JHawk
March 1984, Monday, Week 4
Iron Mike Sharpe has worked the maximum number of dates for New Japan that were contracted by the working agreement with New Japan Pro Wrestling, so expect him to make more appearances for the WWF. I find this funny as NJPW was just beginning to give him a push as a tag team called The Avengers with Randy Savage, so it appears Antonio Inoki actually forgot Sharpe wasn’t actually under contract.
March 1984, Tuesday, Week 4
The only match announced for tonight’s TV taping is Ivan Putski vs. Frankie Williams, although the WWF is also advertising S.D. Jones and Tony Garea locally. The taping will be taking place at the Lavietes Pavilion in Allston, MA, which seats a little under 2,200.
WWF Championship Wrestling taping (March 1984, Tuesday, Week 4)
In a non-title match, Tony Garea defeated Mr. Fuji in 4:14 by pinfall.
Hulk Hogan pinned Iron Mike Sharpe in 2:30 with a Big Leg Drop.
Tiger Chung Lee pinned Brian Blair in 58 seconds with a Tombstone Piledriver.
Spike Huber pinned Rene Goulet in 1:43 with a Piledriver.
Victory Corner was next, and Lord Alfred Hayes interviewed The Tonga Kid. Tonga said he was on The Great Wojo’s side in his war against Ivan Koloff, saying Wojo has been teaching him wrestling and discipline. So the Wojo-Koloff feud is based around the USA vs. Russia and Tonga, a sovereign state, is involved in the feud? Gotcha.
In an extremely poor match, Nick DeCarlo defeated Bobby Bass in 1:54 by pinfall.
Gene Okerlund interviewed Chief Jay Strongbow, who said he was going to be watching Samu’s match closely in preparation for their match this weekend.
Samu pinned S.D. Jones in 5:21 with a Flying Headbutt.
Ivan Putski pinned Frankie Williams in 2:57 by pinfall with a Polish Hammer.
Next came a series of interviews with Okerlund interviewing Pat Patterson and Ivan Koloff separately about their match this coming weekend.
This was followed by Vince McMahon interviewing The Grand Wizard and George Steele. Wizard said Steele would make an example out of Jimmy Snuka tonight, and next on his agenda “if he ever grows a backbone” is Intercontinental Champion Tony Garea.
In a match that had a fantastic crowd and good action, George Steele defeated Jimmy Snuka in 6:41 by submission.
The show was bookended by good matches but the middle 45 minutes or so is brutal.
March 1984, Wednesday, Week 4
The Update segment this coming weekend will feature a look at the Ivan Koloff-Great Wojo feud.
Tony Garea and Brian Blair will meet The Wild Samoans at next week’s TV taping. It’s being billed as a non-title match, which is going to be the case regardless of how the tag team title match on Saturday ends up.
The paid attendance last night was 2,195, close to a sell out.
Rumors abound that Eddie Gilbert is once again up to his old tricks in the WWF, using his wits to position himself politically into stronger connections within the company. Obviously people are upset, saying “Who did he ever beat?” Obviously those people forgot this is a work.
March 1984, Thursday, Week 4
The rumored Women’s Tag Team Title “tournament final”, advertised for weeks in Philadelphia, is in danger of not taking place, as only Joyce Grable, Leilani Kai and Peggy Lee Leather are actually active on the roster. The company is trying to talk road agent Penny Mitchell into coming out of retirement for the match but I’m not expecting that to happen.
March 1984, Friday, Week 4
Jose Estrada has been given an offer from Championship Wrestling from Florida, and I’d be shocked if he didn’t take it. Rumor is he would leave the WWF if the deal is made.
March 1984, Saturday, Week 4
Here is the preview for tonight’s WWF show at the Philadelphia Spectrum.
Ivan Koloff vs. Pat Patterson: Patterson’s WWF Heavyweight Title is not on the line, so I’d expect Koloff to win. I also would not be shocked to see The Great Wojo’s interference cause a DQ.
The Wild Samoans vs. Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee for the WWF Tag Team Title: The Samoans should win.
Don Kent vs. The Great Wojo: This was set up with their brawl in a tag team match last month during Wojo’s face turn. Wojo wins unless they use Koloff’s interference to further their feud.
Samu vs. Chief Jay Strongbow: Strongbow’s sole purpose should be putting over younger talent, so Samu should win here.
