JHawk
Happy SummerSlam weekend everybody. I’m feeling pretty good that Daniel Bryan will be forever immortalized as WWE Champion by the time the Monday readers read this. I’m also feeling pretty good that he’s going to hold that belt less than 10 minutes. Sometimes I hate the Money in the Bank briefcase.
And it’s been a while since I’ve plugged Pro Wrestling Weekend on smartmarkradio.com, but I encourage you to check the archives for the August 11 show as we conducted our sixth annual fantasy wrestling draft, with the rosters to be run through Total Extreme Wrestling to determine the best. The results will be given on our 300th episode on September 1. Always a fun show, especially when former World Champions are getting picked in the 39th round.
Quick recap from last week: Ray Stevens was the fucking man, and Bob Backlund knows how to walk up and down steps a bunch of times. It’s actually legitimate training, look it up.
February 1983, Monday, Week 2
Ratings dropped for both shows this week. A number of the syndicated markets are still expressing concern that the shows are hurting their stations more than helping, which could mean bad news for the WWF. I still feel the stations need to give them time, as most of the shows have been very good lately.
February 1983, Tuesday, Week 2
Expect some major development in the storyline regarding Big John Studd’s bodyslam challenge over the next month or so. I understand there’s a major angle tonight to help set the stage for the next portion of the story.
WWF Championship Wrestling taping (February 1983, Tuesday, Week 2)
Agricultural Hall in Allentown, PA was rocking tonight for the Championship Wrestling taping. I can’t wait to see how this looks on TV.
In an extremely short match, Ray Stevens defeated David Sammartino in 3:09 by pinfall with a Bombs Away.
The Strongbows defeated Charlie Fulton and Bob Bradley in 4:21 when Jules Strongbow defeated Bob Bradley by pinfall with a Powerbomb. After the match, Pat Patterson interviewed the Strongbows about their upcoming match in Philadelphia against the Samoans.
Ivan Koloff pinned Curt Hennig with a Russian Sickle in 3:18.
In a match that was much more even than anybody would have expected, Buddy Rose (w/The Grand Wizard) pinned Barry Hart with a backbreaker in 2:51. Hart actually scored 3 or 4 near falls during the contest, and most people thought for a moment that we were actually going to see the upset.
Pedro Morales used a Boston crab to defeat Frankie Williams by submission in 2:32.
In what was probably the most unintentionally hilarious segment of Buddy Rogers’ Corner ever, Gorilla Monsoon said he would like to take a shot at Big John Studd’s bodyslam challenge next week, noting that he’d been playing a lot of racquetball lately to get into shape. Yes, racquetball! I’m dying here! (note: This actually happened but I can’t find it on Youtube.)
This challenge did not stop Studd from doing another bodyslam challenge, this time for $8,500. S.D. Jones was the unlucky victim here. You get the feeling someone is slamming him soon because the competition’s getting better and better. Studd then defeated Ivan Putski and Tito Santana in a handicap match, making Santana submit to a reverse bearhug in 2:38.
Don Muraco made his first defense of the Intercontinental Title, pinning S.D. Jones with a small package in 3:51. These two have amazing chemistry together, and as a result this match was much better than anybody figured going in. After the match, Patterson interviewed Muraco, who briefly told Pedro Morales that he would be too busy defending the WWF Title after next weekend to give Morales his rematch for the IC belt.
Salvatore Bellomo defeated Mac Rivera in 2:44 by pinfall with a Pizza Splash. Might as well have thrown Israel Matia and Johnny Rodz in here and had a tag team borefest because this sucked.
Mr. Fuji and Eddie Gilbert went to a 10-minute draw.
The Wild Samoans were interviewed by Pat Patterson, focusing on their match at Madison Square Garden with Andre the Giant and Jimmy Snuka.
In an extremely short match, Superstar Billy Graham defeated Tony Atlas in 37 seconds by submission. Ouch.
Horrible main event, but I’d say given the surprising Hart-Rose and Muraco-Jones matches that this would be a thumbs up.
