1976, we hardly knew ye. The Retro Rasslin’ Review rolls on…

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 03-20-76

All-Star Wrestling is taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Taping date is March 10, 1976.  Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Antonino Rocca. McMahon makes fun of Rocca’s hair. “Who’s your new hair dresser?”, HAH!

We kick things off with Joe McHugh and referee Wee Willie Webber in the ring for the opening contest.

[spacer height=”20px”]MATCH #1: THE EXECUTIONERS (w/LOU ALBANO) VS. “IRISH” PAT BARRETT & JOHNNY RIVERA

The Executioners tower over their opponents, and for very good reason. Wrestling fans who know even a little history of the business will know who these two mysterious masked men are. Ready to have your mind blown? The Executioners here are the legendary Killer Kowalski and a young Big John Studd! Maybe you’ve heard of them? The masked team take Barrett down and beat the crap out of him, with Albano even getting in his licks. Finally, Pat has enough and fights his way to his feet and over to his corner to tag in Rivera. The babyface duo manage to double whip Studd into the corner, but like idiots they whip Studd right into the heel corner. So Kowalski easily tags in and the Executioners go to work on Rivera. Albano can be heard near the announcers mocking Barrett’s heritage, doing an Irish accent and mentioning shillelaghs and leprechauns.

Albano continues to get in shots that causes Barrett to chase Lou around ringside while the Executioners have their way with Rivera. Kowalski ducks for a backdrop, and RIVERA BACKDROPS HIMSELF. Kowalski literally didn’t even stand up with the move, Rivera just flipped himself over Killer. Rivera is thrown on the floor where Albano repeatedly kicks him in the ass.

Now back inside the Executioners hit Johnny with a double backdrop. The men then take turns performing the GIANT SWING before Kowalski ends things with his patented yet shitty top rope kneedrop. (Tell that to Yukon Eric)

Winners are The Executioners in 6:45

[spacer height=”20px”]Albano and the Executioners continue to beat down Rivera after the match while Barrett stands there staring at Kowalski like an idiot.

Notes: This was the Executioners first All-Star taping. They’d go on to make the Captain a 5-time manager of tag team champions in just a couple of months where they’ll defeat Parisi & Cerdan for the belts. The Executioners would hold the titles until the fall, when they were stripped of the titles for using a third Executioner (Nikolai Volkoff) to retain. They made a very imposing team, especially for this time period. Kowalski was the shorter of the two, and even he was 6’7″.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #2: “THE UNPREDICTABLE” JOHNNY RODZ VS. FRANKIE WILLIAMS

[spacer height=”20px”]Referee here is Mario Savoldi. It’s not often we get a match that FEATURES Johnny Rodz. Johnny is impressive here, coming off the middle rope many times. Nothing fancy, but he was pretty nimble and always solid. Unfortunately, Vince uses this match to promote the rest of the program. Rodz dominates the match and lands a legdrop that was CLEARLY A THREE COUNT, but this referee for some odd reason just stops counting. Williams doesn’t mvoe at all, he’s clearly laying flat out, but Webber doesn’t count the three. Even Vince is confused. I guess Webber wasn’t used to Rodz getting the win. So Rodz continues his punishment and comes off the top rope with a flying stomp. Vince continues to promote the rest of the show rather than the match in the ring. Williams HULKS UP! Oh shit, Rodz is in trouble now!!! Well that lasted 5 seconds. Rodz with a kick to the gut and Frankie goes down. I’ve heard of a glass jaw, but a glass stomach?  Rodz lands a suplex into a bodyslam and drops another LEGDROP and THIS TIME the referee counts three. RODZ JUST CRUSHED FRANKIE’S HEAD WITH HIS ASS! OOF! They even show it in replay. Rodz lands hip first across poor Frankie’s FACE. That’s all she wrote after 6:12.

