When we go old school , we are going through the vaults of the WWE. What they have available on The Network we will look at chronologically. This is why there is a jump from 78 to 81. First we will look at the year of 1981, then a brief history on what happened between 1979 and 1981. Then we will get into the show. Ok, deal?
We start 1981 with Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale leaving Presidental office, and Ronald Reagan and Geroge H.W. Bush taking their place. Days before leaving office Jimmy Carter isВ able to free hostages in Iran. В The sanctions that were put on Iran at this timeВ are still a major part of our diplomatic relations with the country.
In other “news” related news.В Walter Cronkite , one of the few everlasting respected names in news retires. He is best known forВ telling us JFK had been assassinated, among other things.
In March President Ronald ReaganВ narrowly escapes assassination. В The early 80’s starts a recession and AIDS is first found in 5 people from California.
Top Grossing Movies –
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
В – $212,222,025
On Golden Pond
В – $119,285,433
Superman 2
В – $108,185,706
Laserdisc is also a thing now.
Top Songs –
Kim Carnes-В Bette Davis Eyes
Soft Cell –В Tainted Love
Phil Collins –В In The Air Tonight
Television Shows- MTVВ changed American teens forever.
HBO becomesВ a television station also.
Dynasty, Great American Hero, and Hillstreet Blues debut.
Video Games-В
Galaga, Donkey Kong, and Frogger
В has quarters filling up arcade machines across the nation.
Meanwhile the WWWF was running smoothly with Bob Backlund as their champion, however in 1980, Vincent K. McMahon would apply to trademark WWF. Then in 1982 he purchased the company from his father and associates. Making this the last yearВ for Vincent J. McMahon’s vision of wrestling.
1979 is the year we at introduced to the Intercontinental Championship. Pat Patterson “ wins ” the championship in a tournament in Rio De Janeiro by beating Johnny Rodz. What promotions would do sometimes to add prestige to a title is say the tournament was held in an outside country. Since there was no internet it was easier to sell as truth. Anyway PattersonВ lost to Ken Patera. В Who then lost it toВ Pedro Morales. В Later in 1980, a bad guy from the AWA by the name of Hulk Hogan battlesВ Andre the Giant, seven years before the biggest match in wrestling.
I believe we are now caught up and ready for Howard Finkle to start the show!
Intercontinental Championship Match- Pedro Morales vs. Moondog Rex
Pedro Morales- Pedro was born on a small island outside Puerto Rico, around his pre-teens he lived with his aunt in Brooklyn. At 13 he joined an amateur wrestling program at his local YMCA. Now when we talk about people working territories, the more I read up on it, the more his accomplishments outside WWWF pile up. He started at the age of 17 and needed his father to sign for him to be an underage performer. Dude traveled everywhere. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas, but he really made his mark in California forВ
WWA.
Before that run he wasn’t much of a player in the eyes of WWWF, as much as it changes it stays the same. While he was tag champion in WWA, he also held tag belts in the AWA. Any wrestler that you can think of in the 60’s wrestled Pedro Morales. After 12 years on the territories, Morales finally made it to WWWF in 1970. In 1971 he won theВ
WWWF United States Championship.
Only one month later he beatВ
Ivan Koloff to become the 4th WWWF Champion.
In 1972 while still champion he face Bruno Sammartino in the first ever WWWF good guy vs. good guy match. It was later billed as the match of the century and ended in a 75 minute draw which angered many fans. In December of 1973 he lost the title to В Stan Stasiak. He left the company in 1975 and went to NWA:San Francisco, then Championship Wrestling from Florida, then AWA. He came back to now WWF in 1980. He formed a tag team with former world champion Bob Backlund and they won the tag titles in August. In December Pedro beat Ken Patera to win the Intercontinental Championship and become the firstВ
WWF Triple Crown Champion.
He entered the Hall of Fame in 1995.
Moondog Rex- I couldn’t find much on Rex from his stints before WWF in 1981.В He did team with Moondog King В to win the WWF Tag Team Titles. At the event before this Moondog Spot lost to Pedro, so Rex is gonna try.В
The match was more enjoyable than I expected it to be. Rex worked over Pedro’s arm for the majority of the match. Innovative stuff too, he stood on Pedro’s hand and stomped the arm a bunch of times. Hammerlock into body slams. A bunch of stuff. Pedro could only pull the win out by a small package.
