JHawk
November 1983, Monday, Week 4
The World Wrestling Federation has officially gone into panic mode with the announcement earlier this morning that Bob Backlund has signed an exclusive contract with Southwest Championship Wrestling and will be leaving the company next week. Backlund, currently the WWF Heavyweight Champion, has agreed to work both tomorrow night’s TV taping and this Thursday’s Thanksgiving special in Philadelphia, but will be unavailable as of December 1.
Obviously, the WWF will have to change the title at one of those two shows, but the choices are slim for the company. Masked Superstar’s last day is tomorrow’s TV, and he was expected by many as the man who was going to take the title. Sgt. Slaughter is probably the best option, but he is expected to be the next to sign with SCW, and Superstar Billy Graham is also on the way out. The only other man still on the roster who would be credible would be Don Muraco, and he’s out another 10 months or so with his injury. Adrian Adonis’ name has come up, but he already holds the SCW Heavyweight Title and already misses a number of shows due to those commitments. George Steele’s name has also come up but they would have to do another tournament for the Intercontinental Title, and two tournaments so close together is not ideal either.
November 1983, Tuesday, Week 4
The mass defections to Southwest Championship Wrestling continue, as Buddy Rose has now signed an exclusive contract with the company.
WWF Championship Wrestling taping (November 1983, Tuesday, Week 4)
News of Bob Backlund and Masked Superstar leaving has reached the fans at the Agricultural Hall in Allentown, PA, and I’ve heard everything from Snuka winning the title in Philly to Slaughter winning it tonight to Buddy Rogers coming out of retirement. Nobody knows what’s going on.
Ivan Putski and Invader # 2 defeated Bob Bradley and Mac Rivera in 3:01 when Putski pinned Rivera with a Polish Hammer. Invader was protected as he worked little due to his injury, but that hurt the flow of the match.
WWF Intercontinental Champion George Steele defeated Nick DeCarlo in 38 seconds by pinfall.
Salvatore Bellomo pinned Israel Matia in 2:57 with a Pizza Splash. Nobody cared about this match at all.
Chief Jay Strongbow was the guest on Buddy Rogers’ Corner. Strongbow acknowledged that he is on the tail end of his career, but said he will continue to give it 100% every night until he feels he can’t do so anymore.
In a non-title match, The Soul Patrol defeated The Wild Samoans in 3:22 when Sika was disqualified while fighting Rocky Johnson. Johnson had Sika locked in an abdominal stretch but Lou Albano hit Johnson with a chair to break up the hold, which led to the bell. After the match, Pat Patterson interviewed Johnson and Tony Atlas, who challenged the Samoans to put the belts on the line in a non-title match next week.
Mr. Fuji drew with Tony Garea in 5:26 following a double count out.
Jimmy Snuka pinned Charlie Fulton in 3:22 with a Superfly Splash.
S.D. Jones pinned Tiger Conway Jr. with a headbutt in 2:37.
Pat Patterson interviewed the Wild Samoans and Lou Albano, with Albano accepting the challenge for the no DQ title match next week.
Vince McMahon asked Pat Patterson briefly about his feud with Ivan Koloff. Not sure if this will air or if this is just trying to get some of us out to Philly on Thursday.
Here’s where the show became very unique by WWF standards. Vince McMahon acknowledged that tonight would be Masked Superstar and Bob Backlund’s last appearances on Championship Wrestling. Vince did an extended interview with Superstar, followed by Patterson doing an extended interview with Backlund. At no point during these interviews was the title mentioned, but they both mentioned their histories in the company and the current feud over Eddie Gilbert’s injury.
Masked Superstar pinned Bob Backlund in 7:12 with a swinging neckbreaker. There was no mention of the title and Backlund did not appear with the belt. This was disappointing given the hype but certainly a good match.
Fantastic show, and the company needs a lot more of these if they want to stay afloat with all of these defections.
November 1983, Wednesday, Week 4
WWF owner Vince McMahon and booker Jared Hawkins were reportedly in a heated argument last night backstage over how to move forward from here. Yes, the panic is that bad.
Just to clarify, the match between Masked Superstar and Bob Backlund last night was non-title, so Backlund will likely be dropping the belt tomorrow night.
The Tonga Kid and Bobby Colt have bonded backstage, as they have a shared love of surfing.
Lou Albano brought a ton of alcohol backstage last night, as the thought was if so many guys are leaving this week that they might as well turn it into a farewell party.
As always, a sellout of 1,300 in Allentown last night, and everybody seemed to love the show even if there are still more questions than answers.
Afa signed a pay per appearance deal with the Championship Wrestling Association in Memphis but is not expected to miss any WWF dates.
November 1983, Thursday, Week 4
Tony Atlas has signed an exclusive deal with Southwest Championship Wrestling and will be finishing up at next week’s TV. So much for any doubt about the end of the tag team title match on next week’s show.
Here’s the preview (such as it is) for tonight’s show at the Spectrum.
Bob Backlund will defend (and lose) the WWF Heavyweight Title, but no opponent has been named. The last report we had was that Vince McMahon and booker Jared Hawkins were still at odds as to who was going to walk out with the belt tonight.
Sgt. Slaughter vs. Tony Atlas: Since Atlas has signed with SCW and Slaughter, at least as of now, hasn’t, Slaughter should go over.
Ivan Koloff vs. Pat Patterson: I’d put Koloff over here as he works full time and Patterson doesn’t, but Koloff only has a few months left on his deal and isn’t likely to stay so I wouldn’t be shocked to see it go the other way.
Rocky Johnson vs. Bob Bradley: Johnson should go over easily here.
Charlie Fulton vs. The Tonga Kid: Kid will probably win since he’s new, but he also greener than an Irish bar on St. Patrick’s Day.
