JHawk
Hi everybody!
(Everybody: “Hi, Dr. Nick!”)
My apologies for missing this article last week. Between the new baby, my funky work schedule, and trying to juggle a million other projects that aren’t done, time slipped away from me. However, because I missed it last week (and these are slow weeks by this article’s standards), we’re going to double it up and give you two for one this week.
Let’s get rolling!
December 1983, Monday, Week 2
Don Kernodle is officially history.
December 1983, Tuesday, Week 2
Samu has signed a pay per appearance deal with the Championship Wrestling Association in Memphis. He will split his time between the CWA and WWF, but he is expected to make the WWF his top priority.
WWF Championship Wrestling taping (December 1983, Tuesday, Week 2)
In an extremely poor match, Bob Bradley pinned The Tonga Kid in 3:31 with a Piledriver.
Ivan Koloff pinned Steve Lombardi in 2:15 with a Russian Sickle.
Buddy Rogers’ Corner was next, and his guest was Pat Patterson, who talked about how he was going to be a fighting champion and would defend against anybody who was deemed worthy of a title shot.
Iron Mike Sharpe defeated Tony Garea in 5:24 by disqualification when, after repeatedly pulling Garea up to prevent a pin, The Tonga Kid ran in and attacked Sharpe. After the match, Sharpe challenged the Kid to a match, but not before Lou Albano slapped Sharpe for not taking the Kid out.
Tiger Chung Lee pinned Nick DeCarlo in 2:11 with a Kiwi Roll.
WWF Tag Team Champions The Wild Samoans defeated Rene Goulet and Kurt Von Hess in 4:15 when Sika pinned Von Hess with a Samoan Drop.
S.D. Jones defeated Bobby Colt in 1:50 by pinfall. This was too short to mean anything but these two seemed to have great chemistry while it lasted.
Vince McMahon announced that the Samoans would defend the WWF Tag Team Championship at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Week 4 against Rocky Johnson and S.D. Jones, now known as Rough and Tumble.
In a match that had some good action and average heat, Rocky Johnson defeated Samu in 11:37 by two straight falls, with the final fall happening by pinfall with a Johnson Shuffle. Two straight falls? Punishment for signing elsewhere?
Vince McMahon interviewed Adrian Adonis at ringside. Adonis said he wanted to be the man to take the WWF Heavyweight Title away from Pat Patterson.
Adrian Adonis and Mr. Fuji drew with Pat Patterson and Jimmy Snuka in 4:08 following a double disqualification. I expected better. After the match, Vince McMahon interviewed Patterson, who told Adonis he wasn’t going to be too hard to find.
This was fun live but overall a pretty average show.
December 1983, Wednesday, Week 2
Referee Dick Kroll and Sky Low Low brought enough alcohol to the show to float a battleship to the TV taping last night. Wrestlers are toying with the idea of forcing the people that have the worst match of the night to bring a case of beer each to the next show, but poor Tonga Kid isn’t making enough money to cover that case of beer.
I’m not sure why, but they will be replaying a Jimmy Snuka-Tiger Conway Jr. match from March on this week’s TV show.
The Agricultural Hall was sold out with its usual crowd of 1,300.
I’ve been told there was no ulterior motive to Samu losing two straight falls to Johnson last night, just that they want Johnson looking strong heading into this month’s show at the Garden and Samu not only made sense as the third Samoan but was also a good enough to have a good match with him.
December 1983, Thursday, Week 2
Charlie Fulton did a radio interview with WWWE 1100AM radio in Cleveland last night. During the interview, he said he enjoys working with wrestlers who are smaller than he is, feeling it complements his style perfectly.
December 1983, Friday, Week 2
Greg Wojokowski will keep the Great Wojo name when he debuts in the WWF, mostly because half of the management staff doesn’t know how to pronounce Wojokowski. He will, however, be pushed as a legitimate athlete based on his amateur background with the idea that he is so good that his manager The Grand Wizard gave him the name.
December 1983, Saturday, Week 2
Brian Blair has reached the final month of his current deal with the WWF but is expected to sign an extension.
December 1983, Sunday, Week 2
TV ratings are holding steady across the board. There might not be a lot of growth but at least they’re consistent.
December 1983, Monday, Week 3
Jimmy Snuka has signed a pay per appearance deal with Southeastern Championship Wrestling but he isn’t expected to miss any WWF dates.
