It may be weaker at the top but it’s very strong throughout.

Dusty Rhodes

While not much in the WWE, he was HUGE elsewhere and one of the most influential people in the history of wrestling.  If you want to talk about someone who is a lifer in wrestling, Rhodes is a good place to start.  He debuted 45 years ago and is still active in wrestling today.  Think about that for a minute.  That’s a LONG time to do anything, let alone be in wrestling.  Rhodes is a yes, and if you’re not familiar with some of his stuff from the 70s, look it up.  It’s far different than what he’s most famous for.

 

Curt Hennig

Hennig is one of those guys where the more I see of him, the more I’m impressed by him.  He had nearly unlimited talent and one of the best gimmicks in wrestling history.  Hennig came as close to living up to the name Mr. Perfect as you could get and the various sports vignettes he had were some of the best promos ever.  He never won the WCW or WWF World Title but he had a year long reign as AWA World Champion which is still solid enough to count for something.  This is another easy yes.

 

Jerry Lawler

Lawler is another guy that is legendary in the indies and one in particular, but he’s equally if not even more famous for being the co-voice of Monday Night Raw and therefore the WWF as a whole.  Lawler has been doing commentary for about twenty years now as well as still wrestling occasionally.  He’s never won a title in the WWE but he’s never needed to.  Lawler has long since been at the level where his reputation is safe no matter what he does.  Lawler is another yes and one of the few people who would make it into both the WWE Hall of Fame and any other wrestling Hall of Fame as well.

 

Nick Bockwinkel

This is another name that isn’t that well known by a lot of young fans but he certainly should be.  Bockwinkel was the father of the smart heel, as he was very crafty but also very skilled in the ring.  Before him, most heels were monsters that a hero would have to vanquish.  Bockwinkel came along and changed the entire idea, showing that heels could win with their minds instead of brute force.  He’s very similar to Ted DiBiase in that regard, which makes him a very influential man indeed.  He held the AWA World Title for over eight years combined and the tag titles for over three years.  That alone makes him an easy yes vote.

 

Mr. Fuji

I love Mr. Fuji!  (Five points if you get that reference)  This one might surprise you.  Fuji was a pretty lame manager, but he was a very accomplished tag wrestler.  He was a five time WWF Tag Team Champion and holds the record for most days spent as a tag team champion.  He held a tag title for 932 days.  Billy Gunn is second at 916 and had twice as many reigns.  The next place down is over seven months shorter.  Fuji managed Demolition during a large portion of their record tag title run and also managed Yokozuna to the WWF Title.  On top of all that, he was in FUJI FREAKING VICE (look that up if you want some old school hilarity).  I was thinking no at first but a little research says he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

 

Jim Ross

If Jerry Lawler is in, Jim Ross has to be in too.  He’s been the voice of the WWE for what seems like ever now and he continues to be a great commentator.  His acting isn’t exactly top notch half the time and he can be more than a little annoying, but the best way I can sum up JR is this: he and Lawler on commentary just feels right.  Ross was also a force behind the scenes as he was VP of talent relations for a long time.  He’s a jack of all trades in wrestling and again I have no problem with him being inducted.

 

The Sheik

Not the Iron Sheik but just the Sheik.  This is a guy you probably haven’t heard of but if you’re a fan of ECW or Mick Foley or Terry Funk, you need to research this guy.  He’s arguably the father of hardcore wrestling in the US and was legendary in his main territory of Detroit.  Sheik also trained Raven and Sabu, which may or may not be a good thing in your eyes.  As for being in the Hall of Fame, this is more of a personal issue but I’m saying no.  Hardcore wrestling has done more to hurt wrestling than anything else and Sheik introduced the style to the world.  I’m saying no based on that alone.

 

The Wild Samoans

This is the team that started the entire tradition in the wrestling world.  From The Rock to Yokozuna to Rosey to Roman Reigns, it all started here.  The Wild Samoans were a very successful tag team and won multiple tag titles over the years.  Afa also has been a successful trainer and trained Mickey Rourke for the movie The Wrestler.  This is another team that is a yes, although there are a few other teams I would put in over them.

