We are once again seeing a broadcast from Madison Square Garden, with 4,000 WWWF fans. It’s the first month of summer in 1977. В Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale became The President and Vice President of the United States. The worlds first PC The Commador is released and a small company known as Apple is incorporated. Snowfall fell for the first time ever in Miami.В Rumors by Fleetwood Mac is released. В A month before this event Star Wars is released. Elvis performs his last concert everВ a day before this!
Jan Nelson vs. Jose GonzalezВ
I’m gonna do something a little different and dig up some history on these guys.
Jan Nelson- I honestly can not find one thing on this guy. He is announced from Minnesota too!
Jose Gonzalez- This one is a little different.В He murdered Bruiser Brody. В He was also known as Invader 1, and held a slew of Puerto Rican professional wrestling championship.В
The match is your basic 70’s wrestling match, some punches, kicks, and standing around. Jose is what you would have called a high flyer back then, so he was the good guy here. Jan stayed on top of Gonzalez with headlocks and momentum slowing moves. When Jose made his comeback the fans were ready for his patented finisher “The Dropkick”. Jose wins the match and goes to the back where he isn’t stabbed.
And I’m Like… I was more interested in seeing what Brodys killer looked like. I am somewhat familiar with The Invaders but none of Joses solo work. It would be nice to have more information on Jan Nelson, McMahon says he sees a bright future for the man. I guess you can’t win em all huh, Vince?
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Larry Zbyszko vs. Rocky TamayoВ
Rocky Tamayo- Not much can be found on him. More than Jan Nelson,В but still not much. В
Larry Zbyszko- Our first WWE Hall of Famer for the night. Zbyszko by this time has been wrestling a little over 4 years. He is mostly known for being the protГ©gГ© of one Bruno Sammartino. He did a few shows, but really hit his stride after leaving Latin America. He won the WWWF World Tag Team Titles with Tony Garea a little while after 1977.В
The match starts with McMahon mentioning that Zbyszko trained under Bruno, that they are the same size. This being because Sammartino is getting older, was defeated byВ Billy Graham В for the title two months prior.
Tamayo tries the bad guy schtick by walking away. Usually brawling starts, but Larry was known to say he was “scientific, not brawny”. He does a drop toe hold and Vince is surprised it worked. Larry works over the leg for the match and that becomes the story. Rocky tried to avoid Larry the whole match but Zbyszko was able to keep his pace the whole time. Tamayo started to get in control, Larry then countered with a small package. McMahon was ragging on the ref for a slow count which it was but Zbyszko still got the win.
And I’m like… That was my first time seeing Zbyszko in a non-WCW facet. It was fun that his style was described as scientific and he totally stuck to it. Having the heel have his limbs worked over for the majority of the match is not what I’m used to. The crowd absolutely loves Zbyszko though.В
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George “The Animal” Steele vs. Tony GareaВ
Tony Garea- I wasn’t sure who this guy was, went to his Wikipedia page and his face was super recognizeable. Turns out he was a road agent for WWE for 32 years! He started in America in NWA: San Francisco. That was a prominent territory in the 60’s and 70’s bringing in tons of great wrestlers. By the time we get to this match, Tony has been in WWWF for 4 years and won the WWWF tag titles on two occasions (one with Haystacks Calhoun, one with Dean Ho). Two months later he would win a third with Larry Zbyszko.В
George Steele- He was first brought into the company by Bruno Sammartino, when Bruno was champ they worked a couple matches together .В Before he becameВ The Animal , George was known as a former teacher and amateur wrestler. He never won a championship in WWE, but he was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2005. At this time he was starting his Animal gimmick but it was more Neanderthal than green tongue and crazy.В
The match starts right away, Tony running toward George throwing a punch. George goes to the outside and takes off his shirt to reveal a very hairy upper body. He is in character too! Long distant stares, idiotic look on his face. Quick Howard Finkle sighting too.
The introductions are now underway after the opening brouhaha. This match shows how different wrestling was a few decades ago. Vince says ” Mr. Steele is wrestlings most unusual wrestler, no hair on top of his head, but hair all over his body. Like fur”. It takes body hair and baldness to stand out and be unusual in 1977. The match is more story than action. Story is Steele is crazy, he runs away, stares at the crowd. Doesn’t get many moves in but ends the match by using a “foreign object”. Tony wins by DQ.