Jules Strongbow vs. Salvatore Bellomo: Does it matter? I guess Bellomo wins since Jules is almost never around.
Tony Garea is expected to make an Intercontinental Title defense tonight as well, plus there may or may not be a Women’s Tag Team Title match.
This show has more matches announced ahead of time than I can recall in recent memory. Too bad the show looks terrible on paper.
WWF Philadelphia Spectrum live coverage (March 1984, Saturday, Week 4)
Everybody backstage is in a panic as apparently Ivan Koloff has not arrived to the building.
Salvatore Bellomo pinned Jules Strongbow in 4:43 with a Pizza Splash.
Charlie Fulton pinned The Tonga Kid in 6:07 with The Powerslam.
In a bout that had a good crowd and good action, Iron Mike Sharpe drew with Intercontinental Champion Tony Garea in 20:00 when the time limit expired.
Samu pinned Chief Jay Strongbow in 6:22 with a Flying Headbutt.
The Great Wojo is interviewed backstage by Lord Alfred Hayes, he hypes an upcoming singles match against Don Kent. It’s a nice touch that he’s still accompanied by The Grand Wizard, as it shows he’s the same wrestler but is simply supporting the USA for his babyface turn.
Don Kent drew with The Great Wojo in 6:55 following a double disqualification. They continue to brawl after the bell, and they are joined by Salvatore Bellomo, Tony Garea, Andre The Giant and Jimmy Snuka who attempt to break up the wild brawl, with the chaos spilling out all around ringside. Eventually a number of officials and other wrestlers have to hit the ring and pull them apart before they kill each other.
In a match that had an average crowd reaction and some decent in-ring action, Andre The Giant, Jimmy Snuka and Steve Lombardi defeated Bob Bradley, Jose Luis Rivera and Jose Estrada in 14:43 by two straight falls, with the final fall happening when Jimmy Snuka defeated Bob Bradley by pinfall with a Superfly Splash.
Still no sign of Ivan Koloff.
Gorilla Monsoon interviews Jay York, who despite it being non-title has the match of a lifetime replacing Ivan Koloff vs. Pat Patterson. He says he’s going to make the most of the opportunity.
Jay York defeated Pat Patterson in 3:57 by disqualification when, with the referee down and York using a foreign object, The Great Wojo ran in and attacked Jay York. Wojo continued to attack York after the bell until York ran to the back. I assume that everything was done as if York was Ivan Koloff, because otherwise none of this makes sense.
Joyce Grable and Penny Mitchell defeated Leilani Kai and Peggy Lee Leather in 5:34 when Mitchell pinned Leather to win the vacant WWF Ladies Tag Team titles.
Lord Alfred Hayes conducts an interview with Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee, who discuss their upcoming match with The Wild Samoans.
The Wild Samoans defeated Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee in 5:57 when Sika defeated Tiger Chung Lee by pinfall with a Samoan Drop to retain the WWF World Tag Team titles.
Not a horrible show but there are a lot of people angry about the Koloff no-show.
March 1984, Sunday, Week 4
The attendance was a dismal 2,200 at the Spectrum last night.
The Ivan Koloff no-show has led to the resignation of Jared Hawkins as booker of the WWF. Koloff wound up working for New Japan in Yokohama last night, losing to Masanobu Fuchi. Apparently someone in the office was made aware of this weeks ago but the word never got around to Hawkins. So the match with the most advertising never happened, a lot of people were claiming blatant false advertising, and out of anger Hawkins threw his clipboard at Vince McMahon backstage and stormed off. Our offices are attempting to get in touch with Hawkins for an interview but he may have a clause in his contract preventing interviews for a period of time.
So as you see, this will be the last regular edition of Through the Booking Glass in its current form.
So basically what is happening is I have been having computer crashes a minimum of once a week for the last couple of months. I am still enjoying the project, but given the data crashes, I’ve also had instances where TEW, which I use to simulate everything, sometimes has to be uninstalled and reinstalled. This has led to some weeks being redone through TEW, and I’m concerned that one too many crashes could completely crash my version of TEW for good. So I’m stopping here and will be doing an “epilogue” next week (time permitting) to explain in more detail why certain things were done and how long the WWF stayed in business after this. I don’t see that being very long.
I will still be working for CXF moving forward, but on a new project until I can get a new laptop in about six months or so.