 

This is one of the most stacked classes from top to bottom ever and probably the best one yet with no huge negatives.

WWF House Show
Date: January 23, 1984
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City New York
Attendance: 26,292
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Pat Patterson

I don’t have the proper words to explain what this show means to wrestling. It’s the night that changed everything and gave birth to modern wrestling. Here, we have the new WWF World Champion the Iron Sheik defending against the breakout star of Rocky III, Hulk Hogan. Obviously everyone knows the ending to this (they should as the match has been included on at least eight WWF tapes/DVDs) and it’s one of the matches everyone should see at least once. Let’s get to it.

Jose Luis Rivera vs. Tony Garea

Feeling out process to start as I think this is face vs. face here. Garea works on the arm to start and they hit the mat for a bit. Both guys trade headscissors and head locks to control with Rivera finally controlling. Tony gets a quick cross body for two before hooking an armbar to slow things down again. Jose tries to fight out and even slams Tony but can’t break the armbar.

Rivera grabs a quick two off a rollup and they circle each other a bit more. Somehow we’re still feeling each other out after five minutes. There’s nothing going on so we look at a replay of the rollup. Rivera kind of messes up a backdrop then tries a dropkick as Garea tries a backdrop. Since things like dropkicks and backdrops are too complex, it’s back to the armbars. Out of nowhere, Rivera tries a spinning cross body out of the corner but Garea rolls through and gets a kind of fast count for the pin.

Rating: C-. Technically this was fine but that doesn’t make it a good match. Garea was one of those guys that was always around and was mainly a tag team guy but he would get a good reaction when he was out there. Rivera on the other hand was never all that interesting and was probably just there because he was Puerto Rican. Not much to see here.

Invaders vs. Mr. Fuji/Tiger Chung Lee

The Invaders are masked guy and one of them murdered Bruiser Brody. One of the Invaders is taller so we’ll call him #1. The official Invader #1 is the guy so it’s hard not to boo him. Lee and #2 start things off….but Gorilla is calling him #1. Oh wait he’s the taller one. Great now they’re making rapid fire tags (#2 barely gets over the ropes without tripping) and Chung’s arm gets beaten on over and over.

Monsoon says #2 is in there now so good enough. Anyway he stays on the arm and it’s off to Fuji for the first time. #2 blocks a chop and hits Fuji in the ribs before cranking on the arm a bit. #1 randomly jumps in and out of the ring to distract the referee. As he’s doing this, #2 doesn’t move an inch. A cross body gets two for #2 and it’s back to the arm. Fuji looks ticked off.

Back to #1 for some arm cranking on Lee who finally hits a slam…and is promptly kicked in the face. It’s back to the armbar by #2 and here’s #1 again. Lee shoves #1 into the corner for some choking from Fuji with a tag rope and it’s officially off to Mr. It’s quickly back to Lee to crank on #1’s arm and hit a backdrop for two. Fuji gets a suplex of his own for no cover. #1 comes back with a suplex of his own followed by slamming Fuji off the top, allowing for the hot tag to #2.

Lee comes in as well and things speed WAY up. Gorilla calls #2 by his real name (Johnny Rivera) just before Lee hits a Saito Suplex for two. Back to Fuji who suplexes #2 and chops him down before bringing Tiger back in. We hit the bearhug and Gorilla says to bite him in the ear or poke him in the eye to escape. Monsoon was EVIL at times. Back to the bearhug and #1 breaks the hold up, only to have Fuji switch sans tag.

Fuji hooks the ultra lame back claw as Gorilla talks about having a bunch of bananas thrown at him. Now he talks about which camera we’re looking through to fill in time. #2 crawls around to the corner (could it be because it was just a freaking hand on his side?) and makes the hot tag to #1 to face Lee…and they lock up. So much for the burst of speed. A spinning cross body out of the corner is caught in an atomic drop from Lee to get us to heat segment #3.

