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WWWF All-Star Wrestling

Interesting note from John McAdam on this week's Stick to Wrestling pod about Nikolai Volkoff. Volkoff had a big run with Bruno in 1976 and another Bruno feud in 1979, but apparently never got any work with WWWF champ Backlund. (I don't have time ATM to check for any spot show title matches or such)
When Backlund was running out of fresh meat to work in 1982-3 and reduced to rehashing feuds and defending against Afa and Sika, it is surprising Vince Sr or Jr never brought Volkoff in for a run.
IIRC Volkoff's WWF run in 84 was by happenstance as he had just started working for GCW when Vince bought it out and he was one of the holdovers who agreed to come in and work for the WWF. Obviously it worked well for him as he became one of the classic heels of the early Hulkamania era.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/1830224910708588737

I wonder why they went with a fake tournament? Patterson beat Dibiase for the North American title anyway, why not just change the belt name? Or try and pop a house and run a one night tourney?

edit: Twitter comment:
In kayfabe, he was the North American Champion beforehand and unified it with the South American Championship by winning the tournament. Although the NA belt would continue to be defended until ‘81 with New Japan’s Seiji Sakaguchi as its last champion, the IC belt remains active.
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Monsoon was 32 when he became 25 percent owner of the WWWF.

Bruno was offered the chance, but he didn't trust McMahon even then. Monsoon paid $24,000 in 1969 to take ownership.

Bruno wanted an accountant and lawyer involved and McMahon/Mondt balked.

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Monsoon wasn't happy with the deal with Vince Jr buying the company so Gorilla got such a sweet deal to get the deal done. He made a ton the rest of the 80s, but not anywhere what a 25 percent owner would have made.
 
Monsoon did a Toronto only heel turn in the late 70s and worked Backlund for the title.

Gorilla came out of retirement in 82 to work Puerto Rico in order to bolster the territory in case Vince Jr's expansion failed.

So there may be film out there of Monsoon and Abby the Butcher being a monster heel team.
 

I'm sad this only got 5 mins out of Corny.

His answer was bascially, we'd have had Wrasslin' instead of Sports Entertainment. WWF and Georgia would have been on cable but they probably work together since Monsoon didn't have Vince's predator stance.

Last's only contribution is "Would Monsoon have protected Snuka after the murder?"

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I wanted a 10 min breakdown of David Sammartino: World Champ

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I mean, Ole tried to expand in 83 and died on the vine. WCW and JCP had cable and didn't draw after 1987.... there is more to dig into here.


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Comment section gets it:
There are many unknowns because Gorilla Monsoon had never run a company before, solo. What was his philosophy on pushing talent? Did he prefer to stick with the veterans or was he open to developing new talent? Would he have planned out title runs the way Vince senior did, where a start and end date were set in stone? Would Hulk Hogan have been recruited from the AWA? Who might he have had in mind to be the WWF champion?
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Monsoon seemed to like Hogan plenty on commentary. I don't think he would've sent a photographer out to Minnesota to pass along his phone number but he probably would've signed him if/when he fell out with Gagne. Of course, he and the other partners didn't get a great deal on the whole thing in real life.

1988-1992 WCW had some of my favorite wrestling matches ever.
 


Brian R. Solomon ·

Great, rare stuff here. Backlund made several appearances as WWF World champion in the Detroit Big Time Wrestling territory in 1979 and 1980, including matches with Don Kent and Bobby Duncum, as well as several matches against The Sheik at Cobo Arena, and later in Canton, Ohio during the dying days of Big Time.
This was ostensibly a way for the McMahons to help out the Sheik as his territory was going down the tubes, but what was actually going on was that the WWF was looking into expanding west, likely at the suggestion of the younger Vince, who already had expansion on his mind even then.
In the end, after Big Time closed up in the fall of 1980, the Michigan/Ohio territory became open ground and was fought over by Georgia Championship Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic, Maple Leaf Wrestling and George Cannon's Superstars of Wrestling, until the WWF eventually moved in at the end of 1983.
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The empty seats are wild to see.

The SuperBowl of Wrestling – Miami, FL – Orange Bowl – January 25, 1978
Keith Franks (sub. for Black Angus) pinned John Ruffin at 6:23 with a neckbreaker
Bobby Duncum pinned Don Serrano at 1:23 with a shoulder breaker
Chavo Guerrero pinned Tank Patton with a neckbreaker at 4:10
Joyce Grable won an 8-woman battle royal by last eliminating Leilani Kai, Terri Shane, and Wennona Little Heart with a double dropkick
Ivan Putski defeated Ox Baker via KO with a full nelson at 10:13
Rocky Johnson defeated Karl Kox via reverse decision; Kox originally won the bout with a brainbuster after hitting Johnson with a foreign object but Jack & Jerry Brisco came down and told the referee what happened
Jack & Jerry Brisco defeated Ivan Koloff & Mr. Saito when Jack pinned Koloff with a cradle after leaping over the top into the ring
Southern Champion Pedro Morales pinned Lars Anderson with a cradle
Steve Keirn & Mike Graham defeated US Tag Team Champions Jimmy & Johnny Valiant to win the titles at 15:37 when Johnny submitted to Keirn’s sleeper
Dusty Rhodes defeated Ken Patera via count-out after Patera slammed Rhodes back into the ring but failed to meet the referee’s 10-count himself
WWWF World Champion Superstar Billy Graham fought NWA World Champion Harley Race to a draw in a Best 2 out of 3 falls match;
 
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