Mr. Dufour’s Wayback Machine: November.24th, 1983 Philly Spectrum

Mr. Dufour’s Wayback Machine: November. 24th, 1983

Welcome everyone to another edition of Mr. Dufour’s Wayback Machine where we review classic WWF shows of wrestle-years gone by.

Today we travel back to November.24th 1983 at the Spectrum in Philadelphia where we have a very interesting show to look at as Bob Backlund defends his WWF title against the Iron Shiek, just over a month before dropping the title to Shiek at MSG. I have found Spectrum shows to be pretty lackluster through the many shows I have watched.

Your current champions are:

World Title: Bob Backlund
Intercontinental Title: Don Muraco
Tag Team Titles: The Wild Samoans

Your hosts for tonight’s action are Gorilla Monsoon and a very interesting man that you’ll be hearing about in future Spectrum shows: Dick Graham. Dick Graham was a local radio host was employed by Prism (The T.V network showing wrestling from the Spectrum), along with Kal Rudman who did backstage interviews on the shows. Dick Graham was a goofy character who would yell “Woooo!” when he’d get excited and often provided hilarious remarks. I’d describe him a your uncle who had quite a bit to drink, but just enough to remain functional. I’ve always felt that Gorilla was amused by Graham. Anyways, let’s move on to our first bout of the evening with Mel Phillips as your ring announcer

Match #1: Rene Goulet vs Tony Garea

Ah yes, Tony Garea. A former 5 time WWWF/WWF Tag Team Champion who became a staple in the opening matches at major arena shows from 1983-1986. Tonight he’s up against the #1 Frenchman Rene Goulet, a former tag team champion himself. Prior to announcing the participants, Mel Phillips announces that due to a injury Buddy Rogers (yes that Buddy Rogers) will be unable to wrestle tonight as Jimmy Snuka’s tag team partner. In his place will be Arnold Skaaland.

Goulet starts off with quite a bit of stalling to start the match as Garea gets the upper-hand in the early exchanges. Goulet wastes no time pulling out a foreign object (probably from France) and nails Goulet in the head with it while hiding it from the view of the ref and this writer….I’m not sure he had anything in his hand to be honest. Goulet then resorts to some dirty tactics by biting the head of Garea before putting him in a reverse chinlock. The two get up to a vertical base and Goulet misses a corner charge and takes a HBK/Ric Flair corner bump but climbs right back into the ring in one fluid motion. You should have been taking notes Ric. Goulet then applies his claw hold called “The Scorpion” for almost 5 minutes before Garea is able to escape. Goulet throws Garea into the ropes in an attempt to apply the claw again, but Garea hits a crossbody for the surprise three count!

Result: Tony Garea @ 11:08 via running crossbody
Rating: **. A nice little opening match featuring two long time WWF employees. The crowd was into and popped for the surprise victory

Match #2: Charlie Fulton vs Tonga Kid

David Zinkoff is now handling the ring announcing. Lol yes! Zinkoff did the PA announcing for the Sixers. He’s very old and very funny. He would always announce the refs like he would the wrestlers, and in a lot of cases the refs would draw more of a reaction than the actual wrestlers. Charlie Fulton is a longtime preliminary wrestler who did jobs on their syndicated shows. The Tonga Kid is the youngest wrestler to main event Madison Square Garden at age 19. He had tons of potential but started no showing before jumping to Pro Wrestling U.S.A. He later resurfaced as one half of the Islanders. Tonight he is making his Spectrum debut.

Charlie starts off with some brawling tactics before kicking the Tonga Kid to the floor. The Tonga Kid is really selling his ass off here. Fulton applies a reverse chinlock before laying the boots to Tonga and later reapplying the hold. Tonga makes a bit of a comeback before running into a Fulton elbow in the corner. Fulton again goes back to a reverse chinlock. The crowd has been dead for this match. Tonga makes a few abbreviated comebacks before Goulet throws Tonga into the ropes, but Tonga leapfrogs Fulton and then lays down while pulling Fulton down by the legs for a three count! Sort of a sunset flip but not a good. Tonga does some fancy pants dancing for the only pop of the match.

Result: Tonga Kid @ 6:57 via roll-up
Rating: *. Ugh, just like Kernodle in my last review: debuting a new wrestler to a crowd and giving him zero offense against a wrestler going nowhere. The crowd was dead for the match and I blame them. Fulton controlled 90% of the action. Not good.

Match #3: Butcher Vachon vs S.D Jones

Butcher Vachon is near the end of his career and spent most of the mid 80’s doing jobs in the WWF. S.D Jones is billed from Philly at this point and gets a nice hometown response.

Vachon immediately starts brawling and hits Jones in the throat before applying a reverse chinlock, transitioning into a Yokozuna nerve hold. Jones makes his way back to his feet and irish whips Vachon into the corner. Jones nails Vachon with some punches to the boiler before hitting a backdrop. The advantage is short-lived as Vachon knees Jones in the stomach before applying the nerve hold again. Jones gets back to his feet, hits Vachon with a big body slam. Two headbutts later and that’s all she wrote.