We hit the chinlock as this is clearly going to the time limit draw. Fuji comes in for some double choking (I miss stuff like that. It’s so basic but it works so easily) before another illegal switch. #1 misses a splash which gives Lee two but he allows the tag to #2. We get some leg work as the Invaders rapidly tag in and out again. They take turns cannonballing down onto the leg but Lee escapes a spinning toe hold. #2 blocks the tag though and we get a leg lock.

Fuji comes in and gets his own leg worked on for good measure. Off to an abdominal stretch (Gorilla complains like a broken record) on Fuji followed by one on a charging Lee. Fuji breaks it up so here’s #2 who is WAY too small to hook an abdominal stretch on Lee but he does it anyway. Everything breaks down and the Invaders hook a Rowboat (stupid double leglock) as the bell rings for the time limit.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t the worst match in the world but after about ten minutes it was clear what we were going to. It didn’t help that a lot of the match was spent going slowly so they could fill in time. This was a much more common occurrence back in the day as well as you would get a draw on almost every show.

Masked Superstar vs. Chief Jay Strongbow

Strongbow is a relic of the past and Masked Superstar would become more famous as Ax of Demolition. Gorilla calls this a main event in any arena in the country, other than this one I guess. They shove each other around to start and man alive does Strongbow look old. Patterson seems to have disappeared. Jay runs the Superstar over and puts on a headlock. Pat is back now and thinks Strongbow will try to take off the mask.

They get back up and Masked Superstar runs into the corner to hide. Back to the headlock as this match doesn’t seem interested in going anywhere. Strongbow goes for the mask and we head to the floor. Back in and Strongbow goes on the warpath and fires off some knees to Superstar’s head. He can’t get the mask off though and Masked comes back with shots in the corner. It’s warpath time again and Strongbow hits a bunch of chops and his sleeper but Superstar comes back with a single clothesline for the pin.

Rating: D+. The match was boring but the crowd carried it by being so into Strongbow. Sometimes just a simple gimmick like being an Indian along with the longevity that Jay had (he was in his mid 50s here) were all that you needed. The match itself was pretty dull but Strongbow was trying at least. Shockingly not horrible here.

Ivan Putski vs. Sgt. Slaughter

We get the shot from the back as Sarge comes out. I miss that camera shot. I think Slaughter is a heel here but he seems rather popular anyway. Putski, who might be 5’8 in heels, starts firing off punches but Sarge bails to the corner. They circle each other a bit more with no contact yet. Putski is small but he is RIPPED (and pretty clearly full of steroids). They finally collide with Putski shoving him around and slamming the Sarge down to stall some more.

Ivan hooks a headlock as Patterson talks about Putski loving to drink and sing. Back to the headlock as this is going slowly again. Slaughter finally comes out with an atomic drop and works on the back for a bit. That doesn’t last long though as Slaughter gets rammed into the top turnbuckle and may have been busted open in the process. Slaughter gets sent shoulder first into the post as Patterson says to stay on top of him. Is that what he got to do after the Alley Fight?

Slaughter reverses a whip into the corner and comes back with the Slaughter Cannon (running clothesline) to take over but he can’t slam Putski. Ivan is billed at 225lbs and Slaughter can’t slam him? The Cannon misses and Putski comes back with the Polish Hammer (double ax to the chest) and a shoulder to send Slaughter to the floor. In a funny bit, Sarge’s chin gets caught on the bottom rope to keep him from hitting the concrete. They fight on the apron and Putski knocks Slaughter back inside, which lets Slaughter beat the count and win by countout.

Rating: D. Another dull match here as is the custom for 1984. Putski just wasn’t that good and he looked freaky to say the least. He was just too muscular for someone his size and it never quite worked. Slaughter would go to the AWA pretty soon after this and stay for years until coming back around 1990 to be the turncoat American.

Gorilla sends it to the back for an interview with Paul Orndorff, including a rare mistake as he messes up Orndorff’s name. After that bad mistake. Paul says that Salvatore Bellomo is nothing more than a spaghetti eater to him.

