JHawk
September 1983, Monday, Week 4
It’s been a slow news day, so here’s a list of the WWF’s top 5 promos right now.
5. The Grand Wizard of Wrestling
4. Capt. Lou Albano
3. Adrian Adonis
2. Don Muraco
1. Superstar Billy Graham
September 1983, Tuesday, Week 4
We have a major story that is going to shake up the midcard scene in the WWF. Don Muraco suffered a torn rotator cuff during his match in Macon, GA for Southwest Championship Wrestling last night. At about the 20-minute mark of his match with SCW Heavyweight Champion Adrian Adonis, Muraco went down too fast on a back suplex and landed awkwardly on his shoulder. Adonis immediately pinned Muraco even though Muraco was supposed to regain the title. A decision on the Intercontinental Title and its future is expected to be made at the TV taping in Allentown tonight.
Effective immediately Baron Mikel Scicluna will be moved out of the ring and become a road agent.
Championship Wrestling taping (September 1983, Tuesday, Week 4)
Prior to the start of the show, Howard Finkel announced Muraco’s injury to the crowd and that as a result, the Intercontinental Title was vacant. All singles matches on tonight’s show will be part of the first round of a tournament to crown a new champion.
In an Intercontinental Title tournament match, Jimmy Snuka pinned Rene Goulet in 37 seconds with a Superfly Splash.
In another tournament match, Tito Santana defeated Johnny Rodz in 2:52 by pinfall.
Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee defeated Tony Garea and Brian Blair in 3:46 when Tiger Chung Lee pinned Brian Blair with a Kiwi Roll.
Sgt. Slaughter was interviewed by Vince McMahon and hyped this weekend’s match against Bob Backlund.
McMahon then interviewed Tito Santana. Santana said he was one step closer to glory as he attempts to win the tournament to become the new Intercontinental Champion.
Then came an interview with Iron Mike Sharpe, who said he had Tony Atlas in the first round of the tournament and plans on proving Atlas was an overrated musclehead.
After all that, Don Muraco came out with his shoulder in a sling. He acknowledged that he was having surgery to repair the shoulder and vowed that no matter who wins the Intercontinental Title tournament, they’re merely going to keep the belt warm for him until he returns.
The Masked Superstar (w/The Grand Wizard) pinned Eddie Gilbert in 2:51 with two swinging neckbreakers to advance to the second round of the Intercontinental Title tournament. After the match, Superstar pulled Gilbert to the arena floor and took him down with another swinging neckbreaker. Several EMTs immediately ran in to check on Gilbert, who was unconscious on the arena floor.
Buddy Rogers’ Corner was next, and he is talking to Sgt. Slaughter, who not only gloats about Gilbert’s apparent injury but that he wishes Bob Backlund, now at ringside to check on Gilbert, would suffer the same fate.
In an Intercontinental Title tournament match, Sgt. Slaughter defeated Frankie Williams in 1:16 by submission with a Cobra Clutch.
Eddie Gilbert is still being checked on by EMTs, with Bob Backlund there for support. Very long and drawn out for effect. This sure came off as an angle with the Rogers Corner and the Slaughter match being done while Gilbert is being checked on, but it took so long for Gilbert to be sent to the back that a lot of people thought this was legit.
The Soul Patrol (Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas) defeated Bob Bradley and Don Kernodle when Johnson pinned Bradley with a sunset flip in 1:36.
Swede Hanson defeated Israel Matia in 2:35 by pinfall to advance in the tournament.
Pat Patterson conducted an interview with The Soul Patrol, who challenged The Wild Samoans to a shot at the WWF Tag Team Title.
Adrian Adonis was interviewed backstage by Vince McMahon. He said he hopes to get a chance at Jimmy Snuka in the Intercontinental Title tournament because he wants to prove he’s the best and that Snuka was dreaming to think he would beat Muraco…or anybody else…for the title.
In a bout that had a good crowd and good action, Adrian Adonis pinned Chief Jay Strongbow in 7:16 with a surprise cradle to advance in the tournament.
This was the best show in a long time. Maybe they should scramble due to injury more often.
September 1983, Wednesday, Week 4
A hype video for Adrian Adonis will be inserted into the TV show this weekend, probably to “fill time” over the Eddie Gilbert injury angle.
The taping in Allentown last night drew its usual sellout of 1,300. Everybody thought the show as amazing.
Quarterfinal matches in the Intercontinental Title tournament (so far) are Jimmy Snuka vs. Tito Santana, Masked Superstar vs. Sgt. Slaughter, and Adrian Adonis vs. Swede Hanson. We know Iron Mike Sharpe will meet Tony Atlas in the first round at TV next week with one more match to be named. Not sure if the quarterfinals begin with TV next week or the following week, but they’re planning on holding the finals in Madison Square Garden next month.
September 1983, Thursday, Week 4
Sky Low Low has retired from in-ring competition but will keep his road agent role with the WWF.