February 1983, Wednesday, Week 2
It should be no surprise to hear that Championship Wrestling drew a sellout of 1,300 last night. Most liked the show but it seems the New York/PA fanbase is expecting better, so the Hamburg crowd will be interesting as there are about 1,300 advance tickets sold.
All-Star Wrestling taping (February 1983, Wednesday, Week 2)
I just got back from another taping of All-Star Wrestling at the Hamburg Fieldhouse. The WWF should comp me for all the free publicity I’ve been giving them lately.
In an extremely short match, Ray Stevens pinned Rocky Johnson in 5:22 with a Bombs Away.
Pedro Morales pinned Mac Rivera in 3:45.
Don Muraco pinned Chief Jay Strongbow in 2:40 with a Tombstone Piledriver to retain the Intercontinental Championship. This was really good while it lasted.
In a bout that had solid in-ring action but not much in the way of heat, Tony Garea & Eddie Gilbert defeated Charlie Fulton and Swede Hanson in 6:58 when Garea pinned Fulton with a fast roll up.
Buddy Rogers’ Corner was next, which featured Bob Backlund hyping his upcoming battles with Big John Studd and Don Muraco.
Big John Studd is in the ring and says he will pay $9,000 to anybody that can bodyslam him. Tony Garea tries and is unsuccessful. After that, Big John Studd defeated Barry Hart in 1:31 by submission with a reverse bearhug.
Salvatore Bellomo pinned Bob Bradley in 3:44 with a roll up.
Ivan Koloff pinned Frankie Williams in 4:03 when Koloff came off the top rope, driving a knee into the back of Williams’ head.
Vince McMahon interviewed Buddy Rose at ringside. Rose vowed to defeat Pedro Morales in record time next weekend at Madison Square Garden. This was followed up by a lengthy video hyping Rose and his playboy lifestyle. Following the video, it was Morales’ turn to be interviewed by Vince McMahon regarding the match at the Garden next weekend.
The show ended with Lou Albano hyping the Wild Samoans to the moon, vowing that step one was defeating The Strongbows in Philadelphia next weekend, and step 2 was taking the titles.
Overall a pretty good show but no real main event to speak of.
February 1983, Thursday, Week 4
An incident that could potentially be career suicide for Rocky Johnson occurred before the taping last night, as he began berating Vince McMahon about his pay in front of the entire locker room, leading to a near fight between the two. Jared Hawkins attempted to calm Johnson down by sternly warning him that Vince is the one guy who could veto his upcoming push, but Johnson stormed away. Hawkins is at least considering giving Johnson a run with the Intercontinental Title, but that could be in jeopardy and completely out of Hawkins’ hands.
Attendance continues to drop in Hamburg every week, this time down to 1,435. Not nearly the walk up this time around. Most of the live crowd seemed to enjoy the taping, although I don’t know if you can do 20 minutes of interviews and promo videos after the last match every week and expect fans to care for long.
February 1983, Friday, Week 2
Barry Hart signed a contract extension with Championship Wrestling from Florida. It is not expected to affect his WWF commitments.
Alexis Smirnoff has given his four week notice. He has not been used much at all on TV but was such a good hand they wanted to keep him around, but he rejected a request to negotiate a long term deal feeling he had “outgrown” the WWF. I’m shocked they didn’t try to have him team with Ivan Koloff on any sort of regular basis.
Curt Hennig has formed a tag team with Dean Ho in Portland called The Dynamite Express.
February 1983, Saturday, Week 2
The WWF officially announced a first-ever for the Spectrum next Saturday, a 5 vs. 5 elimination tag team match featuring Ray Stevens, Buddy Rose, Don Muraco, Superstar Billy Graham and Mr. Fuji against Andre the Giant, Pedro Morales, Jimmy Snuka, Rocky Johnson and Salvatore Bellomo. Bellomo? Really? Is Frankie Williams working a different show by any chance? Most of them are good or better workers though, so that match should be among the best of the year, at least if Bellomo is eliminated early.
February 1983, Sunday, Week 2
Pat Patterson has indicated he would like to wrestle on a semi-regular basis. Originally he was going to be out of the ring until at least September, so no idea if or when plans will change.
Next week, no less than two major shows featuring a lot of damn people.