Paul Orndorff vs. Salvatore Bellomo

Paul has Roddy Piper with him and this is Orndorff’s MSG debut. This is also Piper’s return to MSG after being in the NWA for about five years. We stall to start a lot, allowing Patterson to get in another line that is only funny when he says it: “If Orndorff turned his back to me like that, I would be all over him.” Now Orndorff and Piper complain about Sal’s knee brace. The heels threaten to leave as Pat says he’d like to get in the ring with Orndorff to see if he liked him.

Now Paul complains about not having his own corner. He finally gets back in so Piper can disrobe him. Wait actually he just unties it and the disrobing takes place on the floor. The bell rang about four minutes ago so this is just stalling. Piper distracts Sal and the attack is on fast. The squashing begins and Piper is immediately talking trash. Orndorff stomps away and chokes on the rope before getting two off a backdrop. Piper to the referee: “COUNT FASTER!” Sal falls on Paul in a slam attempt for two. Piper: “NOT SO FAST!”

Orndorff misses a charge into the post and rams his shoulder, allowing Bellomo to make his required comeback. A dropkick hits Orndorff and Paul misses an elbow drop. Bellomo puts on a wristlock but Paul gets in a knee to the ribs to stop the momentum. Sal grabs the arm again immediately and cranks away, even surviving an armdrag attempt from Paul. Bellomo adds a headscissors as the match keeps going. Orndorff finally suplexes his way out of the hold and Sal heads to the floor.

Piper yells at Bellomo as only he can before Orndorff slams Sal on the floor. Back in and Paul hits a perfect suplex for two and Roddy can’t handle many more of these kickouts. Orndorff chokes away in the corner a bit, much to the anger of the “bite his ear or poke him in the eye” dude. Orndorff goes up but misses a top rope knee drop and gets beaten on for a bit. A powerslam stops Bellomo dead and a great piledriver ends this clean.

Rating: C-. It depends on how you look at this one. Bellomo stayed in there too long, but at the same time it made Orndorff look like a killer which is the right idea here. That piledriver looked GREAT and Orndorff was clearly going to be something special. Fourteen minutes is too long of a match though, especially for an MSG debut like this.

Bellomo takes forever to get out of the ring to make the beating look even better. Good stuff.

Intercontinental Title: Don Muraco vs. Tito Santana

Tito is challenging and Muraco has Albano with him. Feeling out process to start with Albano wondering around the ring for no apparent reason other than he’s Lou Albano. Tito finally takes over with a headlock before firing off some of those right hands that Jesse would say have guacamole on them. When the headlock stops working, Tito just rams Muraco’s head into the mat. Why over complicate things?

Back to the headlock as Tito cranks away. A big knee drop to Muraco’s head gets two and it’s back to the headlock. Don comes out of the hold with a backbreaker but is immediately slammed right back down into the headlock. This is getting rather repetitive as we’re over eleven minutes into this match and about nine of them have been spent in a headlock. They changes things up slightly by having Tito on his feet where Muraco can break the hold with a kind of Russian legsweep.

Muraco rams Santana’s head into the buckle to take over and adds in a powerslam for two. I’m pretty sure Muraco’s finisher at this point was a tombstone but I’m not sure. The fans cheer for Tito and he starts to Hulk Up a bit. Santana punches Muraco down and stomps away before having to take Albano out. The forearm misses Don though and both guys are down. Muraco goes up top and they slug it out….for a double DQ? Dang this is an old school match. Even Gorilla sounds confused by that.

Rating: D. I LOVE Tito Santana, but man alive this was boring. It’s a sixteen minute match and nearly thirteen minutes of that are spent in a headlock. That isn’t an exaggeration either. I checked to see if I had forgotten something but there’s nothing else there. Tito would win the title from Muraco about three weeks later in Boston.

Tito swears he can beat Muraco and claims he got ripped off. Albano had no business being in the ring.

