On This Day: April 14, 1984 – Championship Wrestling 1984: This Hogan Guy Has Potential

Championship Wrestling
Date: April 14, 1984
Location: Agricultural Hall, Allentown, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Gene Okerlund, Vince McMahon

This is another old show that I’ve only touched on in the past. Championship Wrestling used to be the flagship show for the company and would have all of the top stars and major matches airing here. That’s the case tonight as the still relatively new world champion Hulk Hogan is in action tonight against Tiger Chung Lee. Other than that there isn’t much to say. Let’s get to it.

The opening theme for the show is an instrumental version of Thriller. That’s just odd.

Vince and Gene run down the card.

We get an ad for the WWF Magazine, including an article on the Von Erichs. I remember hearing they wanted to bring the Von Erichs in but I guess it was closer than it seemed.

Charlie Fulton vs. Tito Santana

Non-title here as Tito is IC Champion. We immediately get the Fink in a voiceover talking about the upcoming house shows, including one that night in Boston. Fulton takes it to the ropes and hits a forearm to take over but Tito monkey flips him down. Off to an armbar by the champion which is one of the higher spots you’ll see in this match. Back up and Fulton takes it into the corner again but Tito puts him right down with armbar #3. Fulton comes back with some forearms and right hands but Tito leapfrogs him and the flying forearm ends this quick.

Rating: D+. The match was nothing of note but it was just there to get Santana in the ring. This was back in the day when the Intercontinental Title was meant to be the wrestler’s title and would only be held by the top in ring workers. Tito was awesome when he had more than four minutes and a lot of armbars to work with so this wasn’t the right kind of match for him.

UPDATE!

There’s no real update here but it’s the name of a segment where you would get a quick story on someone in the WWF. In this case, Big John Studd won a battle royal in St. Louis but got beaten up by Hogan and Andre post match.

Greg Valentine vs. Jose Luis Rivera

This is a rematch of what was apparently a good match. Rivera speeds things up to start and kicks away a Figure Four attempt. Some armdrags have Valentine frustrated and a dropkick sends him into the ropes. Apparently Valentine broke Rivera’s undefeated streak. Greg throws him to the floor for a moment before the beating begins. There are some elbows to the head and a belly to back suplex to set up an elbow drop to pin Rivera. This was quick even for a squash.

Mike Powers vs. Jimmy Snuka

Snuka gets a great pop when he comes through the curtain. Powers jumps Snuka to start but Snuka pounds him down with ease. After a few headbutts and knee drops it’s the Superfly Splash for the pin. Match didn’t even last ninety seconds.

Powers is taken out on a stretcher. Now that’s a squash.

David Schultz/Paul Orndorff vs. Francisco Vazquez/Johnny Rivera

The real draw of this match is Schultz and Orndorff’s manager: Roddy Piper, who is INSANELY over as a heel at this point. Orndorff and Rivera start things off with Johnny kicking Orndorff off to frustrate Paul. Schultz, a big rough guy, comes in and throws Rivera into the other corner for a tag because he can. A hard slam puts Francisco down and a middle rope elbow is good for the pin by Schultz. Another squash, as is the custom back in the day.

We go to a famous Piper’s Pit with guest Frankie Williams, a Puerto Rican (Piper made a big deal bout it on his DVD for some reason) jobber who says he’s from Columbus, Ohio. Piper says he’s never lost a match in Columbus and brags about being undefeated forever. He goes on a rant about how Williams has never won a single match because he has no guts or ability because he’s a coward who should be making pizzas. Williams is offended and gets in Piper’s face so Piper DESTROYS him in about eight seconds. Famous quote from Piper: “Just when they think they got all the answer, I CHANGE THE QUESTIONS!”

Johnny Ringo vs. Terry Daniels

Ringo is a big fat guy and Daniels is a member of Sgt. Slaughter’s Cobra Corps. This is exactly what you would expect: the much smaller Daniels rolls Ringo around with a bunch of leverage moves and some elbows before pinning him with a fast sunset flip.

Slaughter critiques Daniels and has him march out of the arena.

Hulk Hogan vs. Tiger Chung Lee

Non-title here with a ten minute time limit. How weird is it to hear that for a Hogan match? He still has Eye of the Tiger here and this was taped like a month before the rest of the show. Hogan gets Lee’s kendo stick away from him and chases Lee out of the ring before ripping off the shirt. Back in and Hogan crushes Lee in the corner before planting him with an atomic drop. Off to a bearhug and Lee is in a lot of trouble. Lee rakes the eyes to escape and we get the required Asian nerve hold. Hogan comes back with a clothesline and the legdrop for the pin. Just a quick match here to get Hogan on TV.

Hogan says you can feel Hulkamania running wild and he feels like he’s in Vegas on a roll. The levels of charisma Hogan had were off the charts.

Tony Colon vs. Jose Gonzalez

Gonzalez takes him to the mat to start and we get some very loose chain wrestling. A knee drop keeps Colon in trouble and we hit a very quick chinlock. Colon is sent into the corner and a knee lift puts him back down. A missile dropkick (a VERY big spot at the time) ends Colon quick. Another short match to wrap up the show here.

Overall Rating: C. For its time, this was a pretty entertaining show. I’m not sure why Hogan didn’t wrap things up but it’s not like it makes a big difference. This was from a very different time as you could never air something like this today. Still though, it was entertaining enough and the card was pretty packed with stars by comparison to some of the other shows of its time. Not bad here.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

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