Stan Stasiak v. Dominic Denucci:Ref-Gil
Roman
This was a great match. Both guys
were on equal footing the entire time as Stasiak relied on strikes
and Denucci relied on submissions and counters. Denucci worked the
arm with a shoulder breaker but Stasiak hit a kidney punch and tried
a heart punch but was stopped. Denucci did a version of a Japanese
arm drag and kept working on the arm and wrist. Out of a wrist lock,
Stan nipped up and reversed into his own wrist lock. Subsequently,
Denucci nipped up but was yanked back down. Later, Stasiak hit a
dropkick that sent Denucci out to the apron.
Stan moved in for the
kill and was on Denucci pretty bad with strikes and stomps and even
an eyerake. Stasiak missed another heart punch but got in a full
nelson. Denucci tried to roll out of it, failed, but just reversed
it with a go-behind. Stasiak tried the same thing and was very slow
in his roll and caught a fist, as a result. Stasiak got back on him
with some chokes that the ref tried to break up and even got into
Stasiak's face. This gave Denucci a chance to get up and they traded
right hands. Stasiak stopped him but only for a little while as
Denucci began fighting back hard with thrust chops and then an
abdominal stretch. They both ran at each other, collided, and fell
but they got up. Stan missed a standing heart punch, then he punched
the mat when he missed on a lying Denucci. Then, Denucci went after
the wrapped up hand of Stasiak and ripped the bandages off and he
stomped his hand. Denucci then hit his own heart punch and Stasiak
sold like a crazy person. He even hit a second punch and then,
Stasiak got his own in but Denucci shook it off completely. The idea
that Vince had tried getting across early in the match was that many
people thought Stan was taping some type of object in his hand. The
fact that his heart punch had no effect without the bandages, proved
that. Denucci was on him more and Stasika got caught up in the
ropes. Shortly thereafter, the bell was rung as the time limit had
expired and it was a draw.
Haystacks Calhoun v. Baron Mikel
Scicluna-Ref:???
I was not expecting much and did not
get much. Baron tried to make Haystacks look good by selling and
giving him offense but it did not help. Haystacks splashed him in
the corner and Baron escaped to the apron. Baron got the advantage
with some kicks but they both started trading right hands and Baron
was sent down and went back onto the apron. Like a minor tidal wave,
Haystacks caught him coming in with a bearhug that was eventually
stopped with one eye poke. Baron had Calhoun in the corner but that
did not last long as Baron ended up tangled in the ropes. Calhoun
sat on the middle rope to prevent him from escaping too soon. The
crowd was into this, to an extent and Haystacks gave him an eye poke.
Baron was free and got Calhoun down and delivered stomps and chokes.
Calhoun fought back with an elbow and some kicks. Wisely, Baron ran
and put on a waist lock to the big man. Not a smart move. Baron got
bumped back, elbowed, and hit with a big running splash and lost.
S.D. Jones v. Victor Rivera w/Fred
Blassie “The Hollywood Fashion Plate”-Ref:???
Rivera suckered Jones to start with as
Jones was running at him and got tossed outside. Rivera would not
let him back in despite repeated attempts. Finally, Jones hit some
shoulder blocks and got back inside. Rivera begged off and like an
idiot, Jones followed him and got suckered and thrown back outside.
Rivera was still relentless in stopping Jones and he even went on the
apron to hammer some sense into Jones. Maybe he will learn to be
more careful as Rivera is asking for mercy. Rivera bit him and it
fired Jones up. He charged into the ring, nailing a headbutt and a
hip toss and Rivera escaped outside. Now, Jones would not let Rivera
back inside. Of course, right after he got back in, Rivera suckered
him in again and even delivered a low-blow right in front of the
referee. Jones was not very bright, maybe that is why he never won
many titles in New York. Rivera put on a nerve hold with some
disguised chokes. Rivera kept stopping a couple hope spots by Jones.
S.D. Finally got fired up again and got out of the nerve hold. He
gave Rivera a headbutt and two back drops but he missed a dive in the
corner and hit his shoulder. Then, Rivera gave him a suplex and
pinned him. This was a serviceable match with good heat. I really
like Jones' fire and his comeback was nice. Rivera got heat on him
pretty good. Jones debuted with the McMahons on April 25, 1974, in
Trenton, NJ, against Nikolai Volkoff. He wrestled mostly in the
Northeast and rarely won matches.
