famous version).
NWA World Title: Harley Race vs. Rick Martel
Martel is about 21 here and the announcers are Australian. This has to be the forerunner to OCW. Crowd is INSANE here and we keep hearing the announcer say World Championship Wrestling which is weird as hell. The turnbuckles are HUGE. This is just odd to see but rather fun. A hiptoss and backdrop into an arm drag and armbar warrants a slow motion replay in the middle of the match.
This announcer is really good. No clue who he is but he’s quite engaging. Race was fairly awesome at this point as he was still young at 34. Martel gets out of a hammerlock to a nice pop. He’s quite popular here. I wonder if he has an enormous schwanzstück (rep to whoever gets this reference first). Race gets a nice gutwrench suplex to take over again but Martel starts the comeback.
The punches are let loose but Martel misses a cross body off the middle rope and Race hits a British Bulldogesque delayed suplex to get the pin. It was a very different time back then and winning with a move like that was perfectly acceptable at this point.
Rating: B-. Very fun little match here as Martel did his thing but Race just outsmarted him to get the pin. Race in his prime is a sight to behold as he really is as good as he’s made up to be. I’m not a big Martel guy but this was a good match and the crowd being very hot helped a lot. Who would have expected that from Australia?
Apparently this is a substitution for a Dominic Denucci vs. Golden Terror match. Terror was a jobber for about 15 years. Denucci is famous for two of his trainees: Shane Douglas and more famously, Mick Foley.
Butcher Vachon vs. Johnny Rivera
Victor Rivera, a fairly big star at this time, was supposed to be here but couldn’t make it due to transportation issues so Johnny is taking his place. Butcher is the least known of the Vachon Family as his brother is Maurice and his daughter is Luna. He’s still a name though and this should be a glorified squash methinks. Rivera is your standard pissed off Puerto Rican but is quite short.
Rivera is barely taller than the top rope and Butcher is a guy you would put into a short feud with Cena as a monster. Rivera is built though so he’s a bit like a shorter Chris Benoit, which is definitely a good thing. You really can tell the generational differences here as there’s a lot of sitting around in between moves and a lot of very basic stuff. It’s better than the first match though.
Rivera almost gets caught in the same move a third time in a row but this time is ready for it, which shows some intelligence. He manages to slam Butcher in a move I didn’t think he could pull off. Butcher does the classic shoulder strap choke which is always good for some heel heat. Rivera gets all fired up for his comeback (living up to the Latin stereotype I guess) but misses a dropkick and a double stomp from Vachon ends it.
Rating: C. Not bad here but nothing great. This was just a standard big guy vs. little guy match and at times that’s all you need. This was a decent enough use of 6 minutes and since Victor wasn’t there which I’d assume is legit, this was about as good as they were going to do. My prediction was more or less right too.
Battle of the Managers: Lou Albano vs. Arnold Skaaland
We get our first story here as Arnold won Manager of the Year and Albano is ticked off about it, resulting in them fighting over it. The face, Arnold, jumps Lou during introductions to show he means business. Fans are WAY into this which always helps. Albano runs immediately and still has his jacket on. A foreign object ends that though and we’re ready to go.
Super Mario needs a shirt while wrestling. Allegedly these two weigh the same thing but I have a problem believing that one for some reason. Somewhere around the 8th shot with it the referee sees it or at least thinks he sees it so he plays Find the Object in Albano’s Pants. That’s a good one to play at a party where there are no women or alcohol. Arnold gets it and beats on Albano with it, busting him open.
Arnold pounds away as Albano tries not to fall down. And so much for that theory as Albano hits the floor. For about the 5th time he adjusts his tights and then runs to the back for the relatively cheap count out. I say relatively as this sets up another match down the road I’d assume.
Rating: D. Well the crowd was into it if nothing else. The match itself sucked but when it’s a battle of managers how much can you expect? It’s less than five minutes long though and Skaaland (damn that’s hard to type) made a comeback to a nice pop so this worked fine for what it was. Match was awful though from a wrestling standpoint which is what we’re going for here.
Bob Backlund vs. Mr. Fuji
Fuji is a tag champion here and Backlund is about two months from winning the world title. This is what Backlund was best at though: big and brutal fights with evil heels. It’s weird seeing Fuji as a viable heel for some reason. He’s managed by Blassie here and Backlund is named the All-American Boy. He’s undefeated too but needs a freaking sandwich as he’s tiny.