And I’m Like… Third match to go under 8 minutes. I guess TV never allotted much time to non stars. Animal was really hated, crowd could not stand him. Evidence was shown when after the match George tried to re-enter the ring, and fans pelted him with popcorn.В
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Andre the Giant and Cheif Jay Strongbow vs. Nikolai Volkoff and Ken Patera
Andre the Giant- Andre wrestled for 7 years throughout Europe and in the AWA for Verne Gagne. Before coming to WWWF, Andre used to show off his agility, landing dropkicks, and tombstone piledrivers. If you clicked the link about Gorilla Monsoon earlier, you’ll know that Muhammad Ali got involved. This led to a match pitting Ali vs. Antonio Inoki in a boxer vs. wrestler match. On that undercardВ Andre faced boxer Chuck Wepner. В That happened in 1976, which means by the time we get to this match his popularity has grown immensely. Also the first ever WWE Hall of Famer being inducted in 1993.В
Cheif Jay Strongbow- His career started in 1947 and he was all over the southeast territories. He was signed to WWWF in 1970. He actually left the company shortly after this for about a year. Then he would come back only to retire in 1983. Throughout his time in WWWF/WWF. He was a two time tag team champion ( one with Sonny King, one with Billy White Wolf). Always a good guy too. He would “go on a warpath” or “hulk up” in his matches, one of the first I believe. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994.В
Nikolai Volkoff- He was trained by Stu Hart and immediately started with the WWWF in 1970 as Bepo Mongol. In June of that year he won the WWWF International Tag Team Title with Geto Mongol as The Mongols. He left the company until 1974. Getting the name Nikolai Volkoff but remaining from Mongolia. On his return he mainly feuded with whoever was champion at the time. He would show what he would do to his opponents by crushing apples with one hand, usually his manager “classy” Fred Blassie would say ” this one is Sammartino (crushed Apple) this one is Backlund ( another crushed apple)”. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2005.В
Ken Patera- This man has an athletic pedigree. In 1967 he won the gold in shot-put at the Pan-Am Games. In ’68 he was 6th place in the Olympic trials. He hurt his ankle so decided to do weightlifting instead of shot-put. From 1969-72, Patera would win numerous weightlifting championships. In 1972 he competed in the Munich Olympic Games. He did not do well though the gold medal winner from that year stated that Patera was stronger than himself. He also placed 3rd in the inaugural Strongman competition. He started wrestling for Verne Gagne’s AWA in 1973, by early 1977 he was challenging Bruno Sammartino for the championship of the world.В
The match is 2 out of 3 falls. Jay and Andre are very rambunctious from the get go. Andre hits Volkoff before the bell rings and Strongbow goes after the heel teams manager “Captain” Lou Albano. Howard Finkle is trying to introduce the wrestlers but Chief keeps on attacking Lou Albano. Lou runs to the back, Vince mentions that Ken Patera said he would slam The Giant by the end of the night. Andre is just huge, that afro adds to his presence too!
Before the match can start Ken Patera walks to the back to get his robe off. McMahon says it’s a separatist type movement from Patera, he doesn’t like Nikolai. McMahon calls Cheif a “fired up redskin”, Jay is fired up but lay off the racism yo! Patera’s hair is messed up and looks like a blonde Andre afro. Ken Patera’s finisher is the Full Nelson, 3 minutes in and both Andre and Chief applied the hold to Ken. I feel like Cesaro is a combination of Patera and Volkoff. The match is bland, first fall ends with Strongbow and Volkoff going at it. Patera comes in and knees Jay in the back, which is enough to call for DQ. The match is basically, Strongbow does something and the crowd cheers, he tags in Andre who does the same thing, crowd cheers louder. Andre tags, Jay gets beat up until a comeback, rinse repeat.
After the first fall Ken walks out on his partner, which was foreshadowed earlier. Nikolai can’t take on those two alone, so Andre makes quick work of him by hitting a big boot and a splash for the three count. Patera comes back out to yell at Volkoff and beat him up a bit.
And I’m Like… With a tag match that has 3 HoFer’s I’d imagined this to be better. It was slow and prodding, Patera was definitely the star of this match.В
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Stan Stasiak vs. Lenny HurstВ
Stan “The Man” Stasiak- In 1973, Stan defeated Pedro Morales for the WWWF Champion. He was only the 5th champion in the company’s history. He would hold the title for just 9 days until losing it to Bruno Sammartino to start his second reign as champion (lasting almost 5 years). There isn’t much else I can find on the man,В his son doesn’t have much either.
Lenny Hurst- Known primarily as aВ World of Sport В wrestler. Lenny didn’t make much waves across the pond here in America. He won a few titles for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling. This is one of the only times he competed for WWWF, in fact this is his debut.В
The match is quick, about 8 minutes. Lenny started off with some good catch-as-catch-can wrestling. He was frustrating Stan a bunch. Stasiak gets caught in the ropes, gets angry. Then he finishes Hurst off with a Heart Punch.
