WWWF All-Star Wrestling (9.2.1978) Review

-Originally aired September 2, 1978.

-Your host is Vince McMahon.

NON-TITLE: FABULOUS MOOLAH vs. VICKI WILLIAMS
-Williams rears back and wallops Moolah with a forearm, then takes her down with a wristlock. Moolah counters with leg scissors, her iron-like cellulite scraping across Williams’ face like Brillo pads, and Williams is screaming. Moolah goes after Williams’ leg, yanking on it like Williams owes her money, which she almost certainly did in real life, but Williams clamps on a toehold. Moolah makes the ropes to escape and stomps her as Vince proclaims Moolah “a hefty gal.”

-Williams turns Moolah upside-down and hangs her in the ropes, and we get a complicated comedy spot as the referee tries to untangle the ropes, but Williams goes to the opposite end of the ring and leans really hard on the ropes, to make the ropes that Moolah is tangled in tighter. Moolah gets free and charges, but accidentally launches herself over the top rope when Williams gets out of the way. That just pisses her off and she throws Williams out to the floor. They brawl out there, and they head up to the apron, where Williams bodyslams Moolah back into the ring, accidentally getting herself counted out and giving Moolah the win. Giving the devil her due, that was honestly a DAMN good match, definitely as watchable as a Moolah match has ever been.

LUKE GRAHAM (with The Grand Wizard) vs. JIMMY RAY
-Ray throws punches, Graham punches back and drives elbows into the stomach. Ray tries headbutts, which are effective, but he also hurts himself and he’s too woozy to keep the offense going. Graham with a move I’ve not seen before but can easily be identified as a neck noogie, which he switches to a choke. Bearhug/hammerlock combo by Graham, who’s feeling really creative this week. Ray goes to the hair to break, but Graham switches to a nerve hold. Wizard passes a weapon to Graham and we get some craftiness and chicanery, and one good shot to the throat puts Ray away. Another pretty good match for this show!

-Vince McMahon confronts the Grand Wizard about the cheating, but Wizard claims that he’s been practicing mass hypnosis and it worked on Vince, since he clearly slept through a clean, clear-cut victory by Luke Graham and he’s convinced he saw something that didn’t happen.

DOMINIC DENUCCI vs. BARON MIKEL SCICLUNA
-Baron goes right to work with a full nelson. DeNucci slips free by going down to the mat, but Baron hooks his ankles and hangs on to stop him from standing up. DeNucci yanks down the back of Baron’s tights, and Baron releases the hold to pull his tights back up. The crowd goes absolutely NUTS for this, by the way, which is an example of a point I’ve made about this territory before. If the crowd reacts that big to something like THAT, and you were one of the wrestlers in that ring, would you bother doing anything more in your match? Hell no.

-Baron goes to a nerve hold, case in point, and DeNucci fights back and it’s just straight up a comedy match, as DeNucci bops him on the nose and Baron sells it like he sees little birds circling his head, and then DeNucci teases stomping his balls for a moment. Fist fight erupts and the referee gets frustrated with both guys as he struggles to pull them apart. Both of them shove him down and it’s a double disqualification. Different kind of match but still fun.

IVAN KOLOFF (with Captain Lou Albano) vs. FRED MARZINO
-Koloff just beats Marzino and slams him down, then comes off the top rope with a knee to finish in under two minutes. A clean finish for the first time this week AND a preview of the decade to come in this company!

BOB BACKLUND & CHIEF PETER MAIVIA (with Arnold Skaaland) vs. STAN STASIAK & TONY RUSSO
-Maivia and Stasiak start. Maivia takes him down with a side headlock, and I can’t help but notice that Maivia has grown a mustache…an EVIL mustache. Hmm. Stasiak fights free as Vince lays it on thick, saying that the team of Backlund and Maivia have a strong future and are likely future champions.

-Russo tags in and the Super Best Friends take turns working him over. Stasiak tags in and chokes Maivia out, then boots him to the floor. Weird use of “literally” by Vince, who declares that “Stasiak LITERALLY kicked Maivia to the floor.” It’s nice to hear that word used correctly for once but still, I don’t think anybody thought this was figurative, Vince.

-Heels bungle a double-team and Maivia escapes to tag Backlund in. Backlund ends up playing face-in-peril for a bit before tagging Maivia back in. Rapid tags by the champs to keep Tony Russo from being able to do anything with either of them, and Backlund finally puts him away with an atomic drop.

7.8

The final score: review Good

The 411

Easily the strongest week of this that I've watched so far.