December 1983, Tuesday, Week 3
Jimmy Snuka has added a deal with Mid-South Wrestling to his line of bookings. The Mid-South deal may affect some WWF bookings but nobody is sure how many or how much it will affect his push.
Brian Blair has signed an extension that will keep him in the company for the next five years.
Tonight’s taping will take place in Springfield, MA at the WNEC Living Center.
WWF Championship Wrestling taping (December 1983, Tuesday, Week 3)
In an extremely poor match, The Tonga Kid pinned Kurt Von Hess in 1:55 with a Piledriver. Von Hess was off his game or this might have been passable. Pat Patterson interviewed the Kid after the match, and Kid accepted Iron Mike Sharpe’s challenge from the week before. Patterson said we would see that match next week.
The Great Wojo, managed by The Grand Wizard, defeated Nick DeCarlo in just 31 seconds by submission with a Boston Crab. More guys need to be given a solid debut like this. Wojo and Wizard are a great pairing, and Wojo looked really good in this short match.
Tony Garea defeated Rene Goulet in 3:43 by pinfall.
Buddy Rogers’ guest in his corner was Gorilla Monsoon, who did a generic interview talking about how much he was looking forward to the WWF in 1984.
Tiger Chung Lee defeated Curt Hennig in 2:34 by submission.
Ivan Putski and Invader # 2 defeated Bob Bradley and Israel Matia in 4:57 when Putski pinned Bradley with a Polish Hammer. I don’t know why they continue to push this Putski-Invader team when Invader’s injury is clearly taking its toll on him.
Salvatore Bellomo pinned Johnny Rodz in 2:39 with a Pizza Splash. After a decent run of matches a few months ago, Bellomo seems to have regressed over the last few weeks.
Pat Patterson conducts an interview with Rough and Tumble, who their match coming up Monday night at Madison Square Garden with The Wild Samoans.
Pat Patterson interviews Jimmy Snuka, who tells George Steele that he is still coming after the Intercontinental Championship and will take it from him if he can be awarded just one more title shot.
Vince McMahon then interviews Patterson. Patterson discusses challenges that have been made by Adrian Adonis and tells Adonis that he will defend the WWF Heavyweight Championship against Adonis any time, any place.
In a bout that had great heat and good action, George Steele defeated Rocky Johnson in 8:24 by pinfall. This could have been even better but they have no chemistry together so the timing was really off.
This was a good show overall. If Johnson and Steele would have clicked, this could have been a huge momentum builder.
December 1983, Wednesday, Week 3
A September match between Don Muraco and Chief Jay Strongbow will be airing on TV this weekend. This is part of an ongoing “From the Vault” segment that the WWF will be doing from time to time, although they will not do it every week.
Last night’s TV taping drew a sellout crowd of 2,000. It’s good that these tapings are going out on the road on occasion, as the change in crowd helps the dynamic of the show.
A couple of WWF wrestlers have signed deals with other companies. Jimmy Snuka has signed a deal with the Indianapolis-based World Wrestling Association, while Donna Christenello has signed a deal with Mexico City’s Universal Wrestling Association. Both deals are pay per appearance and shouldn’t affect their WWF bookings, and in Christenello’s case she only works for the WWF once in a blue moon so nobody would miss her anyway.
December 1983, Thursday, Week 3
More contracts being signed, as Sika has signed with the Memphis-based Championship Wrestling Association, and Joyce Grable has signed with the UWA. That’s about eight new signees for UWA in about two days, including the legendary El Canek. Sika’s signing may cause him to miss an occasional WWF booking but it shouldn’t be a major problem.
December 1983, Friday, Week 3
Despite the fact that it really wasn’t very good last month in Philadelphia, the WWF has added George Steele and Lou Albano vs. Jimmy Snuka and Arnold Skaaland to Monday’s show at Madison Square Garden. I’m sure you’re all as enthused about this as I am.
December 1983, Saturday, Week 3
Adrian Adonis made a special appearance for Georgia Championship Wrestling last night, losing to Larry Zbyszko in one of the best matches of the year. The company is trying to work out a deal with Southwest Championship Wrestling to use Adonis on Monday’s show at Madison Square Garden to put him against Pat Patterson but Adonis is currently scheduled for the SCW show.
December 1983, Sunday, Week 3
Invader #2 has been fully cleared from his injury, so while he’ll probably still be used in tag matches, he won’t be protected nearly as much.
Rumors of David Sammartino getting a bigger push have been floating around for a few days, but I don’t expect anything to come of them.
TV ratings continued to hold steady this weekend.