And I’m Like… I wasn’t entertained too much, but I enjoyed looking up stuff on Hurst. Stasiak doesn’t seem that impressive.В
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Superstar comes out and cuts a promo. “I am man. I am the greatest. I am the champion. The man of the hour, too sweet to be sour”
WWWF Championship- Bruno Sammartino vs (C) Superstar Billy Graham
Bruno Sammartino- In 1959 Sammartino set a world record for bench press lift at 565 lbs. He was recruited into wrestling after a wrestling promoter saw him doing strongman stunts on television in Pittsburgh. Before joining the WWWF, actually before it was even WWWF and just the CaptioalWrestling Corporation. He started his own wrestling promotion. The promotion was a stopping point for national stars such as Gorilla Monsoon, The Crusher, Bill Watts, George Steele, and Bobo Brazil, as well as featuring local talent like Johnny De Fazio, Tony “The Battman” Marino, and an early Sammartino protege John L. Sullivan (who later gained fame as Johnny Valiant). The Pittsburgh promotion was truly independent, ran its own storylines and had its own tag champions – despite the use of Northeast’s based promotion World Wide Wrestling Federations talent. Because of this talent exchange Bruno was headlining the MSG shows for CWC by the 60’s. He jumped ship quick but that company failed so Bruno went back to Vince Sr. He left again cause of low pay. Rumor has it he was blackballed by McMahon out of wrestling so he became a laborer. He went to Canada and wrestled for the Tunneys. He was a tremendous draw, McMahon and Toots Mondt ended up paying the “blackball” suspension for Bruno to get him back to the fledging WWWF. There he was champion of the company from 1963 to 1971. He beat Buddy Rogers to become the company’s second and longest reigning champion of all time. Ivan Koloff defeated him after seven years, eight months, and one day as champion. In 1972 Bruno won the match of the year award for a battle royal victory. In ’73 Bruno wrestled then WWWF Champion in a face vs. fave match at Shea Stadium. It went to a draw. Later that year Bruno beat Stan Stasiak for the belt and held it until a month before this event. Arguably the greatest of all time. Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2013
“Superstar” Billy Graham- The reason WWE calls their wrestlers superstars.В The first promo he cut as champion , shows the man was the perfect package. He was a weightlifter and called his arms his “22inch pythons”. I wonder where Hogan got the idea to call his arms that , get blonde hair, tan, be from California. Basically if “nature boy” is a gimmick, so is “Superstar” and Billy was doing it before wrestling. He played professional football in Canada too. That’s where Stu Hart found him and trained him. He then went to NWA: San Francisco, followed by a stop in the AWA. There Graham would develop and hone his “superstar” persona. The muscular physique wasn’t prominent at this time, so on top of the ability to talk, walk, wrestle, and brag. He also looked better than anyone else on television. He also was known as Mr. Technicolor because of the amount of bloodshed he had in his matches. He had a cup of coffee in WWWF, but Dusty Rhodes came a calling so Superstar did not end up in WWWF until early 1977. In a few short months he toppled Bruno to win the В World Title. He was inducted in 2004 to the WWE Hall of Fame.В
This match was high octane for the era and back and forth. It ended just 20 minutes in after a double DQ cause the ref could not control the two.
And I’m Like… For a “main event” and title match, I’m with the fans here. They were chanting bullshit, so am I. Why would WWE pick this for the network? Looking at cards in 1977, it seemed this would not be a top choice.В
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Ivan Putski vs. Baron Von RaschkeВ
Ivan Putski- Putski spent some time winning tag titles with Jose Lothario in the NWA. Spent a splash in the AWA, then found a home in the WWWF. He debuted in 1974, always stayed popular and was near title contention when this event came about. 1995 was the year he earned a Hall of Fame ring.В
Baron Von Raschke- He is from my native land of Minnesota, though claims to be from Germany. Started in 1966 for the AWA. He is known for theВ Nazi inspired goosestep , and the brain claw. While wrestling for the WWWF, where his claw hold was “censored” by a huge red “X” on WWWF television because of the blood it would draw when applied. He qualifies for the 1964 Olympics in amateur wrestling ,AndВ Day’s all ya need ta know !
I’m not sure if the fans are upset cause of the previous match, or some of Putskis shine wore off, the crowd is not feeling this match either way. It’s a lot of not doing much. HOLY SHIT Vince says Von Raschka and it bothers me so bad. Putski hit his finisher the “polish hammer” a bunch but the 30 minute time limit expired.