Result: S.D Jones @ 5:07 via headbutt
Rating: * ½. The crowd was into S.D, but this was not a fun match. At least Jones got in SOME offense before winning.

Match #4: Sgt. Slaughter vs Tony Atlas

We get our first “Wooo!” of the evening followed by a “Wooohooo! as Graham is apparently pretty excited about the appearance of Tony Atlas walking to the ring. You really have to hear him do it. It’s pretty funny. The crowd is jacked for this match.

The two come nose to nose before separating so Slaughter can remove his hat and whistle. A loud “Gomer” chant breaks out. Slaughter tries to flex at Atlas but begins holding his chest in pain. Apparently you can hurt your chest flexing? Graham gets a kick out of it. The two have a test of strength with neither getting the upper-hand. Slaughter has a grin on his face and appears to be enjoying himself. The two later break into a prolonged collar and elbow tie-up with Atlas eventually threatening to punch the Sarge which causes Slaughter to retreat to a chorus of jeers from the crowd. Graham states, and this is verbatim “Atlas is saying hey man, hey there turkey, this is the time of year for you. I’m gonna getcha!” Hahaha! Slaughter then does a bunch of stalling which the crowd eats up. The two trade arm ringers before Atlas nails Slaughter with a head butt. After some initial Atlas offense, Slaughter breaks the momentum with a shot to the stomach followed by a reverse chinlock. Sarge works the chinlock for a few minute until Atlas is able to ram Slaughter into the corner. Sarge later attempts a corner splash but misses Atlas completely and hits his head on the ring post. Slaughter was so damn agile then. Atlas with a flurry of punches and the crowd pops loudly! Slaughter stops Atlas dead in his track with the Slaughter Cannon, followed by the Cobra Clutch! Atlas gets a rope break but ends up falling out of the ring in the process. Atlas grabs Slaughters legs and pulls himout of the ring. The two brawl outside the ring and neither man is able to make it back into the ring in time.

Result: Double count out @16.02
Rating: ** ½. A very enjoyable match. The crowd was really into it and the two appeared to be having a good time. Solid effort from both.

Match #5: WWF IC Champion The Magnificant Muraco and Captain Lou Albano vs Jimmy Snuka and Arnold Skaaland.

It’ll be interesting as we look back to WWF shows in 1983 the comparison in terms of popularity between Jimmy Snuka and Bob Backlund. Snuka gets a great ovation during ring introductions. Mel Phillips is back doing the ring announcing.

Skaaland who is 58 years old at this time (and looks every bit of it) starts off with Muraco and gains the early advantage. A loud “beach bum” chants breaks out in the arena. Skaaland has white trunks on, but they are kind of loose, so he looks like a fat 58 year old man running around in his underwear. Skaaland quickly tags in Snuka and the crowd erupts! Snuka continues to take it to Muraco before Skaaland tags back in. It’s been all Snuka and Skaaland so far. Muraco is able to drive Skaaland back into his corner where Albano gets in some cheap shots before tagging in. Muraco and Albano continue to beat on Skaaland until Arnold is able to make the hot tag to Snuka and the crowd goes crazy!!! Albano does the most obvious blade job I’ve ever seen. He clearly has a blade taped to his thumb and he keeps blading his forehead every time Snuka hits him. The heels try and double team Snuka, but Albano ends up nailing Muraco! Skaaland fends off Albano as Snuka hits a crossbody from the top rope on Muraco for the three count!!!

Result: Snuka and Skaaland @ 13:11 via high crossbody
Rating: *** 1/2. Wow was that a lot of fun! The crowd was red hot for Snuka and hated Muraco. Skaaland and Albano more than held their own which made for an interesting match!

Match #6: Bob Bradley vs Rocky Johnson

Bob Bradley is a prelim guy similar to Charlie Fulton, only muscular. Rocky Johnson would be on in a few months to win the tag straps with Tony Atlas. He’s coming off a feud with Muraco for the IC belt.
I don’t expect and that will be as much fun as the previous match.

No much to write about this match. Bradley gets in some horrible looking offense. Johnson makes a horrible looking comeback. Crowd couldn’t care less. Johnson wins with a roll up. Yup.

Result: Rocky Johnson @ 4:11 by roll-up
Rating: DUD with a capital D. Rocky looked like he wanted to be somewhere else and so did I.

Match #7: WWF Champion Bob Backlund vs The Iron Sheik (With Freddie Blassie)

This should be very interesting. Snuka’s pop during ring introductions CLEARLY out-pops Backlund. It’s not even close.

The two try to out amateur wrestle each other with both taking turns putting each other in the same hold. This goes on for over ten minutes and the crowd is dead. I get what they are trying to do but it is not working. Sheik finally takes control with a boot to the stomach, followed by a standing arm bar and later an abdominal stretch. Sheik then hits a gut wrench suplex for a 2 count before putting Backlund back into an abdominal stretch. Backlund is able to power out with a double underhook suplex. The two finally start with some tremendous chain wrestling before Backlund is able to bridge out of a pinning maneuver and turn it into a backslide for the victory!