And I’m Like… I want to find more Moondog stuff, Pedro didn’t do much other than get beat up. It’s alright as an opener.В
Pat Patterson vs. Sgt. SlaughterВ
Pat Patterson- He got his start in 1958 in Quebec, he would wear lipstick and pink trunks and would be accompanied by his pet poodle. He went to NWA: San Francisco, he won the tag titles 10 times, most notably with Ray Stevens. He also won their United States title six times. I wish I could find more information on that territory but I believe most of it was lost to history. What isnt lost to history though is when PattersonВ defeated Ted DiBiase В for the North American Championship, which was unified with the “South American championships” to create the Intercontinental Championship which was first held by Pat Patterson. He was originally managed by this guy.В
This is the Grand Wizard. He basically invented manager interference, and he would belittle the crowd expertly. Me managed for 20 men, leading most to some sort of championship. He was one of the wise men of the east. In 1995 became a Hall of Famer.
The Wizard tried to sell Pattersons contract to Captain Lou Albano, but Pat disrespected Albano and was then beat up by the Wild Samoans. After turning to a good guy he lost the title to Ken PateraВ in 1980. В He started his feud with Slaughter shortly into 1981, this match being one of their last. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996.В
Sgt. Slaughter- Like Bob Backlund and Ric Flair, Slaughter is originally from Minnesota but chooses to reside in another state. Prior to joining WWF in 1980, Slaughter worked in the NWA and the AWA, not much can be found on him til he left WWF in late 1981. On arrival in 1980 he was managed by The Grand Wizard and was able to have a few shots at Bob Backlund’s world title. HeВ would do Cobra Clutch challenges В to see who could break the hold, Patterson almost did before Slaughter broke the hold and beat on Pat leading to this match, and one shortly afterВ that was a precursor to hardcore matches, В which won 1981 match of the year.В
It takes a good 5 minutes to get going. Patterson wants to fight but Slaughter goes to the outside and takes his time. He tries a sneak attack hut Patterson is there to throw fierce ass punches. I could watch these two all day, such urgency in their moves. Slaughter even fakes jumping to the outside.
He jumps to the apron then on Patterson, the danger is there though. Slaughter starts biting Pat! They get to the inside of the ring, Slaughter misses a diving knee drop. Patterson puts on the figure four and continues to work over the leg of Sgt. Slaughter. It ends with both Slaughter and Patterson throwing the ref out of the ring so they can fight.
And I’m Like… That was badass, I never knew how good Patterson was, and Slaughter broke the Ziggler scale on some of those moves. Good work!
Steel Cage Match for the WWF World Championship: Bob Backlund (c) vs. Stan Hanson
Bob Backlund-В Wrote about him here. В Backlund had more tag team success when he (along with Antonio Inoki) won the “1980 MSG Tag Team League Tournament”, last defeating Hulk Hogan and Stan Hansen on December 10 in Osaka, Japan. Backlund and Inoki finished the tournament with seven wins and two double-countout decisions. He then had a series of matches against Hulk Hogan.В
Stan Hanson- Stan started in 1973, he formed a tag team with Bruiser Brody in 1975 and was signed to WWWF in 1976. A few months into that run he feuded with World Champion Bruno Sammartino. During one of these matches, Stan botched a power slam and broke Bruno’s neck. The promoters pitched it as the force of his Lariet Clothesline. He then left for the NWA territories, winning numerous tag and world titles. In about ’79 and ’80 he toured Japan and would then make sporadic stops in WWF, this was one of those stops.В
Hansen makes his way to the ring, he is surrounded by about a 10 foot cage, from top of cage to concrete it’s about 15 feet. As we wait for our champion, Hansen screams ” ARGHH! Where is Backlund”. Bob makes his way to the cage door as Stan yells “Suck it up!” Howard Finkle says the only way to win is by escaping the cage.
I’m used to scientific wrestling when it comes to World Championship matches. This is a fight! Punches, kicks, knee smashes and cage crashes. Backlund was able to sneak a piledriver in, he tries to climb out of the cage, but gets caught.
Bob decides doing more damage is necessary. He rams Stan’s head into the cage and draws blood.