Haiti Kid/Tiger Jackson vs. Dana Carpenter/Pancho Boy

Midget match with 2/3 falls here. Kid and Tiger are incredibly small and probably half a foot shorter each than the villains. Tiger Jackson would go on to become Doink’s partner Dink. Carpenter is almost as tall as the referee. Pancho gets pantsed by Tiger and we’re ready to go. Carpenter and Jackson start things off but Dana immediately brings in Pancho. Tiger hooks a headlock so Boy tries to grab his hair, forgetting that Steve Austin has more hair on his head than Jackson does.

Pancho slaps Jackson in the head a bit before getting elbowed in the ribs. Jackson takes him down with a flying headscissors and holds him on the mat for a bit. I think Pancho might have portrayed Queasy of Jerry Lawler’s team at the 94 Survivor Series but that’s just a guess. Pancho fights up and literally spins Jackson around on the top of his bald head.

Haiti comes in with some dropkicks to clean house. Carpenter comes in and gets beaten up too as this is your usual midget match. Haiti dropkicks Dana to the floor before putting him in a full nelson. We get some heel miscommunication resulting in Pancho hitting Carpenter by mistake. Back to Pancho vs. Tiger as this keeps going. They keep going until Jackson hits a middle rope sunset flip for the first fall.

The third fall begins with Haiti vs. Pancho, because if there’s one thing better than a midget match, it’s a two out of three falls midget match! Haiti Kid is black, so therefore his head is immune to being rammed into buckles. Kid can’t suplex Carpenter and the referee gets dogpiled. We get a crisscross and Kid hooks an airplane spin on Carpenter. We get a weird ending as Haiti covers Carpenter and the referee is REALLY hesitant to count the pin, as in that wasn’t the correct finish.

Rating: D. I hate these things. They’re not interesting because there are no stories to them and the matches are always based around unfunny comedy. I guess the live crowd likes them or something, because I don’t care about these things at all. Nothing to see here other than the same shenanigans you see everywhere.

Freddie Blassie is annoyed that Hogan has been swapped in for Bob Backlund and says the cheating isn’t going to work. Sheik speaks I’m assuming Arabic and rants about Hogan before switching to English and getting cut off. Why? Because this is pre-taped and Sheik and Blassie are in the ring.

WWF World Title: Hulk Hogan vs. Iron Sheik

This is it. This is the match that changes EVERYTHING. Sheik beat Backlund like a month earlier and Backlund is too injured to get his rematch here, so Hulk gets the shot instead. The place goes NUTS for Hogan’s entrance for the first of many occasions. This is Hogan’s return to the Garden after about three years. After being bored all night, the place is going nuts just from hearing “From Venice Beach, California.”

The bell rings and Hogan CHARGES at him in the corner before Sheik can even get his robe off. A clothesline with the robe takes down the champion and it’s all Hulk so far. Another big clothesline puts Sheik down before Hulk easily picks him up for a choke. Hulk, ever the hero, spits on Sheik to a huge ovation. Big boot gets two so Hulk hits a pair of elbows for two. Hulk FINALLY screws up by missing a running elbow in the corner and Sheik takes over.

The champion stomps away with those curled boots of his. I guess it’s a Middle East thing. A backbreaker puts Hogan down but he easily powers out at one. Off to a Boston Crab but Hulk powers out after about ten seconds. Sheik can’t get anything going here long term. A gutwrench suplex gets two for Sheik and (with an infamous erection for some reason) puts on the camel clutch that won the title. Hulk casually wags his fingers no and he powers out of the hold in less than thirty seconds. Hogan picks Sheik up, rams him into the buckle, drops the big leg, and as Gorilla puts it, Hulkamania is here.

Rating: A+. This was exactly what it was supposed to be as Hogan squashed Sheik here, basically selling nothing and escaping Sheik’s best move before beating him in less than six minutes. Look at this card: even the opener was a minute longer than this match. Hogan DOMINATED the champion here and left no doubt about who was better. After this, everything became about flash than substance, and for people who complain about it, let it go already. The change is over and it’s never going back. Absolutely perfect here.

Sheik refuses to go out on a stretcher and charges at Hogan again, only to get beaten down one more time.