And I’m Like… I don’t care if Ivan asks the crowd for 1 more minute. We have an event with 8 minute matches and a draw that goes 30 minutes AND a 20 minute double DQ title match? Vince McMahon Sr. Is starting to lose his booking skills, no creativity amirite? Putski was as pissed as me and just started punching the Baron until they were split apart and sent to the back.В
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High Chief Peter Maivia vs Baron Mikel Scicluna
High Chief Peter Maivia- He is the grandfather of The Rock who happens to Hollywoods top draw at the box office. The RockВ wasn’t the first in the family to star in film. Batista was also beaten to the punch in starring in a James Bond movie. В Most of what I found was that he won hella heavyweight titles for NWA territories, and spent a bit of time in WWWF. He entered the Hall of Fame with the class of 2008.В
Baron Mikel Scicluna- Mainly wrestled as Mike Valentino in Canada in the 50’s he signed to WWWF in 1965 as Baron Mikel. He wore a royal cape to the ring and was known to utilize the “foreign object”. In 1966 he won the WWWF United States Tag Team Titles with Smasher Sloan, and the World Tag Team Titles in 1972 with King Curtis Iaukea. He was also in a match with Gorilla Monsoon which lead to Muhammad AliВ attacking Gorilla Monsoon . He always was a contender to the world title but never captured gold. Another alum from NWA: San Francisco and a 1996 Hall of Fame inductee.В
Firstly, starting a match with back to back Barons who aren’t teaming is funny to me. It’s like having two Celtic Warriors but no interactions on Raw. Peter comes from the Isle of Samoa, which makes sense since he is so close with the Anoa’i family. This is the High Chief’s MSG debut, and he gets cheered unlike The Rock almost 20 years later. They zoom in on Maivias body tattoo, both The Rock and “Superstar” Billy Graham say it was done over 3 days with a needle and hammer. So badass. He wins in two minutes too! A few headbutts and a three count the. The High Chief laid his self on the ropes to taunt.
And I’m Like… That James Bond fight was better.В
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Professor Toru Tanaka and Mr. Fuji vs. Dominic Denucci and Haystacks Calhoun
Professor Toru Tanaka- Originally from Hawaii, Tanaka went to Utah in the 50’s for football. In ’67 Roy Shire, the promoter for NWA: San Francisco, convinced Tanaka to start wrestling. He and tag team partner Mr. Fuji loved to throw salt in opponents eyes. Here is an excerpt from Freddie Blassies book.В
From Tanaka’s point of view, he was passing time with Fuji because it made sense to team up with another Japanese villain. The two certainly had no great admiration for one another. Tanaka was a by-the-book guy, who looked at wrestling as a means to make a living. He wanted to work his match, shake hands with everyone afterwards, and save some money. He was a professional.
If you wanted to talk about an angle beforehand, you always went to Tanaka. He was the ring general, who’d lead everyone else in the match. Fuji was certainly a good performer, but you couldn’t control him. So, in addition to worrying about their opponents, Tanaka had the responsibility of making sure that Fuji didn’t get out of hand. I guess he did a pretty good job because, years later, when Tanaka was relegated to working these tiny independent shows to earn a few extra bucks, Fuji himself had become a manager.
He won numerous WWWF tag titles, and throughout the 60’s he faced Sammartino for the title. Not to be outdone by everyone one on this card.В Tanaka fought CHUCK FREAKIN’ Norris!! В AndВ In 3 Ninjas with Leslie Nielson! В AndВ Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure . Basically dude is fucking the most amazing.
Mr. Fuji- Debuting in 1965, in the NWA: Hawaii area he won that areas tag title with Curtis Iaukea. By 1972 he was brought in to tag with The Professor. In ’72 they won the tag titles and starting feuding with then World Champion Pedro Morrales and Bruno Sammartino. They held the belts for eleven months. 3rd longest of that era. They left in ’74 after two title reigns. В They returned to WWWF in 1977 and three months after this match would be on top of the tag team world.
Dominic Denucci- From what I’ve seen he debuted in 1963 in wrestling. In 1971 he and Bruno Sammartino beat The Mongols for the international tag titles. They would lose the belts three days later. He stayed in the tag division winning another title with Victor Rivera. He is best known for training Mick Foley.
Haystacks Calhoun- At 600 lbs he started wrestling in 1955. He was booked a lot like Andre the Giant, never losing. Bruno Sammartino was the first man to slam him. Calhoun was mainly an attraction draw, he signed to WWWF in 1972. He was used in tag teams until his retirement. He also started I the Jackie Gleason flick Requiem of a Heavyweight.
The match starts and it’s just chops, knife edge and Mongolian. About two minutes in, Fuji tags in and pins Denucci for the first fall. Then the bell rings for an eleven o’clock New York curfew.
And I’m like… What the hell? How do you time your show to end like that? Ridiculous.В
Well I gotta run. See yall later have a good one.В
-jake