В “Hansen is cut, he will be cut more before this is over” – Vince McMahon Bob is relentless now, attacking the wound, grinding Stan’s face against the cage. Hansen mounts a tiny comeback but Backlund KICKS HIM IN THE GROIN!! The crowd cheers, we talk about how today the good guy is a jerk and the crowd loves him for it. Same thing with Hogan, Jesse Ventura would always point out Hogans jerking ways. Turns out Backlund is the same. “Backlund is having everything to his way 100% of the time, Hansen is messed up and the crowd loves it.” -Vince McMahon.
Hansen gets the advantage, but like every other moment in this match, he tries to escape too quickly and Backlund catches him. At one pointВ
Backlund and Hansen do a Shawn and Razor ladder spot.
В The finish is a yay/boo spot on the top of the cage.
Hansen falls and hits his head on the turnbuckle. Backlund taunts and walks out the cage door.
And I’m like… This is why I like doing old school write ups. I’m glad to have watched this match. Hansen was a true great, it shows prominently at the end. В Hansen climbs on the cage and does his longhorn taunt, he yells. He keeps walking around and yelling, I don’t think I’ve heard a crowd boo so much tonight then at the end of this match. That is how you get your heat back!В
В
Tony Garea and Rick Martel vs. Johnny Rodz and Larry Sharpe
Tony Garea- After last visiting Tony we have learned up until this point he was a renowned tag team specialist. After losing the belts he had with Zbyszko to the Wild Samoans. Garea tried to find a new tag partner. He tried some matches with Rene Goulet, but found the most success he ever had with Rick Martel. Rick helped Tony avenge his loss to the Samoans by capturing the Tag Titles from them. It would be Tony’s 4th reign and Martels first. They would hold the titles a little less than a year before losing to the Moondogs. A month later they are having this match. В
Rick Martel- Martel got his start in 1972 in Canada, he would work for Stampede Wrestling and NWA: Vancouver before finding his grooveВ in Portland’s NWA affiliate. В In 1980 he joined WWF after losing a “loser leaves town match” to Buddy Rose. In just 3 short months of joining the company he and partner Tony Garea won the tag titles. Half a year later they would lose to the Moondogs, a month later they try and rebuild momentum.В
Johnny Rodz- He was with WWWF in the beginning or damn close to it. He always was the bad guy, not to foreshadow but he was the original jobber to the stars. He wrestled for WWF until 1985. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1996. Then went on to become a trainer at Gleason’s Gym training most of the ECW main eventers.В
Larry Sharpe- After being ranked 4th by the NCAA in amateur wrestling, Sharpe was recruited by Gorilla Monsoon. He debuted in the WWWF but took tours of Japan, Puerto Rico, Texas, and the Mid-Atlantic. In ’76 he won tag titles in Stampede wrestling and returned to WWWF in ’77. He formed a tag team with Jack Evans known as the Hollywood Blondes and Gorilla Monsoon sent them to work in the WWC. He won tag titles there and then went to NWA: Hawaii. He returned to WWF but never gained much, he left in the 80’s to start the wrestling schoolВ
The Monster Factory
В which has a who’s who of Hosses. He originally opened the school with “Nature Boy” Buddy Rogers.В
After the ref checks for foreign objects the match starts. After reading the backgrounds and listing accomplishments, it seems to me it’s three trainers and Rick Martel. The pace in 1980’s wrestling has picked up significantly, barely any rest between moves, a steady, and rhythmatic pace. “Sharpe and Rodz are some of the most underrated wrestlers” -Vince McMahon. It’s obvious these two are great at their profession with the fluidity of their moves and the double teaming. Martel is taking up most of the minutes of the match, bad news for him is the heels dominate the whole match. “Rodz using the ropes better than anyone else, quick efficient tags…It’s almost as if it were 2-on-1.”- Vince McMahon. The match crescendos at the hot tag. Garea was getting beat on and tagged Martel. Rodz kept running away and dodging Rick’s attacks. Frustration grew and Garea came in, that brought Sharpe in. China’s ensues while Martel grabs Rodz legs and does a bridging pin for the win.
And I’m Like… One hour shows are way more enjoyable. Watching the people that trained some of the greats was fun to watch. I understand now why Rodz was such a talent. It sucks for people like him and Sharpe who had all the skills, but something held them back from superstar status.В
Next week we leave the land of WWF and join WCCW in October of 1982.В
Until next week, have a good one
– Jake