Live coverage from the Philadelphia Spectrum (November 1983, Thursday, Week 4)
The show is starting and I still have no idea who is getting the match against Bob Backlund tonight.
Gorilla Monsoon and Howard Finkel are on commentary.
Ring announcer Mel Phillips introduced Gorilla Monsoon at the start of the show. Monsoon announced that since Masked Superstar is unable to compete tonight that at the end of the show, everybody who wins their match will be put into a battle royal and that the winner of the battle royal will receive the title shot against Bob Backlund in the main event. I’ve heard worse ideas and that solves the problem of what to do about the guys who are considering leaving.
Ivan Putski and Invader # 2 defeated Iron Mike Sharpe and Mr. Fuji in 4:36 when Putski pinned Sharpe with a Polish Hammer. Invader’s injury is still taking a toll, and Putski isn’t good enough to carry the load by himself anymore.
Tony Garea pinned Rene Goulet in 10:43.
In an awful match that was completely devoid of heat, The Tonga Kid pinned Charlie Fulton in 7:29 with a Piledriver.
In an extremely short match, S.D. Jones defeated Don Kernodle in 5:29 by submission.
In a match that had some good action and average heat, Tito Santana defeated Bill Anderson in 7:09 by disqualification.
In a bout that had a good crowd and good action, Sgt. Slaughter drew with Tony Atlas in 16:27 following a double disqualification. Atlas was tiring near the end but this has been the best match of the show so far.
Howard Finkel conducted an interview with George Steele and Captain Lou Albano, who discussed tonight’s match with Jimmy Snuka and Arnold Skaaland.
In a bout that had great heat and good action, Arnold Skaaland and Jimmy Snuka (w/Buddy Rogers) defeated Lou Albano and George Steele (w/The Grand Wizard) in 12:52 when Snuka pinned George Steele with a Superfly Splash. This probably should have been shorter since Skaaland and Albano aren’t anywhere near ring shape and were sucking wind before it was over. All four men continued to brawl into the locker room after the match.
Rocky Johnson pinned Bob Bradley with the Johnson Shuffle in 4:02. Bradley looked off his game but Johnson looked really good.
Ivan Koloff was interviewed backstage, reiterating the points he made to Patterson’s face on TV a few weeks ago about how Patterson has lied about the alleged illegal tactics Koloff uses night in and night out.
Pat Patterson defeated Ivan Koloff in 5:37 when referee Dick Worhele stopped the match due to a cut on Koloff’s forehead. Koloff actually dominated most of the match until Patterson was able to ram Koloff’s head into the ringpost to open the cut. After the match, Koloff threw a chair into the ring in an attempt to attack Patterson, but Patterson was able to grab the chair and keep him at bay. Patterson and Koloff have great chemistry together and it showed in this one.
The battle royal participants are Invader #2, Ivan Putski, Tony Garea, The Tonga Kid, S.D. Jones, Tito Santana, Jimmy Snuka, Arnold Skaaland (yikes!), Rocky Johnson and Pat Patterson. All babyfaces? That’s bold. Is it sad that I kind of want Skaaland to win just because the smart marks would flip out?
In a bout that had solid in-ring action and average heat, Pat Patterson won the battle royal in 10:17. The other members of the ‘final four’ were Tito Santana, Rocky Johnson and Jimmy Snuka, with Santana being the final elimination. Jimmy Snuka got the most eliminations over the course of the match. Invader #2 and Skaaland were both eliminated within the first 30 seconds, Invader to protect his injury and Skaaland because we’re lucky he didn’t have a heart attack already tonight.
We’re getting a late intermission, explained by Mel Phillips as a chance for Patterson to rest before the main event. During the break, Backlund and Patterson gave separate interviews, both discussing their history in matches against each other but how the title means a lot to both of them so the end goal is winning the match and the title.
Pat Patterson pinned Bob Backlund with an inside cradle in 17:19 to win the WWF Heavyweight Title. This was fine but not nearly in line with their matches a few years ago. After the match, Backlund grabbed the house mic and thanked the fans for their support over the last six years.
Fantastic show overall, and Patterson winning the title was a nice surprise.
November 1983, Friday, Week 4
In the end, it was booker Jared Hawkins who convinced Vince McMahon to go with Pat Patterson as champion. McMahon was pushing for Ivan Koloff, but Hawkins convinced McMahon that not only was Patterson more of a surprise, but he was a better chance to draw, at least short term, until a full time champion could be found.
Great Goliath lifted everybody’s spirits backstage with some spot-on impressions of his colleagues, including an impression of Los Angeles promoter Mike LeBell that had some people who knew LeBell marvelling at how accurate it was. I have no idea why he didn’t wrestle last night, but I can’t say anybody missed him.
A bit of a disappointing crowd last night, as attendance was just 3,494 paid at the Spectrum last night. Everybody loved the show though, so that should be a good sign for future months.
The next show in Philadelphia will be in January. The WWF will return to Madison Square Garden in December on Monday, Week 4.
As expected, Sgt. Slaughter has signed an exclusive contract with Southwest Championship Wrestling and will be done after next week’s TV. Slaughter, along with Tony Atlas, received last night’s match of the night bonus.
November 1983, Saturday, Week 4
Tito Santana is officially done.
Johnny Rivera (Invader #2) has hit the last month of his contract but is expected to get an extension.
November 1983, Sunday, Week 4
TV ratings remain steady this weekend.
Buddy Rogers has reached the last month of his contract, but we have been told that he will not be offered an extension. The company was hoping for one run of matches between Albano and Rogers, but Rogers failed a physical last week, which is why Arnold Skaaland teamed with Jimmy Snuka in Philadelphia. Without that set of matches, the company has nothing for him.
