WWWF All-Star Wrestling Review 06-17-78

 

Sooooo… a Samoan, an Aussie, a Greek, and a Polish man walk into a bar…

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 06-17-78

All-Star Wrestling is taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Taping date is June 7, 1978.  Your announcer is Vince McMahon

Vince announces that this week we were scheduled to have a DeNucci/Bravo vs. Lumberjacks non-title match, but Albano refused to allow his men to wrestle the champions unless the titles were on the line. So the match has been canceled. FOR SHAME!

 

MATCH #1: “POLISH POWER” IVAN PUTSKI VS. SYLVANO SOUSA

 

 

 

 

[spacer height=”20px”]Referee is Wee Willie Webber. Putski is jacked to the gills and has even lost the pot belly. Sousa tries to overpower Putski to start, which is funny in itself. Sylvano locks on a Full Nelson. Putski no sells the hold and gives a little wiggle before he escapes. But as Putski breaks the Full Nelson he keeps Sousa’s arms locked under Ivan’s arms. It’s actually pretty clever for anyone doing the strong man gimmick.

Putski finally releases Sousa’s hands but immediately hooks him in a grinding headlock. I really don’t know anyone who worked a headlock as good as Putski. He made a headlock seem like a viable hold.

Sousa is released and regroups by going outside to the floor to think things over. Sylvano returns to the ring and clobbers Putski with kicks and punches, but Ivan just walks into them and nails Sousa one time sending Sylvano out of the ring. As Sousa gets back in the ring Ivan no sells a few more shots, then lands a few punches, followed by a wind up punch, and Putski gets the win with a nonchalant cover after 4:44.

Winner is Ivan Putski

Putski gets on the mike after the match and calls out George Steele and Spiros Arion. He says he can beat them like he beat Ken Patera and Superstar Graham.

Notes: Putski was never one to put on a wrestling clinic, but I’ve found some of his squashes to be energetic and fun. This was not one of those matches. Ivan finished the guy off with a frickin Popeye punch.[spacer height=”20px”]

 

MATCH #2: “IRON GREEK” SPIROS ARION (w/FRED BLASSIE) VS. FRANKIE WILLIAMS

Nice judo hip throw by Arion gets a 2 count to start the match. Arion follows that up with a front facelock, then a chinlock. Yawn. Spiros ties Williams in the tree of woe in the corner, but doesn’t really follow up. Choking and punching from Arion. Spiros holds onto Frankie’s singlet to keep him standing for more punishment. Spiros picks Williams up off the mat at 2 to prevent a 3 count. Frankie tries to HULK UP, but it doesn’t work. Arion puts the boots to him and the over the shoulder backbreaker ends it in 4:53.

Winner is Spiros Arion

 

 

 

 

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: Arion starts things out with a nice hip throw. Silly me, I almost thought we were going to be entertained after the first move. I was wrong. Stomps, punches, chinlocks, blah. The only thing remotely entertaining about this match was Arion grabbing Frankie by his singlet straps every time Williams was going to fall, to keep him standing for more punishment.[spacer height=”20px”]

 

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH TONY GAREA

 

 

 

 

[spacer height=”20px”]Vince McMahon stands by with Tony Garea. Look at that f**king hair. Tony has supposedly been on a tour of the world. Garea promises there are great wrestlers in Australia and New Zealand and we will be seeing them in the States soon. Suuure buddy. Garea then talks about Japan. He says the wrestlers in America are much larger in weight and in Japan they or more slimmed down and athletic and they devote their lives to the profession. Garea really respects the Japanese wrestlers. I’d LOVE to see Garea’s win/loss record in Japan.

Garea says he’s been gone for three months and now that he’s back there’s new faces in the area like the Lumberjacks and Luke Graham. He refers to Luke as weird. Indeed. Vince asks Tony if he plans to return as a singles or tag team wrestler. Garea says the Tag Team Titles are in good hands with DeNucci & Bravo, so Tony wants to go at it alone for a while. Garea looks forward to competition like George Steele and Luke Graham.

