WWWF Heavyweight Wrestling – May 9, 1965: The Great Great Grandfather (Includes Full Show)
WWWF Heavyweight Wrestling
Date: May 9, 1965
Location: Capitol Arena, Washington D.C.
Commentator: Ray Morgan
Well this is a little out of my normal range. This is basically the WWF grandfather, as it’s the promotion that would morph into the WWF several years later. I’ve done some of these shows before and they can be very interesting, though something this old is going to be more than a bit different. Let’s get to it.
Ray Morgan welcomes us to the show and says it’s the second half of the show, though this seems to be about the regular length. We hear the card with some familiar names, with Morgan casually holding a cigarette because 1965 was a very different time.
Before the first match, we get the card for an upcoming live event, which sounds rather awesome. The announcer also references something that happened here “tonight”, which has me wondering how this show worked.
Tomas Marin vs. Bill Watts
Yes that Bill Watts and the fans DO NOT like him to put it mildly. Watts jumps him from behind to start and hits a forearm to put Marin on the floor early on. The knee drop sets up some jumping stomps and Watts sends him hard into the corner. Marin is tossed over the top as commentary says this is the second hour of the show.
Watts drops him onto the apron and then kicks him outside, leaving Watts to shout to the crowd in a great heel touch. Marin’s comeback lasts all of three seconds as he misses a dropkick and gets kneedropped again. The bulldog (called a bulldozer) gets two, as Watts pulls him up, followed by some elbows to the back (“50,000 watts” according to Morgan in a good line). Another bulldog finishes Marin at 5:06.
Rating: C+. Yeah it’s easy to see the greatness in Watts, as he clearly got the idea of connecting with the fans. The people clearly hated him and let him know, which made for some great moments. The match is just a squash, but Watts looked like a star, which is why he was such a big deal for such a long time.
Chief Big Heart vs. Tony Newberry
Big Heart is your traditional Native American and Newberry is billed as a Big Game Hunter. Newberry jumps him from behind to start but Heart fights back and pulls Newberry’s vest over his face. The big chops send Newberry outside where he yells a lot before coming back inside. Newberry tries to get the vest off again and Heart fires off more chops, much to the crowd’s approval.
A big chop sends Newberry back to the floor, where he finds…what looks to be a foreign object but Heart beats him up again. Newberry takes the leg down to finally get control and a leglock keeps Heart down. Heart chops his way to freedom and Newberry hides in the ropes, meaning it’s time for more chops.
A half nelson (you don’t see that very often) has Newberry in more trouble but he gets in some judo shots. That just fires Heart up and the war dance is on, meaning even more chops. One heck of a chop puts Newberry down and the Bow And Arrow makes him give up at 8:25 (with Newberry tapping, though that didn’t mean anything for almost thirty years).
Rating: C+. I liked this more than I was expecting, with the deal with the vest being a nice touch. The thing is that while they were both rather gimmicky, you could instantly understand what you’re getting. It might be a bit more simplistic than most matches but it was easy to understand. That’s a nice feature and it helped the match overcome its only so great action.
Argentina Apollo vs. Bob Boyer
Apollo takes him down by the arm to start and they go to the mat. A fight over what we would call a Tombstone results in Boyer being sat on the apron and a pat on the head. Back in and they go back to the mat to grapple over the leg. That’s broken up with a grab of the ropes and the fans seem to appreciate the clean break. Well that’s rather nice of them. Apollo takes him down by the arm for a change so Boyer grabs the leg and twists for a smart break.
Boyer works on the arm and it’s time to talk about upcoming shows. A backdrop puts Apollo down but he misses a splash, allowing Apollo to crank on the arms. They both go to the mat and tie their legs together with neither being able to get anywhere. A rather painful looking leglock has Boyer in more trouble, with Boyer having to turn it over to make the rope for the break.
Well kind of as they’re so tied up that it takes a bit longer than usual. Even the referee is confused about what to do as they’re really that stuck. Apollo finally stands up and grabs Boyer’s leg, spinning it around to get him back up. Boyer has to rub some feeling back into his leg before they shake hands and we’re finally back to normal.
Apollo cranks on the leg again and then cartwheels around into another leglock for a nice sequence. The half crab goes on, but Boyer slaps him on the back, which makes Apollo let go as he thought it was the referee. Eh smart move. A snapmare puts Apollo down and some jawbreakers make it worse. Back up and they run the ropes until Apollo hits a crossbody for the pin at 14:22.
Rating: C. There was a good match in there but the extra time hurt it. I liked the technical aspect of things here, with the referee getting confused about untying them being something that felt realistic. It’s easy to see why Apollo got a following, as he was quite the athletic star. Cut off about five minutes and this is far better.
Post match….they actually keep fighting, which isn’t something you would often see back in the day.
Chief White Owl vs. Steve Stanlee
Stanlee strikes away to start but Owl goes into the war dance and knocks him out to the floor rather quickly. Back in and Stanlee knocks him into the ropes for some slow kicking but Owl gets it into the corner. Owl’s clean break earns him a kick to the ribs so he ties Stanlee up in the ropes. Stanlee gets loose and charges right into a forearm to the chest. Well that didn’t work. Back up and Stanlee hammers away in the corner so Owl fires off some dropkicks. Owl fights back but the time runs out for the curfew at 6:05.
Rating: C. You can only do so much with the short run time and it was only going to be so good in the first place. It also didn’t help that we already had a Native American gimmick on the show. Commentary mentioned that White Own and Big Heart were a team, but it doesn’t work so well when you have both of them fighting on the same show. Stanlee is someone I’ve seen before and I still don’t quite get the appeal.
Post match Owl chops him down and is declared the winner by referee’s decision.
Morgan talks to an older fan on a cane to end the show.
Overall Rating: C+. While this is basically the great great grandfather of modern wrestling, I had a good time with the show. You can easily tell the good guys from the bad guys and the action is fine at times. No you won’t be seeing any of the high flying stuff of today, but it’s straight up pro wrestling and it still works. While I wouldn’t want to watch a ton of it, there is something to be said about seeing the origins of what we watch today.
Results
Bill Watts b. Tomas Marin – Bulldog
Chief Big Heart b. Tony Newberry – Bow And Arrow
Argentina Apollo b. Bob Boyer – Crossbody
Chief White Owl b. Steve Stanlee via referee’s decision
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