Fuji looks young here but is in his mid-forties. He does the salt throw as we waste a lot of time. Blassie is sent away for no apparent reason. Ok maybe the guy didn’t like him dancing the Twizzle on Dick Van Dyke about ten years earlier. WOW that was only ten years before this. That blows my mind. Upon further review, managers didn’t stay around at this point. I didn’t know that. Jimmy Hart apparently would break that trend, but I’m not sure if that’s accurate or not.
Fuji jumps him to start but here comes Bobby Backlund. I always hear JR’s voice in my head when I say that name which makes Backlund sound like he’s about 9. Fuji spits on the mat which can’t be sanitary. The more successful of these two works the arm a lot while the more famous one does very little. You figure out which I mean. Another thing that it’s weird to hear is Vince being all calm and just being an announcer with literally no authority at this point. He would buy his dad out in about five years, give or take.
Backlund might have been kicked low but it’s not entirely clear. There’s a lot of sitting around with various holds going on here which gets a bit irritating at times. We get it: you can use basic holds. DO SOMETHING ELSE. That’s not just on this match but rather the show in general, but to be fair that was the norm back in the day. Vince: “Both wrestlers going toe to toe on their knees.” Well he can’t get them all I guess.
Scratch that theory about the whole insanely violent match as this is nothing resembling that. I guess those would come later? The biggest spot of the night so far hits as Backlund slams him off the top. A dropkick and the longest atomic drop in history, Backlund’s finisher at the time, ends it. He would win the world title on the next MSG show I think.
Rating: D+. Not bad here but this just wasn’t much at all. Everyone knew Backlund would be something special but I don’t think anyone expected it so soon. He’s called sensational by Fink afterwards in an odd line. This was just boring as hell though and it never really got into anything past slow gear.
WWWF World Title: Billy Graham vs. Mil Mascaras
Well there’s something you don’t see every day! By the way, Hogan, HHH, Scott Steiner and Jesse Ventura totally ripped off their gimmicks from Graham. I’ve heard a lot about Mascaras not selling stuff so let’s see if that’s the case or not. Graham is a roided up mess here and likely had to lose the title due to health issues soon after this. The Grand Wizard, Graham’s manager, gets to stay here as he’s promised to be good. I’m not making this up. Fink actually says the words “as long as he behaves.”
And Mascaras sprints off to the back to….uh….apparently he’s getting a burrito? Ah never mind he gets Backlund which is likely to set up the next show. Mascaras goes insane to start us off and just beating the hell out of Graham. They’re going formula here and there’s nothing wrong with that. Mascaras gets a bow and arrow hold and makes Graham dance like a chicken. You’d have to see it to get it.
Graham can’t overpower the guy that’s a lot bigger than I expected him to be. We stay in this hold for a LONG time as Graham isn’t smart enough to break it by using the ropes I guess. And of course just as I type that he’s in them. Keep in mind this is just a regional title at the moment and not the WORLD Title. That wouldn’t change for a few years when it became the WWF. Technically they were out of the NWA but they still had a big connection to it which wouldn’t end for a few years like I mentioned. In short, the whole thing was a complicated mess that Vince would get them out of.
Graham wins a test of strength but Mascaras just keeps out moving him. We hit a full nelson but that doesn’t work either. Graham can’t get anything to keep working at all here which I think is the point of the match. An abdominal stretch is a big deal at the time but lasts a second or two here. There are a LOT of submission holds here and they’re kind of sucking the life out of it.
Vince is also very different here as he’s not talking a mile a minute. That rarely would be the case later on in his more prominent stuff. Wizard shouts instructions to Graham and gets taken away by the POLICE. WOW they took wrestling more seriously back then. There’s the bearhug which is Graham’s finisher. Just like every other hold he’s used though Mascaras counters into his own version.
Graham reaches for the ropes and looks like he’s Mark Henry reaching for a slab of pie. He finally escapes and goes for the mask in an evil move. I say evil because we’re at two minutes and counting so far. Ah here we go again. Champion goes to the floor and is rammed into the post, cutting him open. Mascaras goes off on him but the ref stops the match due to the cut. Some things never change I guess. That isn’t enough for a title change though as it’s pin or submission only, which makes sense at least.