Hogan celebrates in the back and Andre pops up to pour champagne over him. This would be used in the Mania III hype package. It’s still the big green belt too which was ugly as sin. Rocky Johnson and Ivan Putski come in to celebrate too.

We’ve still got two matches to go. I never got why that was the case.

Rene Goulet vs. Jimmy Snuka

Goulet jumps Snuka to start and does some what appears to be biting. A back elbow puts Snuka down and a slam gets two. The very popular Snuka comes back with a hip toss and Goulet hides in the corner. Rene puts on a front facelock but Snuka elbows him down and wins with a top rope cross body.

Rating: D+. Snuka is always fun to watch and this was just a quick match to fill in time before the end of the show. No one bought Snuka as being in trouble at all and there was no reason to. He was INSANELY over at this point, probably the second biggest star in the company other than maybe Andre.

Hogan’s parents celebrate with him in the back.

Andre the Giant/Rocky Johnson/Tony Atlas vs. Wild Samoans

It’s Afa/Sika/Samula here who would become Samu in the 90s. Johnson and Atlas are tag champions, having beaten the Samoans about two months prior. I think that’s Samula and Atlas to start things off as we’re just waiting on Andre to come in and destroy people. Rocky comes in instead and we get a crisscross. Rocky stops and allows Samula to keep running in a funny bit.

Johnson ducks an attack in the corner and causes some heel miscommunication before it’s back to Tony. Atlas EASILY breaks a full nelson and sends Samula into a shot from Andre. Here’s the big guy (I mean the biggest of the big guys) but Samula blocks a backdrop with a headbutt. Two Samoans headbutt him down and it’s Sika the legal man. The headbutts are no sold now and Andre is starting to have fun. Andre drops Sika with a headbutt and sits on his chest for a pin.

Rating: D+. This was as simple as it sounds. I don’t think Afa ever got in there as this didn’t even last five minutes. Andre and the Soul Patrol were popular guys and it was a fun way to send the crowd home happy. Good stuff here and a good way to end the show which wasn’t exactly hot so far.

Patterson and Monsoon wrap things up.

Overall Rating: D+. This was a hard one to sit through. 1983 wasn’t the best time for the company as far as in ring stuff went and you could see a lot of the less interesting stuff going on here still. Hogan winning the title here of course changes everything though and is the only reason to watch it. You can literally find it on at least 8 tapes or DVDs and it’s all over Youtube. Not a good show, but to say it’s historic is a huge understatement.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

WWF House Show
Date: January 21, 1980
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 20,000
Commentator: Vince McMahon

Back to the past for some old WWF action. We’ve got Backlund defending against Patera tonight as well as Hogan in heel form against Dominic Denucci, who I’ve never actually seen wrestle. Other than that we have a lot of guys that I’ve heard of and have seen occasionally but don’t know a ton about, which is par for the course in 1980. Let’s get to it.

Kevin Von Erich vs. Johnny Rodz

From what I can tell this was the fourth match that took place on this night but maybe all of them aren’t on the broadcast. That’s happened before. Fink calls this the second bout so maybe my list is wrong. This is Kevin’s MSG debut. Rodz is the short guy with a temper. Rodz hooks a front suplex but instead drives Von Erich down like a front facelock. This is match that follows the style of the time, meaning a LOT of standing around and mostly punching.

Von Erich misses a dropkick but Rodz hides in the corner anyway. They go to the mat and Von Erich manages a headscissors while standing on his head. That was pretty cool. Kevin drops some forearms to the back and hooks a headlock. Rodz hooks an armbar which is quickly broken. Kevin tries a spinning cross body out of the corner but misses completely. Sunset flip gets two for Von Erich. Splash gets the same. Rodz comes back with a hip toss and legdrop for two. Von Erich wins with kind of a Thesz Press.

Rating: D-. Oh man I’m in for a long show. This was REALLY boring as Rodz had it in about negative fifth gear while Von Erich couldn’t hit much of anything. I don’t think Rodz did anything beyond punching and kicking for about 90% of the match, which doesn’t make for a very interesting opener. Awful match.