Result: Bob Backlund @ 16:40 via backslide
Rating: **. The first 15 minutes were very dull. The crowd was out of it and so was I. The last minute and a half was amazing. Backlund was clearly stale at this point, but the WWF was about to sky rocket higher than anyone could have imagined

Match #8: Big John Studd vs Tito Santana

Talk about your interesting pairings! Santana was about to set his sights on Don Muraco’s IC belt before embarking on his classic feud with Greg Valentine. Studd was in and out of the company for years, winning the tag straps as one half of the Executioners with Killer Kowalski and later feuding with Andre the Giant for years. Studd grabs the mic from Mel Phillips during the ring intros and tells Santana that he “should have bought a ticket”. Ha! Studd the motion of bouncing Santana like a basketball and dunking him in one of the Sixers hoops!

Santana takes on Studd in an ill advised test of strength which Studd of course gets the upper-hand. Studd begins to use his size advantage and works on Santana’s lower back. Studd sends Santana to the floor and repeatedly stops Santana from getting back into the ring. Santana finally gets back into the ring and attempts to use his speed to get an advantage, but that goes nowhere, so Santana decides “the hell with it” and start nailed Studd in the head with a series of fists! Santana picks up Studd and stands him on the ring apron. Santana nailed Studd with a couple of rights, but Studd slaps on a bearhug while standing on the ring apron. The referee is laying a ten count on Studd while this is going on. Santana quickly breaks the hold, punches Studd off the ring apron to the floor and the referee’s count reach 10! Graham keeps insisting the ref only counted 9 (the ref could have counted to 20 by the time Studd got back into the ring) and won’t let this thought go even during the replay. Oh Dick.

Result: Tito Santana @ 6:54 via count out
Rating: ** ¾. Fun little match. Very nice psychology between the two. The crowd was into it and so was I.

Match #9: Iron Mike Sharpe and Mr. Fuji vs The Invaders

Iron Mike and Mr. Fuji on the same team! That’s just awesome. The Invaders were a masked team billed from Puerto Rico consisting of Johnny Rivera and Jose Gonzalez. I’m really surprised they didn’t get a run with the tag straps. The crowd greets Sharpe with a “wimp” chant and Sharpe loses his shit like usual. It never gets old.

Fuji immediately grabs a bag of salt from his tights, but the ref literally runs across the ring and dives at Fuji’s hands, grabbing the salt bag. Ha! Sharpe tags in and misses wildly with attempted right hands at the Invader (they are both dressed the exact same and are the exact same size and weight, so I’m just going to refer to each as “The Invader”). The two Invaders tag in and out numerous times with each executing an arm ringer on Sharpe before tagging out. Very funny. Sharpe decides “the hell with this” and tags in Fuji. Fuji gets the upper-hand and backs the Invader into the corner where he and Sharpe start double teaming. The Invader makes a bit of a comeback, but Sharpe nails him with his forearm brace. The second Invader jumps into the ring and starts attacked Fuji and Sharpe. While the ref is making Fuji go back into his corner, the second Invader sunset flips Sharpe and gets the three count!
I should note, the legal Invader whom Sharpe nailed with his forearm brace hasn’t moved so I don’t know how the ref didn’t notice the illegal Invader pinned Sharpe, but hey it’s wrestling.

Result: The Invaders @ 5:30 via sunset flip
Rating: ** ½. Sharpe and Fuji tagging together. What more can you want!

Match #10: Ivan Koloff vs Pat Patterson

These two were and the ends of their last major run with the company. Koloff wastes no time going after Patterson with his chain. Patterson boots Koloff in the gut and swings Koloff’s chain, nailing Koloff in the leg!

The ref wrestle the chain away from Patterson as Koloff attacks Patterson from behind. The action is very intense as Koloff sends Patterson to the outside before slapping on a bearhug. Patterson punches his way out, but Koloff goes back to work on the back of Patterson. Koloff sends Patterson back outside and Koloff follows him. Koloff goes after Patterson with a chair but misses! Patterson sends Koloff into the steel post and then hits Koloff in the head with a steel chair! Koloff is busted open.

Patterson rolls Koloff into the ring and is like a man possessed! Patterson fires off a series of right hands, shoving the official out of the way when he tries to intervene. Patterson continues to pummel Koloff into a bloody mess before stopping the match!

Result: Pat Patterson @ 5:30 via ref stoppage
Rating: ***. Wow, what an old fashioned slug fest! The two held nothing back the entire match and the crowd was very responsive.

5.5

The final score: review Not So Good

The 411

Decent show. Nothing special. The Backlund vs Sheik match was a major disappointment. It was definitely time to go into another direction. The evil Iranian vs the All-American boy seems like a feud that writes itself, but the match lacked intensity in my opinion. I really enjoyed the two tag matches and the Patterson vs Koloff match was a nice way to end the show.