Rating: B-. It’s slower paced and kind of a clash of styles but the whole Mascaras counters everything was a decent enough story. Backlund never did anything in this and until he came in at the end I didn’t realize he was even there. His presence there though gave a reason for the title match next time to an extent at least.
Stan Stasiak vs. Dusty Rhodes
Ok we’ve heard FOREVER about Dusty being a different kind of worker in the 70s. Let’s see if that’s legit. Stasiak was world champion for like 8 days and no one remembers it at all. His son is more famous as Meat/Shawn Stasiak in WWF. Rhodes is borderline thin here too which is odd. Dusty isn’t popular here but isn’t really hated either. He does his stupid dancing stuff to get out of a hold and then just ducks his head out of it. Well that was either brilliant or idiotic.
What is with so many people using wristlocks tonight? Stasiak is a very ugly man. Rhodes blocks the Heart Punch and starts busting out the elbows. I wonder if he ever hurt himself doing that. We hit a facelock and waste some more time. This is pretty weak to say the least. The future fat man busts out some punches and hits, you guessed it, a chinlock. DO SOMETHING! I MEAN DO ANYTHING! Dusty drops an elbow and his boobs bounce like Trish’s would.
Heart Punch misses again and Dusty pounds on the hand. If you didn’t get it the first three times they do it two more times before a pair of elbows from Dusty ends it. Can he do ANYTHING else? At least it’s over.
Rating: F+. Oh MAN this was boring. Dusty used a ton of rest holds. Yeah I’m stunned too. This never went anywhere at all and needed to be about half as long. This got 12 minutes and never was any good. Dusty is boring as hell and Stasiak wasn’t helping anything at all. At least it’s over though.
Toru Tanaka vs. Jay Strongbow
Tanaka is Fuji’s partner. Both guys are fat and we do the salt thing to start us off. They walk around each other for awhile now. Now for a change of pace they walk in the other direction! If this was a PPV era I’d think that could sell some shows. DO SOMETHING! NOT A WRISTLOCK! I’m actually considering fast forwarding this which I never do.
Strongbow does an ethnic war dance and makes his comeback despite being in a nerve hold for like ever. He steps on Tanaka’s foot to mix things up a little. And it’s a REST HOLD!!! Strongbow plays the stomach like a drum and I’m glad he did as it woke me up. Tanaka throws salt in his eyes to get out of a sleeper to get the DQ.
Rating: F. SWEET DAMN THIS WAS BORING. This went on for ELEVEN MINUTES. Good night I hated this match and I couldn’t be happier that it’s over. Just get on to anything else, in this case the main event.
Larry Zbyszko/Tony Garea vs. Jack Evans/Larry Sharpe
This is two years before Zbyszko would have his big feud with Sammartino so he’s not much yet. There’s a curfew from the New York Athletic Commission stating a show can’t go on past a certain time so this has 15 minutes max despite being listed as a one hour time limit. That’s no joke actually and they really have to stop the match after a certain time of night. Larry Sharpe is one of the three or four most prolific trainers ever, having trained about fifteen guys that I’ve heard of, the most famous being Raven, Sheamus and Big Show among a ton of other midcard guys.
Evans and Garea start us off and the crowd is just spent. Much like them I just don’t care either. Ending with a tag match like this is kind of a weird idea but I guess they didn’t want to risk anything important being cut off. Garea gets beaten on forever as like five minutes have passed since the last thing I typed. There’s just nothing worth mentioning at this point as even Vince has said this isn’t going to crack 15 minutes due to the curfew.
Zbyszko finally gets the tag and comes in to get a backdrop for the pin and the first fall. Larry beats up Jack as we’re desperately running out of time. The next show, which apparently isn’t the one Backlund wins the title on, won’t air on TV. Such a shame. Actually looking at the card, no it isn’t. The only interesting thing is an elimination 8 man tag match which we would call a Survivor Series match.
This is just going on and on as you know the time is about to run out. Everyone goes in at once. The heels are apparently called the Blonde Bombers, which about 93 teams have used over the years. Garea beats up Evans and the bell goes off for the curfew. Larry and Tony win by being up one fall, making this a kind of Ironman match. The curfew is 11. Seriously that’s just weird to hear.