The Great Hossein Arab vs. Larry Zbyszko

This is called the third bout and it’s right after the previous one on my list. Arab is much more famous as The Iron Sheik. Sheik tries to take it to the mat but Larry escapes to a stalemate. Larry speeds things up and sends Sheik to the floor where he gets very ticked off. Back in an elbow misses and Sheik is even madder. I sense a humbling. Larry hooks a headlock and pounds away with right hands. The fans are way into this.

Back to the headlock and things speed way up with a crisscross. Sheik hits a pair of leapfrogs but gets caught in the headlock again. Sheik has finally had enough and blasts Larry in the face, but a knee drop misses and it’s back to Zbyszko. There’s an abdominal stretch but Sheik reverses into one of his own but that gets reversed as well. Sheik sends him into the corner and backdrops him for two.

We finally get to the heel control portion of this but it ends just as quickly in a Zbyzsko sunset flip. They collide and both of them go down. Sheik gets up first with a suplex but he can’t cover immediately so it only gets two. Another suplex is countered into a small package which gets two for Larry, as does a slam. Sheik loads up one of the boots but Larry trips him down and goes after it. That somehow gets two but Sheik kicks him onto the ref. That’s not enough for him so he drops an elbow on the referee for the DQ.

Rating: C-. It’s amazing what charisma can do for you. This was only a little bit better of a match than the previous one, but the charisma the two guys have made me want to see them fight which is what made things work better here. Sheik getting more and more disgruntled until he snapped worked a lot better for a story than “I’ll hit you a lot.” Larry would turn heel on Sammartino the very next day.

Dominic DeNucci vs. Hulk Hogan

This should be interesting. Hogan is still a heel here and has Blassie with him. Hogan shoves him around a lot to start and for some reason DeNucci tries to match power with him. The more famous one pretty easily wins a test of strength but DeNucci comes back with a monkey flip and Hulk is frustrated. Dominic dives at Hogan and falls on top of him for a Thesz Press for two.

Back to their feet and Hogan easily breaks Denucci’s full nelson. Hulk pounds him down and drops an elbow for two. Knee drop gets the same. DeNucci fights back but ducks his head and gets kicked in the face. Hulk hits something like what we would call a hot shot and the big leg gets the pin.

Rating: C-. Another boring match but you know Hogan is going to have charisma. Seeing him in MSG is always something cool to see too. The interesting thing about Hogan was that he was clearly going to be a big deal and probably a world champion even before the rise of Hulkamania. Pretty much just a squash for Hulk here.

Tag Titles: Wild Samoans vs. Ivan Putski/Tito Santana

Putski and Santana are champions and their opponents are making their MSG debuts. This would be Afa and Sika, the original Samoans. Putski (who is barely taller than the top rope) starts with Afa. Long stall before we get going and Putski gets a BIG reaction for pushing Afa into the corner. They trade full nelsons and we get heel miscommunication. Everything breaks down and the Samoans are rammed together.

Putski tries a double noggin knocker which gets him nowhere at all. Off to Tito vs. Afa now and the Samoan growls a lot. Maybe he wants a taco? The champions work on the leg without tagging. What great role models. They take turns stomping it and I think Tito kicked him low at least once in there. The leg work continues and more or less it’s just kicks to the leg of Afa. The idea of holds seems to be lost on the champions.

Just as I say that of course, Putski hooks onto a weak leg lock. He doesn’t tag Tito but Santana comes in anyway. The referee does a lot of not paying attention. Afa kicks Ivan away so Putski pounds him down and tags in Santana again. It’s very strange to see the faces in such long lasting control. Afa hits Putski very close to the groin and headbutts him down. There’s the tag after almost nine minutes of pounding.

Sika comes in and things continue to go slowly. Off to some choking which doesn’t last long at all. Putski fights up but Sika elbows him right back down. The Samoans hit a double clothesline and Putski is in trouble. We get the unseen tag to Santana which gets them in trouble this time. You would think that would be a heel move but here the champions did it. Nice change of pace at least. The second attempt at the tag works and everything breaks down. Afa crotches Tito on the top rope and that’s a DQ apparently.