Winner is Johnny Rodz

Notes: This was a good display of Rodz talent. In his late 30’s here Rodz was still in great shape and could still go. I have no idea WTF the referee not counting to three was about. It prolonged the match and Frankie got his face crushed for the troubles. I’m thinking Frankie wished the ref had counted to 3 the first time.[spacer height=”20px”]

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH TONY PARISI & LOUIS CERDAN

Vince McMahon is standing with the WWWF Tag Team Champions. Parisi has noticeably trimmed down quite a bit. He credits….. handball. Parisi says he’s trimmed down to pick up stamina to wear down the big monster heel tag teams. Makes sense. The bloated Greg Brady – Cerdan however, is as pudgy as ever. Maybe he didn’t get the handball memo.

The champs talk Albano and the Executioners, foreshadowing things to come. Parisi says he’s 5’11, but he can get 6’7″ when he’s mad. Parisi claims Albano changed his last name to Alban because Lou denounced his Italian heritage. It’s simple things like that which could easily rile up the fans, especially the large Italian population in NYC.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #3: SKANDOR AKBAR (w/FRED BLASSIE) VS. PETE SANCHEZ

[spacer height=”20px”]Last we saw Sanchez he was picking up a win over Johnny Rivera, now it’s time for Pete to do the favors. McHugh pronounces Akbar’s homeland as “SaudiA Arabia”. Akbar pummels on Sanchez and tosses him outside where Blassie rakes at Pete’s eyes right in front of referee Dick Woehrle. Sanchez stays outside the ring so long I think Blassie actually gets more offense in than Akbar. When Pete FINALLY gets back in the ring he unloads on Skandor including a pair of nice dropkicks. Akbar puts an end to that with a knee to the gut. Skandor then picks Sanchez up in an atomic drop, but drops Sanchez across the top rope, straddling him for an intentional low blow and the DQ in 3:20.

Winner is Pete Sanchez by DQ

Following the match, Dominic DeNucci comes out to assist Sanchez and raises his hand in victory.

Notes: Holy balls, if you were to tell me Pete Sanchez was going to pick up back to back wins on TV I would have told you that you were crazy. BUT, here we are. Other than Woehrle repeatedly watching Blassie lay into Sanchez there was no substance to this match. It does get over how “crazy” Akbar’s Saudi Arabian character was since he cared more about hurting his opponent than winning.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #4: KEVIN SULLIVAN VS. CRUSHER BLACKWELL (w/THE GRAND WIZARD)

[spacer height=”20px”]Vince says that Blassie claims Blackwell is a former preacher. Okay. Blackwell dominates, with Blassie continuing where he left off in the prior match, interfering and holding Sullivan so Crusher can take the advantage. WAIT A MINUTE!! THREE POLICE OFFICERS COME TO RINGSIDE AND ESCORT BLASSIE TO THE LOCKER ROOM!!! WELL WHERE THE HELL WERE THESE GUYS AT LAST MATCH WHEN BLASSIE WRESTLED MORE THAN HIS ACTUAL WRESTLER??? I guess enough was enough. Blassie is taken to the back and the fans cheer loudly.

Needless to say, Sullivan takes control and and has Blackwell down on the mat. It appears the Crusher lands a low blow to take back over. Blackwell with a nice legdrop across the back of Sullivan. But Kevin keeps fighting back. SULLIVAN WITH THE DOUBLE STOMP!!! HOLY SHIT HE WAS USING THAT EVEN IN 1976! Blackwell quickly kicks out however. The Crusher uses a choke to gain control. The bell randomly sounds after 7:55 of action. What the eff???

Joe McHugh steps in and claims the time limit has expired.

The match is announced as a 10 minute time limit draw

After the bell, Sullivan begins to fight back and he sends Blackwell out of the ring.