Rating: D+. Nothing too bad here but they weren’t getting anywhere fast at all. This was one of those things that they throw on at the end to fill out the card, kind of like the final matches on a SNME or something. It wasn’t interesting or anything but it wasn’t horrible I guess.
Overall Rating: D. Unless you’re a VERY old school fan, stay away from this. It’s a completely different style than what you see today with zero promos and a very mat based style. There are a ton of arm locks and holds that rarely go anywhere and nothing of real note happens. These guys are forgotten for a reason as a lot of them are just ethnic stereotypes that have zero depth to their characters.
This show is also one that just DRAGS. It’s only two hours long but it feels like about 4 which isn’t a good thing. I have another one from 79 where the card is absolutely stacked so we’ll get to that soon enough. Boring show but an interesting history lesson I guess. By far the oldest thing I’ve ever reviewed.
Date: December 19, 1977
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York
Attendance: 22,085
Commentator: Vince McMahon
I know I’m old school but this is a stretch even for me. We’re pre-Vince Jr. buyout here and are a part of the NWA at this time. This is from back in the days of the reign of Billy Graham as the company’s champion but the REAL world champion is Harley Race at this point. This is a house show that was taped and put out on local TV as the local show. A lot of these guys are going to be unknowns but this would be like watching an FCW show from a year or so ago. Let’s get to it.
Baron Mikel Scicluna vs. Special Delivery Jones
Jones is returning here for some reason and I guess that’s a big deal? He was a much bigger deal in this era if nothing else so that could explain a lot. I’m pretty sure the Baron is the heel here. Yeah he definitely is. Jones is more famously know for being the guy that lost in “9 seconds” at the first Mania. Crowd is pretty dead here. Oh and this is World Wide Wrestling Federation so the name sounds very weird.
Wow it’s weird hearing about NWA Champion Harley Race. Both guys work on the arm and nothing happens. It’s weird to think that Hogan was over five years away at this point from winning the title. To give you an idea of the time frame here, John Cena is about 6 months old and Randy Orton wouldn’t be born for about two and a half years. The Baron hits Jones in the head and hurts his hand to set up a comeback.
And instead it’s even more arm stuff. Jones REALLY likes working on that part of the body. He gets rammed into the buckle and dances out to wake the crowd up a bit. That goes nowhere as this is a lot of mat work and stomping. Needless to say it’s not a particularly good match. Jones goes a little heelish here with two fingers in the eye. Baron is horrible at selling in any way, shape or form.
He claims to not be able to see and that goes nowhere. Jones works on the legs now to waste some time. Baron hits the big spot of the match: a monkey flip. Well I guess that’s what it was supposed to be but that might be a stretch. He stomps on Jones and that’s the time limit to end this at about 15 minutes.
Rating: D. Just boring as all hell with nothing but punches and kicks. It went WAY too long also which was the most annoying aspect of it. We don’t need to see these two get that long at all. Baron would somehow be in the Hall of Fame one day, although I have no idea what he did to earn it.
They brawl a bit more after the match ends.
Fink has a full head of hair here too.
We go to Australia of all places for a match from a show called World Championship Wrestling (limited relationship to the more famous version).
NWA World Title: Harley Race vs. Rick Martel
Martel is about 21 here and the announcers are Australian. This has to be the forerunner to OCW. Crowd is INSANE here and we keep hearing the announcer say World Championship Wrestling which is weird as hell. The turnbuckles are HUGE. This is just odd to see but rather fun. A hiptoss and backdrop into an arm drag and armbar warrants a slow motion replay in the middle of the match.
This announcer is really good. No clue who he is but he’s quite engaging. Race was fairly awesome at this point as he was still young at 34. Martel gets out of a hammerlock to a nice pop. He’s quite popular here. I wonder if he has an enormous schwanzstück (rep to whoever gets this reference first). Race gets a nice gutwrench suplex to take over again but Martel starts the comeback.
The punches are let loose but Martel misses a cross body off the middle rope and Race hits a British Bulldogesque delayed suplex to get the pin. It was a very different time back then and winning with a move like that was perfectly acceptable at this point.