September 1983, Friday, Week 4
Tony Atlas is getting ready to begin a feud in Southeastern Championship Wrestling with “Mr. Olympia” Jerry Stubbs.
September 1983, Saturday, Week 4
The WWF returns to the Philadelphia Spectrum tonight. Here’s a preview for what has been officially announced up to this point.
Sgt. Slaughter vs. Bob Backlund for the WWF Heavyweight Title with special referee Tony Garea: Backlund will be moving into a feud with The Masked Superstar to gain revenge for Eddie Gilbert. I’d expect Backlund to win here and Slaughter to blame Garea for the loss, leading to a series of matches between those two.
The Wild Samoans and Ivan Koloff vs. Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana and Rocky Johnson: This is interesting because Snuka and Santana are scheduled to meet in the quarterfinals of the Intercontinental Title tournament. This is normally the type of match that would go on last for a babyface win to send the crowd home happy, but a miscommunication between Santana and Snuka leading to their tournament match is not out of the realm of possibility.
Judy Martin and Leilani Kai vs. Susan Starr and Donna Christenello: I’d assume Martin gets pinned, probably by Starr, to set up her next title defense.
Don Kernodle vs. Israel Matia: Kernodle should win this easily.
I’m hearing rumors that the other two first round matches in the Intercontinental Title tournament might take place tonight too but have not gotten anything confirmed.
Spectrum Wrestling live coverage (September 1983, Saturday, Week 4)
Gorilla Monsoon and Howard Finkel are doing commentary.
In an extremely short match, Salvatore Bellomo pinned Charlie Fulton in 4:02 with a Pizza Splash.
In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, Don Kernodle pinned Israel Matia in 6:40 with a Piledriver.
In a bout that had solid in-ring action and average heat, Invader # 2 and Ivan Putski defeated Iron Mike Sharpe and Swede Hanson in 12:44 when Sharpe was counted out, knocking Hanson down as he intentionally walked out on the match. Hanson stormed off to the back, presumably to go after Sharpe.
In a match that had an average crowd reaction and some decent in-ring action, George Steele defeated Chief Jay Strongbow in 6:59 by pinfall.
In a bout that featured great action and great heat from the audience, Bob Backlund defeated Sgt. Slaughter in 14:30 by pinfall after special referee Tony Garea missed Slaughter’s foot on the bottom rope. Slaughter argued with Garea after the match and finally attacked him, beating him down until Backlund ran in for the save.
Sgt. Slaughter is interviewed backstage. A justifiably angry Slaughter blames Backlund and Garea for the loss, saying Backlund is unable to defeat him without help and that Garea refused to listen to his protests about his foot being on the ropes. Slaughter said he will be getting his lawyers involved with this, and he issued a challenge to Backlund for one more rematch for his special match. He never said what that match was. Slaughter even gets a few shots in on the injured Eddie Gilbert, saying Gilbert got what he deserved and Backlund should focus on another fight with Slaughter as opposed to Gilbert’s well being.
The Slaughter interview gave the crew time to set up the cage for an unannounced cage match, which saw Andre the Giant beat Bill Anderson in 9:45. This match was so much better than anybody was expecting and blew the very good Slaughter-Backlund match out of the water.
While the cage was brought down, Finkel interviewed Sharpe, who said he needed to conserve energy for his tournament match against Tony Atlas tonight, and if Hanson didn’t like it then he can try to take the title from him at the next show in Philly.
Atlas was then interviewed about his match with Sharpe, but he didn’t say anything interesting.
In a tournament match, Tiger Chung Lee pinned S.D. Jones in 4:08 with a Kiwi Roll.
Tony Atlas pinned Iron Mike Sharpe in 12:28 with The Press Slam to advance in the tournament. This was also much better than I was expecting but I really didn’t need to see Sharpe wrestle twice in one night.
In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, Susan Starr and Donna Christenello defeated Judy Martin and Leilani Kai in 7:08 when Starr pinned Martin. The match was fine, but these crowds clearly have no interest in seeing the women compete.
Ring announcer Mel Phillips announces two matches for the next show at the Spectrum, coming three weeks from tonight. Iron Mike Sharpe will meet Swede Hanson (no surprise there), while Bob Backlund will defend the WWF Heavyweight Title against Sgt. Slaughter in a stretcher match.
In a bout that had a good crowd and good action, Jimmy Snuka, Tito Santana and Rocky Johnson defeated Ivan Koloff and The Wild Samoans in 14:52 at two falls to one after winning the first, with the final fall happening when Johnson pinned Sika with a Johnson Shuffle.
September 1983, Sunday, Week 4
Very weak crowd of 3,145 at the Spectrum last night, although most felt it was the best show in Philadelphia all year.
TV ratings held steady this week.
The match of the night bonus went to Bill Anderson and Andre the Giant for last night’s show. I can’t believe how good that match was.