 |
| Finish |
Ivan Koloff w/Capt. Lou v. Bob Backlund
w/Arnold Skaaland:Ref-John Stanley
What a match, just great. This was
the battle of the headscissors for both fighters featuring a ton of
good mat work. Bob tried some hip tosses early but blocked. Ivan
was too strong for him but Bob nailed a headscissors and got him
down. He had it on pretty tight as Ivan tried twisting out but could
not. Eventually, Ivan got his back on top of Bob and tried pinning
him while in a waist lock. Backlund kept bridging out and he finally
flipped him over, put him in the corner, and kicked him away. They
were back on equal footing and this had good heat real early. Both
competitors tried a test of strength but Bob lost control. He got
out and put on a wrist lock that was countered into a ground
headscissors for Ivan. Bob almost got out quickly but Ivan pulled
his hair and got him back in. Bob did a handstand to get out but ate
a mule kick and followed up with a drop kick and a flying
headscissors take down.
Backlund went after the leg again but
got kicked around quickly. Ivan hit a backbreaker but Bob grabbed
another headlock. He was then sent into the ropes and they both
collided as Bob went crashing to the floor. Backlund was suplexed
back in and hit with another backbreaker. Ivan went to the top and
missed a flying knee drop but he persevered and sent Bob back
outside. Ivan went back to the top as Bob was on the floor and
actually hit a flying foot stomp towards the apron.
He did not go
all the way to the floor. By this point, Backlund was cut and
Stanley wanted the doctor to check him out. However, Bob kept
fighting and they traded blows back-and-forth. Backlund hit a drop
kick and a back drop but the ref still called for the bell. Bob was
furious and put Koloff int the atomic drop. Howard Finkel gave the
word that Stanley had stopped the match due to Backlund being unable
to continue and Ivan got the victory.
Their re-match was on September 25 and
Backlund won clean, in MSG. Koloff beat Backlund on October 2 with a
similar finish, in Boston and on the fifth, in Pittsburgh. They went
on to wrestle numerous other times in 1978 including a cage match in
Baltimore on December 30. Koloff was done with the territory by 1980
but he did wrestle Bob one more time on a JCP show on March 29, 1981.
He returned to New York in 1983 and had another fight with Backlund
on April 23, 1983, in Los Angeles and April 25, at MSG. Of all
places, they last wrestled for the WWF/WWWF Title in East Liverpool,
OH on November 19, 1983.
Ivan Koloff's final WWF match was at
Madison Square Garden, on December 26, 1983, losing to Tito Santana.
Bob Backlund's final WWF match until the 90's was against Salvatore
Bellomo in Philadelphia, PA, on August 4, 1984.
“Crazy” Luke Graham v. Peter
Maivia:Ref-Jack Lotz
Boring and dull match. Maivia comedy
early on and he controlled the offense early, as well. Graham got
the heat on Maivia with a combo nerve-wrist lock but the crowd did
not care much when Maivia fought back and was on top. Maivia put on
a bearhug and Graham teased getting an object from his tights.
Graham broke it with a shot to the throat and started destroying
Maivia with strikes and double-axe handles. Eventually, Maivia fired
back and even choked Graham on the mat and almost got disqualified
for it. Couple that with an earlier eye rake and Maivia was cheating
hard here for a babyface. As Maivia was being admonished by Jack
Lotz, Graham got an object from his tights and later, nailed Maivia
with it in the throat. He tried some more shots but the ref saw the
object and called for the bell with a disqualification of Graham.
Luke Graham, along with Tarzan Tyler
were the first WWE Tag Team champions in 1971. He also held the
United States Tag Team titles with Dr. Jerry Graham for almost a year
from 1964-1965.
Dusty Rhodes v. “Superstar” Billy
Graham:Ref-Jay Strongbow-Texas Bullrope Match
These guys had to answer an
eight-count or they would lose. The story was that Strongbow kept
trying to break up Graham's offense in the corner, even though there
were no disqualifications. At first, Graham did not want to be tied
to the rope but Dusty hit him with the cowbell and got tied. Lots of
stalling from Graham by trying to escape and getting pulled back in.
Graham's facial expressions, as usual, were very good. Dusty missed
a flying elbow in the corner and Graham got some offense in. Graham
grabbed the cowbell and nailed Dusty with it and threw him to the
floor. He dragged Rhodes back in and Dusty was bleeding heavily.
Graham started choking him and Strongbow tried to break it up.
Graham followed up with a bearhug but Rhodes fought out with an elbow
to the head. Graham went to the top-rope but got yanked down, as
Dusty was fired up and ready to fight. He dug the cowbell into
Graham's forehead causing him to start bleeding. Again, Dusty missed
in the corner and Graham pounced with knees. Strongbow started
pulling on Graham to get him out of the corner and they started
arguing. This allowed Dusty to hit a cowbell shot to the face that
sent Graham to the floor and he could not answer the eight-count.