Rating: B-. Very fun little match here as Martel did his thing but Race just outsmarted him to get the pin. Race in his prime is a sight to behold as he really is as good as he’s made up to be. I’m not a big Martel guy but this was a good match and the crowd being very hot helped a lot. Who would have expected that from Australia?
Apparently this is a substitution for a Dominic Denucci vs. Golden Terror match. Terror was a jobber for about 15 years. Denucci is famous for two of his trainees: Shane Douglas and more famously, Mick Foley.
Butcher Vachon vs. Johnny Rivera
Victor Rivera, a fairly big star at this time, was supposed to be here but couldn’t make it due to transportation issues so Johnny is taking his place. Butcher is the least known of the Vachon Family as his brother is Maurice and his daughter is Luna. He’s still a name though and this should be a glorified squash methinks. Rivera is your standard pissed off Puerto Rican but is quite short.
Rivera is barely taller than the top rope and Butcher is a guy you would put into a short feud with Cena as a monster. Rivera is built though so he’s a bit like a shorter Chris Benoit, which is definitely a good thing. You really can tell the generational differences here as there’s a lot of sitting around in between moves and a lot of very basic stuff. It’s better than the first match though.
Rivera almost gets caught in the same move a third time in a row but this time is ready for it, which shows some intelligence. He manages to slam Butcher in a move I didn’t think he could pull off. Butcher does the classic shoulder strap choke which is always good for some heel heat. Rivera gets all fired up for his comeback (living up to the Latin stereotype I guess) but misses a dropkick and a double stomp from Vachon ends it.
Rating: C. Not bad here but nothing great. This was just a standard big guy vs. little guy match and at times that’s all you need. This was a decent enough use of 6 minutes and since Victor wasn’t there which I’d assume is legit, this was about as good as they were going to do. My prediction was more or less right too.
Battle of the Managers: Lou Albano vs. Arnold Skaaland
We get our first story here as Arnold won Manager of the Year and Albano is ticked off about it, resulting in them fighting over it. The face, Arnold, jumps Lou during introductions to show he means business. Fans are WAY into this which always helps. Albano runs immediately and still has his jacket on. A foreign object ends that though and we’re ready to go.
Super Mario needs a shirt while wrestling. Allegedly these two weigh the same thing but I have a problem believing that one for some reason. Somewhere around the 8th shot with it the referee sees it or at least thinks he sees it so he plays Find the Object in Albano’s Pants. That’s a good one to play at a party where there are no women or alcohol. Arnold gets it and beats on Albano with it, busting him open.
Arnold pounds away as Albano tries not to fall down. And so much for that theory as Albano hits the floor. For about the 5th time he adjusts his tights and then runs to the back for the relatively cheap count out. I say relatively as this sets up another match down the road I’d assume.
Rating: D. Well the crowd was into it if nothing else. The match itself sucked but when it’s a battle of managers how much can you expect? It’s less than five minutes long though and Skaaland (damn that’s hard to type) made a comeback to a nice pop so this worked fine for what it was. Match was awful though from a wrestling standpoint which is what we’re going for here.
Bob Backlund vs. Mr. Fuji
Fuji is a tag champion here and Backlund is about two months from winning the world title. This is what Backlund was best at though: big and brutal fights with evil heels. It’s weird seeing Fuji as a viable heel for some reason. He’s managed by Blassie here and Backlund is named the All-American Boy. He’s undefeated too but needs a freaking sandwich as he’s tiny.
Fuji looks young here but is in his mid-forties. He does the salt throw as we waste a lot of time. Blassie is sent away for no apparent reason. Ok maybe the guy didn’t like him dancing the Twizzle on Dick Van Dyke about ten years earlier. WOW that was only ten years before this. That blows my mind. Upon further review, managers didn’t stay around at this point. I didn’t know that. Jimmy Hart apparently would break that trend, but I’m not sure if that’s accurate or not.
Fuji jumps him to start but here comes Bobby Backlund. I always hear JR’s voice in my head when I say that name which makes Backlund sound like he’s about 9. Fuji spits on the mat which can’t be sanitary. The more successful of these two works the arm a lot while the more famous one does very little. You figure out which I mean. Another thing that it’s weird to hear is Vince being all calm and just being an announcer with literally no authority at this point. He would buy his dad out in about five years, give or take.