Notes: While nothing special, I probably enjoyed this match the most thus far out of all of these episodes… as far as a wrestling match goes. It felt competitive and there was very little stalling or rest holds used. It felt like both guys were actually fighting for something rather than killing TV time. They shaved some time off to end the match early, but I would have really liked to seen a winner here.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #5: BOBO BRAZIL VS. BUGSY MCGRAW (w/THE GRAND WIZARD & ERNIE LADD)

[spacer height=”20px”]Referee here is Wee Willie Webber. Ernie Ladd accompanies Bugsy and the Wiz to ringside, but THE PO-PO RETURNS! Now we have 4 or 5 cops out here trying to escort the Big Cat to the back. But Ernie isn’t have any of it. He tells the cops to Fuck Off, and Ladd remains at ringside, taking a seat on the ring steps. So apparently Blassie, a manager, can be ejected, but Ladd, a wrestler, can stay. The distraction of Ladd at ringside works, as Bobo becomes distracted and McGraw initially takes over. That doesn’t last long before Bobo makes the comeback. A pair of COCO BUTTS later, which Vince refuses to refer to as such and simply calls them headbutts. Bugsy goes down, Brazil makes the cover, BUT ERNIE LADD ATTACKS!

Ladd begins to stomp down Brazil, when Billy White Wolf hits the ring to even the odds. White Wolf helps Bobo clear the ring as Parisi and Cerdan join in. The referee finally calls for the bell and this one is over in short fashion at 2:32.

The referee has ruled this match a no contest, double DQ, or something like that.

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: As you can see here there wasn’t a match to be had. Which I’m happy about because there was no way this way going to follow Blackwell vs. Sullivan. I would have rather seen Ladd simply interfere in the match rather than allow Bobo to basically squash McGraw before Ernie got involved.

We close the show with Vince interviewing Brazil. Bobo thanks his friends for giving him some help at the conclusion of the match. Brazil vows that Ladd will pay. You’d think this angle would be here to set up a run around the loop, but my records indicate Ladd and Bobo worked one time a few weeks later in Baltimore.

[spacer height=”20px”]

Closing Thoughts: As I already stated, out of the first 6 episodes that I’ve reviewed I found the Sullivan vs. Crusher Blackwell match to be the best match that closest resembles anything to modern day competition. It’s a shame it went to a draw. It was cool seeing an early match with the Executioners and it’s no wonder they were given the tag team titles so quickly as they dwarfed almost everyone else on the roster. Rodz gets a rare TV win, we get another Akbar match (if you want to call it that), and the final match left the fans cheering. This was an okay episode, I’d recommend checking out the Sullivan/Blackwell match, and maybe the Executioners for curiosity, but everything else can be left on the cutting room floor.

I felt it necessary to note the lack of the WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino on these shows. It was a rarity to see the Champion on the actual TV program, however they were given plenty of TV time to promote their upcoming local matches at the Garden and whatnot. Unfortunately, the WWE has not included those lengthy insert promos that took place in between commercial breaks and thus it appears as if Sammartino or any of the other Champions were not given any TV time. Rest assured Bruno was on TV weekly cutting promos, but sadly those promos and all other syndicated interviews are not included. I recommend seeking them out on Youtube.

And now, we come to an end with the episodes of 1976. I would have loved to seen a lot more here, but apparently this is the best surviving footage available from the era. This also marks the final episode featuring Antonino Rocca, who would pass away the following year.

We will move on to a pair of 1977 episodes next before settling in on 1978 for a while.

It’s the Retro Rasslin’ Review! You know the drill by now… Let’s do this!

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 03-06-76

All-Star Wrestling is taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Taping date is February 18, 1976.

 Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Antonino Rocca
Ring Announcer is Joe McHugh

MATCH #1: CRUSHER BLACKWELL VS. AL WILLIAMS

[spacer height=”20px”]Dick Woehrle is the referee to start this week off. The Grand Wizard doesn’t appear to be here this week. Al Williams is a pretty tall guy with super saggy boobs. And that’s saying a lot considering his opponent. Blackwell dominates the match, even pulling Williams up off the mat during a pinfall attempt. Vince McMahon makes a hell of an ironic comment when he claims “it takes all shapes and sizes to make professional wrestlers”. I found this comment quite hypocritical given his long time stance on his cookie cutter muscle boys. I THINK Rocca at one point says “that big black flesh” stands no chance against Blackwell. Rocca doesn’t feel he could keep up with the Crusher in an eating contest. Blackwell with a standing fireman’s slam, similar to Cena’s “AA”. A giant legdrop finishes Williams off in 5:22.

Winner is Crusher Blackwell

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: Nice height on the legdrop by Blackwell, he was a hell of a worker for his size. Williams looked clueless here, from throwing terrible punches, to taking shitty bumps and not posting for the bodyslam.  Blackwell was saddled with a poor opponent that did him little favors in making the Crusher look good, but he was still impressive with what he got out of Williams.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #2: BOBO BRAZIL VS. JOHNNY RODZ

Rodz jumps Bobo from behind to get things going, but Brazil quickly turns it around. Bobo works an armbar until Rodz can make it to the ropes. Brazil tries a clean break but Rodz hits a sneaky boot and takes over with Bobo in the ropes. Brazil doesn’t stay down too long before he comes right back with a pair of Irish whips, a backdrop, and the COCO BUTT ends it in 5:17.

Winner is Bobo Brazil

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: Rodz is so underrated. A great bumper and can make anyone look good. Rodz couldn’t save this match, however. Bobo was WELL past his prime at 50 something years old here, and Rodz simply fed into Brazil.[spacer height=”20px”]

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH FREDDIE BLASSIE & LOU ALBANO

[spacer height=”20px”]Lou Albano announces he will be bringing in a new tag team who will become his 5th team to win the Tag Team Titles. Albano claims he will own the Tag Team Titles and the Heavyweight Title.

But where does that leave Blassie??? Fred Blassie claims that 6 wrestlers attacked him and blinded him in his right eye as he was walking to his car. He names all 6 men – Bruno, Parisi, Cerdan, Gorilla Monsoon, Putski, and Strongbow. Blassie claims his new stars Skandor Akbar and Stan Hansen will get revenge. Blassie says Hansen loves squashing “Latins”. Blassie hates Latins. Yikes…

It should be noted that Blassie is telling a half truth about his blinded eye. While a wrestler didn’t attack him to cause it, Blassie was indeed blinded after being struck in the eye by a hard boiled egg thrown by a fan. Rather than put over the fan, Blassie used this excuse of being attacked to cover up the stories that were circulating.

Albano lists his 4 previous tag teams that held the tag team titles and hypes his new team coming in but refuses to name them.

You can easily see why the “Three Wise Men” (Wizard, Albano, Blassie) are spoken of with such fondness. They basically ran the entire heel side of the WWWF during the 1970’s. The wrestlers were just props for these guys to control. It was these managers that got the heat and basically manipulated everything. The managers of the 1980’s became more of the props and cartoon characters, save for Bobby Heenan. As you watch these All-Star Wrestling episodes you quickly come to understand how important the managers were and what an amazing job they did as the leaders of the heel side of the business.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #3: STAN HANSEN (w/FRED BLASSIE) VS. BOBBY SCHAEFFER

[spacer height=”20px”]Referee is Woehrle. Hansen rushes poor Bobby Schaeffer and beats him into the mat. Hansen flings Bobby outside to the floor and Schaeffer goes flying. After Bobby finally climbs back into the ring he’s met with more brutality including a backbreaker and a nasty kneedrop. Hansen finally adjusts his elbow pad and smashes Bobby with the LARIAT to end things after 2:50. Now that was a bad ass Lariat!

