This was done earlier in the year but now I’m posting on cheap-heat so I will post the backlogs to get us caught up. The style of old school changes for a few weeks then I found my groove.
And I’m like… Goin Old School! I’ll type how I feel about what I see. If I need a history lesson, we both do. Also, I’m not too much of a historian so sorry if some explanation isn’t on point. Be sure to let me know!
The match starts with the ref checking out the guys pads to make sure they aren’t cheating. Indian Jay Strongbow and Butcher Vachon had a lame match. I typed while I watched it but that was lost to forever cause I did not safe my draft!!! All you need to know is it ended on a Thez Press with Strongbow winning. Also Paul Vachon gave Jay some back bites and back scratches and big boots, that was his whole offense! Indian Jay got in his hulking up comeback before hulking up was cool. A DECADE BEFORE THAT.
They were not too good, well Jay was but the match was not enjoyable. Old Schoolin Rulin!
Freddie Blassie is with Spiros Arion and Arnold Skaaland is with Bruno Sammartino. They are wrestling a texas deathmatch, to my knowledge that is where one man gets pinned, and then they get til the count of 10 to get to their feet.
Match starts with Spiros attacking Bruno before the bell, a few stomps. The bell rings and Bruno goes hard with awesome punches and kicks. Crowd goes nuts for everything he does. Spiros is Greek and Sammartino is Italian, the crowd seems to be mainly Italian too. They start brawling on the outside… well Spiros got knocked to the outside and when he tried to come in Bruno would stomp and punch until Arion had to go back off the apron. Once Spiros got in the ring with the ref holding Sammartino off, then it was all Arion. Got Bruno down with a kick and a punch, then just stomping away. Italian flags galore in the crowd. Arion gets a 2 count off of a body slam on the champion. Bruno works his way back to his feet, he gets Spiros into the ropes and throws giant forearms to Arions back. Arion goes outside again so Sammartion steps out onto the apron and kicks Spiros in the back of the head. Arion is mad now, charges back in the ring but gets caught in a half headlock/choke thing. Sammartino runs at Spiros and boots him, he stomps, looks to the crowd, they go BANANAS! He screams at Arion FIGHT LIKE A MAN! Vince McMahon is calling this move for move, doesn’t know much beyond that, but it makes it more sporty so thats fun. Bruno has Spiros in what Vince calls “what looks like a boston crab or something very similar to it”. What it is is Bruno was sitting on Spiros back and was pulling Arions chin like a camel clutch. I assume we don’t have the Iron Shiek yet! Arion fought back and has Bruno down, stomps again, its amazing how little they do and how engulfed the crowd is! Lots of back of the head kicks, I’m not sure what a Texas Deathmatch is in WWF circa 1975. A bodyslam by Bruno but Spiros has his foot on the ropes. The ref doesn’t see it or care. Bruno wins in a 1 fall to a finish match?
Old Schoolin Rulin: The punches and kicks were a plenty, they had alot of force behind them and the pace was fairly quick in comparison to the first match. I still am unsure of this Texas Deathmatch thing, but the finish was a normal bodyslam. Vince notices the leg was on the rope, so we must get a rematch later in the year I’m sure. Only the network has ONE event per year for most of the 70’s though!
The Grand Wizard looks awesome and so does ” The Toughest and Roughest of All” Killer Kowalski, Killer is FUCKING HUGE!! or is around only small people, still though he looks like something out of Eastern Europe and monster like. The ref is having a lengthy conversation with the wrestlers, then the bell rings, right away Killer runs to Wizard for some advice. Collar and Elbow and the tape just got funky, we are now just halfway into this match. Kowalski is working over Victors leg, I’m not too sure how much of the match we’ve skipped. This Victor Rivera fellow is beating Kowalski to the punch, only problem is Killer goes right back to work on his leg. Victor just grabs Killers ear to get out of the hold though, Kowalski RIGHT BACK AT THE LEG THOUGH!! These matches are very slow paced, it does seem like a real fight in some ways though.
You can tell from the earlier match with Indian Jay Strongbow, that they were coming out of the Sports phase slowly and entering the entertainment phase without knowledge. Just going with what works with the crowd, they were most hype during Bruno’s introduction, and Indian Jays comeback.
Victor caught Kowalski with a fantastic dropkick and Killer went headfirst into the turnbuckle. Kowalski got in control again off of a punch, he has forgone the leg instead choosing the abdomen of one Victor Rivera. Victor comes back every now and then with these flurries of punches then some sort of move. Killer is on his knees and Victor does repeated headslams, Kowalski is standing and Rivera will put a sleeper on. Killer is able to fight out of everything he gets thrown into, then menacingly punches and kicks until he can work on the leg or stomach. Victor got Killer in the Andre spot where the arms are tied into the ropes. Rivera walks to the other side of the ring and plays to the crowd, he then bum rushes Kowalski and tackles him while he is still tied in the ropes. Victor tries it one more time, but the ref unties Killer who runs over to catch Rivera with his back turned, only for Rivera to turn around just in time to catch Kowalski with a punch. They go into the corner and all of a sudden the ref calls the bell when Killer was closing in on Rivera. Rivera then does something and the crowd cheers. Killer just walks out the ring, they say the Winner Rivera with no real explanation of what happened. I think Killer bit Rivera.
That is Ivan Putski pointing. The announcer says “Ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and Gentlemen, this will be a classic” Then he introduces the Wolfman. Next was gonna be Ivan Putski but Putski ran after Wolfman and they started brawling. Putski is just a barrel of a man, just puts dude in a headlock and the crowd is NUTS!! Putski is high octane so far, you can tell he is the type that is here for a fight. Wolfman throws some chops and muddles about, the crowd is quiet, the second Putski does anything on offense they go caRAYzy. Wolfman bit Putski, Putski bites Wolfman, the ref lets it go. Now I’m totally confused on how the last match ended. Wolfman tries to kick Putski in the stomach but the man is just too much of a damn barrel. He gets Wolfman in a front facelock, and every time he cinches in the crowd responds. The Wolfman does all this weird offense, like stretching Ivans mouth or grabbing his back, or grabbing his stomach. Ivan gets mad and just HAMMERS dude in the dead relentlessly. Ivan throws Wolfman into the ropes and hits a bearhug. The ref says ring the bell cause Wolfman done passed out!
Old Schoolin Rulin: Totally understand why this was the last match. Ivan Putski is the shit, he even cuts a promo after the match, Wolfman attacks him and Putski punches him in the face. He just starts posing and grabs a drink from the crowd. The announcer says I never got to introduce this great man IVAN PUTSKI. Ivan starts drinking beer in the ring and yells POLISH POWER! He thin points to the crowd and does the Hogan thing with the ears and tries to get everyone to cheer, which they do. They go nuts in fact. I am over like rover on Ivan Putski lemme tell ya what. I want more of his work on the Network but they don’t have much.
Hope yall enjoyed it. I’ll be back with more.