Backlund might have been kicked low but it’s not entirely clear. There’s a lot of sitting around with various holds going on here which gets a bit irritating at times. We get it: you can use basic holds. DO SOMETHING ELSE. That’s not just on this match but rather the show in general, but to be fair that was the norm back in the day. Vince: “Both wrestlers going toe to toe on their knees.” Well he can’t get them all I guess.
Scratch that theory about the whole insanely violent match as this is nothing resembling that. I guess those would come later? The biggest spot of the night so far hits as Backlund slams him off the top. A dropkick and the longest atomic drop in history, Backlund’s finisher at the time, ends it. He would win the world title on the next MSG show I think.
Rating: D+. Not bad here but this just wasn’t much at all. Everyone knew Backlund would be something special but I don’t think anyone expected it so soon. He’s called sensational by Fink afterwards in an odd line. This was just boring as hell though and it never really got into anything past slow gear.
WWWF World Title: Billy Graham vs. Mil Mascaras
Well there’s something you don’t see every day! By the way, Hogan, HHH, Scott Steiner and Jesse Ventura totally ripped off their gimmicks from Graham. I’ve heard a lot about Mascaras not selling stuff so let’s see if that’s the case or not. Graham is a roided up mess here and likely had to lose the title due to health issues soon after this. The Grand Wizard, Graham’s manager, gets to stay here as he’s promised to be good. I’m not making this up. Fink actually says the words “as long as he behaves.”
And Mascaras sprints off to the back to….uh….apparently he’s getting a burrito? Ah never mind he gets Backlund which is likely to set up the next show. Mascaras goes insane to start us off and just beating the hell out of Graham. They’re going formula here and there’s nothing wrong with that. Mascaras gets a bow and arrow hold and makes Graham dance like a chicken. You’d have to see it to get it.
Graham can’t overpower the guy that’s a lot bigger than I expected him to be. We stay in this hold for a LONG time as Graham isn’t smart enough to break it by using the ropes I guess. And of course just as I type that he’s in them. Keep in mind this is just a regional title at the moment and not the WORLD Title. That wouldn’t change for a few years when it became the WWF. Technically they were out of the NWA but they still had a big connection to it which wouldn’t end for a few years like I mentioned. In short, the whole thing was a complicated mess that Vince would get them out of.
Graham wins a test of strength but Mascaras just keeps out moving him. We hit a full nelson but that doesn’t work either. Graham can’t get anything to keep working at all here which I think is the point of the match. An abdominal stretch is a big deal at the time but lasts a second or two here. There are a LOT of submission holds here and they’re kind of sucking the life out of it.
Vince is also very different here as he’s not talking a mile a minute. That rarely would be the case later on in his more prominent stuff. Wizard shouts instructions to Graham and gets taken away by the POLICE. WOW they took wrestling more seriously back then. There’s the bearhug which is Graham’s finisher. Just like every other hold he’s used though Mascaras counters into his own version.
Graham reaches for the ropes and looks like he’s Mark Henry reaching for a slab of pie. He finally escapes and goes for the mask in an evil move. I say evil because we’re at two minutes and counting so far. Ah here we go again. Champion goes to the floor and is rammed into the post, cutting him open. Mascaras goes off on him but the ref stops the match due to the cut. Some things never change I guess. That isn’t enough for a title change though as it’s pin or submission only, which makes sense at least.
Rating: B-. It’s slower paced and kind of a clash of styles but the whole Mascaras counters everything was a decent enough story. Backlund never did anything in this and until he came in at the end I didn’t realize he was even there. His presence there though gave a reason for the title match next time to an extent at least.
Stan Stasiak vs. Dusty Rhodes
Ok we’ve heard FOREVER about Dusty being a different kind of worker in the 70s. Let’s see if that’s legit. Stasiak was world champion for like 8 days and no one remembers it at all. His son is more famous as Meat/Shawn Stasiak in WWF. Rhodes is borderline thin here too which is odd. Dusty isn’t popular here but isn’t really hated either. He does his stupid dancing stuff to get out of a hold and then just ducks his head out of it. Well that was either brilliant or idiotic.