This match reminded me how under-rated
Graham was. His facials were excellent and his bumping for Rhodes
was top-notch. Rhodes and Graham wrestled in Boston on January 16 to
10,400 and again on March 6. Andre reffed their next encounter in
Boston on March 27 to a blood stoppage, which was common for their
feud. Their first match at Madison Square Garden on July 24 ended
with Graham winning after Dusty hit the referee, which led into this
match in August that Vince referred to as the rubber match on
commentary. Their last big match was on November 18 in Philadelphia
to 15,249. Graham's last match in this time frame was on November 23
against Andre in Nashua, NH, of all places.
The Fabulous Moolah v. Vicki
Williams:Ref-Jack Lotz-NWA Women's Championship
Pretty solid match here. Williams got
a lot of action and kept fighting. The fighting was non-stop through
the whole match. Williams bumped really well for Moolah's offense.
They exchanged quick snap mares and Moolah begged off a little on the
apron. Williams got a slam in and started working on Moolah's left
arm, stretching it out. Moolah got a rope break and got some hard
kicks in but Williams held her own. Moolah put on a key lock on the
mat and Williams kept trying to reverse it with a cover but was
always yanked out of it by her hair. Williams got rammed into the
corner hard and Moolah came running at her on the third one.
Williams used a good roll-up for a two-count. Williams hit a monkey
flip and tried to pin Moolah on top her but Moolah reversed it into
another pin and won the match.
Vicki Williams worked a lot putting
over Moolah throughout the 70's. She also won the NWA World Women's
Championship with Joyce Grable twice on opposite ends of the 70's.
Their feud was actually mentioned in a Sports
Illustrated piece about Moolah from 1974. Williams was also
involved in a small feud with Roddy Piper over the place of women in
wrestling. Williams wanted to prove that women were as tough as men
at pro wrestling but Piper did not agree. They did a series of
angles where Piper attacked her. Ron Starr did not like this and
confronted Piper about it. He grabbed Piper and held him so that
Williams could slap him. These angles led to a tag team match with
Piper and Judy Martin losing to Starr and Williams on April 24, 1979.
Yukon Lumberjacks (Eric and
Pierre)/Spiros Arion v. Andre The Giant/Dino Bravo/Tony
Garea:Ref-Jack Lotz
 |
| Arion |
Not much here. Garea worked over all
three of his opponents early on but got caught and thrown into the
corner. The heels ganged up on him and Jack Lotz disqualified them
for the first fall.
Garea and Eric started the second fall
but Bravo finally got in there with Arion. They did a criss-cross
that ended with a Bravo hip toss. Pierre got in and went to work on
Bravo with a back breaker but it could not keep Bravo from making a
tag to Andre. Andre, acting as the executioner for a heel tag team
and a former WWWF prodigy, gave Pierre an atomic drop, big boot, and
then, a splash for the win. The heel were treated like losers,
especially considering the Lumberjacks were WWWF Tag Team Champions
at this time.
After having read Mad Dogs, Midgets,
and Screwjobs, I went into this match with hopes of seeing Dino
Bravo in action. It was disappointing to not see very much of him in
this match. Prior to reading the wonderful book by Pat Laprade and
Bertrand Hebert, I only knew Bravo from his heel WWF run, alongside
Frenchy Martin, and later, Earthquake. Bravo is number five on the
list of all-time draws in Montreal. He was seen by some journalists
as a possible successor to Bruno Sammartino, as a babyface. Bravo
owned shares in International Wrestling, a major Montreal
organization, before leaving for the WWF as Vince expanded into
Montreal in 1985-1986. He worked with numerous greats in the
territory, including Nick Bockwinkel, Rick Martel, Hulk Hogan, and
Billy Robinson. On April 8, 1985, Martel and Bravo beat the Road
Warriors by DQ in the Forum. In total, he was International
Heavyweight Champion six times and International Tag Team Champion
once with Tony Parisi. Parisi was a former WWWF/WWF Tag Team
Champion with Louis Cerdan/Gino Brito and WWWF US Tag Team Champion
with Johnny Valentine and Spiros Arion. Gino Brito was also a
partner in International Wrestling. Bravo was the last great draw
for the Montreal territory before the WWF took over. In 1985, the
WWF even gave him the distinction as Canadian Champion, due to his
being International Heavyweight Champion, at the time.
That is all for now. Please contact me if you have any questions. I am taking requests so if there is anything you are dying to know about anything pro wrestling, email me at stevesgraps@yahoo.com and I will answer it for you. Also, please check out the rest of my posts here and at Voices of Wrestling
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