wrestling / Video Reviews
WWWF All-Star Wrestling (1.28.1978) Review
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-Now we seem to be at the point where the company was getting more diligent about saving their tapes, so if I stick with this show, we’re going to be in 1978 for a while.
-Originally aired January 28, 1978.
-Your host is Vince McMahon.
-Tony Garea has a word about juvenile diabetes and he blows Larry Z out of the water with it.
KEN PATERA (with Captain Lou Albano) vs. SPECIAL DELIVERY JONES
-Apparently in the weeks that we’ve missed, Lou Albano has introduced some new shtick where he blows a whistle while Patera wrestles, and it’s caught on enough that a fan in the arena is blowing a whistle non-stop to counteract Captain Lou, and my god, this gets old before the bell even rings.
-SD applies a side headlock as Captain Lou runs to the commentary table to complain that it’s actually a choke. Patera fights out and punches, but SD kicks him down and reapplies the side headlock in WWWFly fashion. Captain Lou continues blowing his whistle until Patera reverses to a chinlock of his own. SD punches out and does a little shimmy. He charges at Patera for a shoulderblock, but Patera throws him over the top rope and onto the floor…for the count-out. Gotta protect SD Jones. Crowd chants “We want Backlund” after the bell, and I still cannot make sense out of how they made it work with him.
-SD revives and beats up Captain Lou after the match, but Patera defends his manager’s honor and lays out SD.
BOB BACKLUND vs. BARON MIKEL SCICLUNA
-Armdrag by Backlund. Baron tries a hammerlock, but Backlund escapes and they stalemate. Baron targets the throat and Backlund gets mad, and Backlund’s facial expression for “mad” makes me think he’s only ever had access to comic strips instead of mirrors.
-Headscissors by Backlund, then he switches to the arm. Scicluna targets the stomach to force the break. He goes for a slam, but Backlund cradles him for three. Wasn’t bad.
-Vince talks to Larry Zbyszko & Tony Garea, who pledge not to take Jack Evans and Larry Sharpe lightly in this week’s feature match. There’s this really annoying squealing sound coming from Vince’s mic every time he says anything in this interview, and it’s funny to think of a time when this whole company’s mindset toward TV production was “eh, go with it.” Larry and Tony have a very white bread discussion about how their goal is to win this week’s match so that they can earn a shot at the Tag Team Titles. Bold strategy, Cotton.
MIL MASCARAS vs. JOSE ESTRADA
-Vince is excited because he says every time you see a Mascaras match, he introduces a crazy new hold that we’ve never seen before. Mascaras immediately applies a bearhug.
-Estrada gets to the ropes to force a break and then goes to a hammerlock. Mascaras slides between his legs to escape. Top wristlock into a hammerlock by Mascaras. But, it’s, like, a zany hammerlock, I guess. Wild and unpredictable knucklelock into flying headscissors, well…okay, that was kinda cool. Estrada goes to the floor for a breather, but we get a neat bit of personality from the referee, because he knows Estrada is just stalling so he intentionally counts really, really fast, and Estrada looks frustrated as he hustles back into the ring.
-Irish whip by Mascaras, and Estrada hits the corner with some impact and bounces off. Dropkicks by Mascaras, and a half nelson gets the submission.
HANDICAP MATCH: SPIROS ARION (with Fred Blassie) vs. FRANK WILLIAMS & TED ADAMS
-Good strategy by the jobbers, backing Arion into a corner and then just hammering him and hammering him. Arion manages to dump Adams to the floor. It looks like he has the match in hand, but Adams gets back in there and once he sees there’s some fight left, Arion goes out to the floor as a stall tactic.
-Back in, jobbers try the corner strategy again, but Arion just shakes off both of them and dumps Adams to the floor again. He hangs Williams in a tree of woe, then tangles Adams’ arms in the Vine of Damn It. Adams untangles himself, but Blassie stealthily removes a turnbuckle pad and Arion knocks out both opponents, stacks them, and pins them both.
LARRY ZBYSZKO & TONY GAREA vs. DYNAMITE JACK EVANS & “Pretty Boy” LARRY SHARPE
-I feel bad for the heel team here because I feel like in this era, “not having a manager” was the same as “creative has nothing for you.”
-Garea and Evans battle for a waistlock, and Garea flips him over. Garea whips Evans and drives a knee into him, then hits the mat and applies a side headlock. Sharpe tags in and tries a chinlock. Garea elbows free but gets booted down. Please god, let the heels go over here so Sharpe can use the prize money to buy a jock strap. Sick of watching Michaelangelo’s David applying standing armbars every time I see him.
-Evans tags back in and whips Garea, cutting him off from making the tag, then wrings the arm. Tags keep getting cut off as Larry begs his partner to get out of there and the heels keep getting a hold of the arm just in time to stop it. And it seems that Ricky Morton was actually “playing Tony Garea” this whole time, as he fights for his life until finally slugging Sharpe away long enough to make the tag.
-Evans whips Larry, but Larry fights back with a backdrop and immediately tags Tony back in. Dropkick by Tony, then Larry tags back in and crucifixes Evans for the three-count. Pretty good match, as they kept it moving for the most part and delivered a bit of a story.