What is with so many people using wristlocks tonight? Stasiak is a very ugly man. Rhodes blocks the Heart Punch and starts busting out the elbows. I wonder if he ever hurt himself doing that. We hit a facelock and waste some more time. This is pretty weak to say the least. The future fat man busts out some punches and hits, you guessed it, a chinlock. DO SOMETHING! I MEAN DO ANYTHING! Dusty drops an elbow and his boobs bounce like Trish’s would.
Heart Punch misses again and Dusty pounds on the hand. If you didn’t get it the first three times they do it two more times before a pair of elbows from Dusty ends it. Can he do ANYTHING else? At least it’s over.
Rating: F+. Oh MAN this was boring. Dusty used a ton of rest holds. Yeah I’m stunned too. This never went anywhere at all and needed to be about half as long. This got 12 minutes and never was any good. Dusty is boring as hell and Stasiak wasn’t helping anything at all. At least it’s over though.
Toru Tanaka vs. Jay Strongbow
Tanaka is Fuji’s partner. Both guys are fat and we do the salt thing to start us off. They walk around each other for awhile now. Now for a change of pace they walk in the other direction! If this was a PPV era I’d think that could sell some shows. DO SOMETHING! NOT A WRISTLOCK! I’m actually considering fast forwarding this which I never do.
Strongbow does an ethnic war dance and makes his comeback despite being in a nerve hold for like ever. He steps on Tanaka’s foot to mix things up a little. And it’s a REST HOLD!!! Strongbow plays the stomach like a drum and I’m glad he did as it woke me up. Tanaka throws salt in his eyes to get out of a sleeper to get the DQ.
Rating: F. SWEET DAMN THIS WAS BORING. This went on for ELEVEN MINUTES. Good night I hated this match and I couldn’t be happier that it’s over. Just get on to anything else, in this case the main event.
Larry Zbyszko/Tony Garea vs. Jack Evans/Larry Sharpe
This is two years before Zbyszko would have his big feud with Sammartino so he’s not much yet. There’s a curfew from the New York Athletic Commission stating a show can’t go on past a certain time so this has 15 minutes max despite being listed as a one hour time limit. That’s no joke actually and they really have to stop the match after a certain time of night. Larry Sharpe is one of the three or four most prolific trainers ever, having trained about fifteen guys that I’ve heard of, the most famous being Raven, Sheamus and Big Show among a ton of other midcard guys.
Evans and Garea start us off and the crowd is just spent. Much like them I just don’t care either. Ending with a tag match like this is kind of a weird idea but I guess they didn’t want to risk anything important being cut off. Garea gets beaten on forever as like five minutes have passed since the last thing I typed. There’s just nothing worth mentioning at this point as even Vince has said this isn’t going to crack 15 minutes due to the curfew.
Zbyszko finally gets the tag and comes in to get a backdrop for the pin and the first fall. Larry beats up Jack as we’re desperately running out of time. The next show, which apparently isn’t the one Backlund wins the title on, won’t air on TV. Such a shame. Actually looking at the card, no it isn’t. The only interesting thing is an elimination 8 man tag match which we would call a Survivor Series match.
This is just going on and on as you know the time is about to run out. Everyone goes in at once. The heels are apparently called the Blonde Bombers, which about 93 teams have used over the years. Garea beats up Evans and the bell goes off for the curfew. Larry and Tony win by being up one fall, making this a kind of Ironman match. The curfew is 11. Seriously that’s just weird to hear.
Rating: D+. Nothing too bad here but they weren’t getting anywhere fast at all. This was one of those things that they throw on at the end to fill out the card, kind of like the final matches on a SNME or something. It wasn’t interesting or anything but it wasn’t horrible I guess.
Overall Rating: D. Unless you’re a VERY old school fan, stay away from this. It’s a completely different style than what you see today with zero promos and a very mat based style. There are a ton of arm locks and holds that rarely go anywhere and nothing of real note happens. These guys are forgotten for a reason as a lot of them are just ethnic stereotypes that have zero depth to their characters.
This show is also one that just DRAGS. It’s only two hours long but it feels like about 4 which isn’t a good thing. I have another one from 79 where the card is absolutely stacked so we’ll get to that soon enough. Boring show but an interesting history lesson I guess. By far the oldest thing I’ve ever reviewed.