Vince says he hopes Garea is back to stay… Well you got your wish, didn’t you? SIGH[spacer height=”20px”]

 

MATCH #3: TONY GAREA VS. STAN “THE MAN” STASIAK (w/THE GRAND WIZARD)

 

 

 

 

[spacer height=”20px”]So instead of Bravo/DeNucci vs. the Lumberjacks this week we get this schlock as our featured match. DAMN YOU, LOU ALBANO! Garea gets Stasiak in a head scissor early on as the Wizard screams it’s a choke. Stan finally escapes the hold. Garea with a SLOW MOTION armdrag. Slowest armdrag in history. Garea applies a top wrist lock, but Stasiak escapes when he starts using his taped fist. Stan takes over with his taped fist and then hooks Garea in a bearhug that goes on for too long.

Garea finally breaks free. Stasiak goes right for the HEART PUNCH, but GAREA BLOCKS IT and fires back. Stasiak manages to keep in control for a bit longer, but it doesn’t last forever as Tony starts fighting back and Stasiak winds up tied in the ropes. Garea nails Stasiak with a running kick while he’s tied in the ropes! Garea tries it a second time but Stasiak gets a boot up! Stan flings Garea to the floor.

Garea recovers and slides back in the ring. The two men trade punches, Garea unloads with some haymakers that almost send Stasiak over the top to the floor. Stan fights back however and he knocks Tony outside the ring. Stasiak follows Garea outside and props Tony up against the ring post. Stasiak cocks back for the HEART PUNCH, but GAREA DUCKS and STASIAK PUNCHES THE STEEL POST!!!!

OUCH, THAT’S GOTTA HOIT (hurt)!

Garea rolls back in the ring and Stasiak is counted out in 8:18.

Winner is Tony Garea by count out

 

 

 

 

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: Say something nice, say something nice, say something nice…. Well…. It could have been a whole lot worse…[spacer height=”20px”]

 

MATCH #4: LUKE GRAHAM (w/THE GRAND WIZARD) VS. DAVE DARROW

Superstar Graham must be out of the territory for the time being, because Luke tells Joe McHugh he’s no longer from Phoenix, AZ, he’s from Atlanta, GA. Lots of stalling by Graham to start. The fans chant “Crazy Luke” and it upsets Graham verily. Darrow backs Luke into a corner but Graham doesn’t give a clean break and he rams his taped thumb into the throat of Darrow. Graham hooks Darrow in a Full Nelson but Darrow gets the ropes. Again, Graham doesn’t give a clean break as he clobbers Darrow across the back. Lots of taped fist shenanigans follow as Graham loads it, spiking Darrow with it repeatedly. Darrow goes down and Luke literally falls across him for the pin after 5:50.

Winner is Luke Graham

Notes: That was pure lazy. Just crap. And who keeps booking Stasiak and Graham back to back when they both worked the taped hand gimmick? The finish was just ridiculous. Graham literally ran off the ropes, stopped and fell across Darrow for the cover like a giant sloppy blob. I should have GIF’ed it. This match was just another Luke Graham Special. #LukeGrahamSpecial[spacer height=”20px”]

 

MATCH #5: ‘HIGH CHIEF” PETER MAIVIA VS. MOOSE MONROE

Peter backs Moose up to the ropes to start and gives a clean break. Monroe returns the favor after he backs Maivia up against the ropes, but Maivia pats him on the butt and it upsets the Moose. HOMOPHOBE! The guys trade a series of rest holds. Wristlocks, bearhugs, chinlocks, armbars, toe holds, all that fun stuff. Maivia lays in some stiff forearm uppercuts, Moose wants to shake hands. Maivia hits Monroe with a spear-like tackle and Moose goes down like a sack of potatoes because he didn’t know how to take the move. Maivia nails a headbutt and a big bodyslam ends it after 6:58.

Winner is the High Chief

Notes: There was a lot of rest holds throughout this match. Maivia had a great charisma but it didn’t translate to great wrestling on this episode. I was impressed with the finishing slam on Moose because it looked like pure dead weight Maivia was picking up, and Moose was easily 300 plus pounds and much taller that Maivia. Don’t let it be said that Chiefy wasn’t super Samoan strong.

 

Closing Thoughts: This was a pretty bad week all around. The wrestling was sub par, the interview segment was with “Mr. Personality” himself Tony Garea, and even the managers couldn’t save this one. This may be the worst show of the bunch thus far, or at least in the top 2 or 3 worst. I literally have nothing to say about this episode. Sorry guys…

The Retro Rasslin’ Review shall return!