Rating: C+. Best match of the night so far with both teams going at a pretty fast pace. The heel in peril idea was definitely interesting and having them go wild and get disqualified at the end was a nice choice as it fits their crazy men mentality. Good little match here which probably set up a gimmick mater later on.

Actually scratch the DQ as it was a countout.

WWF World Title: Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera

Patera is blonde here and is the strongest man in the world. Backlund has been champion almost two years here. Backlund backs Patera into the corner twice and the challenger hides in the ropes. Backlund easily breaks two attempts to send him to the mat and backdrops Patera to the apron. Patera charges in again but gets knocked back again. This is basically the Backlund formula in action.

A forearm sends Patera down so Bob hooks a headlock. Patera easily picks him up and sits the champion on the top rope. Bob gets down and speeds it up, hitting a dropkick and a pair of armdrags. Backlund rolls out of a wristlock but Patera pulls his hair to take him down. They fight over a top wristlock and Backlund gets pulled down again. Patera cranks on the arm as things continue to be very slow.

After a minute or so, Backlund fights up and hooks the exact same hold on Patera for good measure. Off to a headscissors as the champion maintains control. Back to the arm hold and the fans are into this. Patera finally gets up and takes him down, dropping an elbow for two. A bearhug to Backlund is quickly broken up but Patera takes him down almost just as fast. Now the bearhug goes on full and things slow right back down again.

They take the bearhug to the mat and Patera gets a pair of two counts. Backlund tries to break it but can’t as they’re back on their feet. This hold has been going on for almost three minutes now until Backlund finally gets an atomic drop to break it. Backlund hits a suplex but a splash hits knees and the champion is down again. Patera drops a double ax off the middle rope and sets up the full nelson, his finisher.

Backlund slips down before the hold goes on but Patera kicks him in the back. Backlund comes back with his atomic drop (semi-finisher) but Patera gets a foot on the ropes. Patera whips Backlund into the referee in the corner and everyone is down. There’s the full nelson but Backlund walks the ropes to escape. They slug it out from their knees as the referee is stretchered out….and the match is thrown out.

Rating: C-. That’s probably being generous too. The ending was getting good until they did the setup for a rematch later on. This is also a great example of a match that I’d point to when people talk about guys like Dusty Rhodes going an hour a night. This match ran just under 26 minutes and was REALLY dull at times. Two of the holds combined for six minutes of it which doesn’t exactly make it interesting. That’s more of a generational thing though so it’s more understandable.

Post match Backlund goes off on Patera so the locker room comes out to break it up.

Intercontinental Title: Pat Patterson vs. Lou Albano

Patterson goes right after him to start and Lou bails. He stays gone far longer than a ten count but is allowed back in anyway. Albano kicks Patterson in the knees and tries a foreign object which is taken away. Patterson scoops the leg and starts choking away. He chokes with some tape and Albano hits the floor. Back in Lou gets in a shot with the object but Patterson pounds him down again. Albano walks out and takes the countout.

Rating: D. This was just for fun as Patterson was still very popular and Albano was only an occasional wrestler. There wasn’t much to it and that’s just fine as it got the fans fired up despite there being like 15 minutes left in the show counting another break. Patterson is a guy who isn’t remembered as well as he should be.

Tony Atlas vs. Swede Hanson

Hanson is a big fat guy and this is Atlas’ debut in MSG. Atlas knocks him into the corner very quickly and I think we’re in squash territory here. A pair of dropkicks has Hanson reeling but he gets in some shots to break the momentum. Atlas shrugs it off and a middle rope headbutt gets the quick pin.

Overall Rating: D. Pretty boring show here without a lot really happening. Then again you would get a show a month at this point so it didn’t really hurt to have a show to burn every now and then. The matches here were all pretty boring and nothing significant really happened, but we did get some fairly big MSG debuts. Bruno vs. Larry would help things a lot though.

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