Winner is Stan Hansen

Notes: Hansen with a much better Lariat here this week. He ran poor Schaeffer over. Too short to be much of a match but Stan laid in some stiff looking shots. Blassie and Hansen begin to cut a promo with Vince after the match but the feed cuts to commercial.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #4: PETE SANCHEZ VS. JOHNNY RIVERA

As I’ve mentioned before, Rivera will go on to become Invader #3 in Puerto Rico. Pete Sanchez would never rise above the undercard of the WWWF but he was still a favorite among the fans during this point in his career. Both men are fan favorites and undercard talent here, so I expect a clean fought yet underwhelming match. And yup, here it is. Armbar, Head scissors. Side headlock. Nobody is really controlling the match. Rivera tries for a nice flying head scissors from behind, but Sanchez doesn’t seem to know what’s going on so he simply doesn’t follow through with the move. Sanchez tries a monkey flip BUT RIVERA LANDS ON HIS FEET!!! Rivera follows up with a dropkick. But we quickly slow things right back down with a test of strength. Pete manages a cover but Rivera BRIDGES out of the pin. Rivera comes back with a monkey flip and a nice dropkick. Rivera comes after Sanchez, but Pete catches him in an inside cradle for the fall after 7:38.

Winner is Pete Sanchez

Notes: Travesty of justice here. Someone with Rivera’s talent should have been given more opportunity. Pete Sanchez was a perfectly fine opening match guy, but Rivera was far more athletic and explosive in the ring. When given the opportunity Rivera could go, as seen during his time in WWC in the 1980’s. As for this match, it’s pretty much what you’d expect out of an opening match from an MSG card back in the day. The majority of the match was wrestled on the mat, but it picked up near the end. Meh.

MATCH #5: BILLY WHITE WOLF VS. SKANDOR AKBAR (w/FRED BLASSIE)

[spacer height=”20px”]If White Wolf looks familiar to you, he should. AWA fans will remember him as Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie. And WWF fans will simply remember him as the manager of Sgt. Slaughter, General Adnan. Here the Iraqi Adnan plays the part of a Native American, and the fans bought it hook, line, and sinker. Similar to the Italian Joe Scarpa portraying Chief Jay Strongbow. Most of you may also know Skandor Akbar better for his managerial roll throughout the 1980’s and early 1990’s for World Class, Mid-South, JCP, the GWF, WWC, and places in between.

Akbar quickly attacks White Wolf and sends him out to the floor. Skandor works Billy over on the apron and Blassie gets in some cheap shots as well. After a couple of minutes of playing whipping boy, White Wolf fights his way back into the ring for a big WAR DANCE and a BIG CHOP gets Billy a 1 count. Akbar quickly bails to the floor to talk with Blassie.

Once back in the ring White Wolf does a lot of teasing of throwing a chop, but Blassie distracts Billy and Akbar attacks from behind. Once Skandor has White Wolf down, Akbar distracts referee Woehrle so Blassie can choke Billy on the apron. The fans make “Indian noises” to try and rally behind White Wolf, but Akbar uses dirty tricks to remain in control by pulling the trunks, pulling the hair, and the ever popular choke hold. Billy finally TOMAHAWK CHOPS his way free and the two men go into a crisscross spot. Blassie trips up White Wolf from the outside and Akbar jumps on top of Billy. Referee Woehrle tries to pull Skandor off of White Wolf and Akbar shoves Woehrle across the ring, causing a DQ after 8:34.

Winner is Billy White Wolf by DQ

[spacer height=”20px”]White Wolf begins to fight back, he chops Akbar down. Fred Blassie jumps onto the apron and Billy chops the shit out of Blassie as well! Akbar is quick to collect Blassie and both men stumble to the locker room.

Vince McMahon calls White Wolf over for an interview, but the credits are rolling and it’s hard to hear him speak. Show ends.

Notes: I can’t tell you how excited I was to FINALLY have a TV match of Billy White Wolf on video. I also can’t tell you how awesome it is to have Skandor Akbar on video during his wrestling career as well. The two men fighting each other didn’t translate into a great match or anything close to it, but I was super pumped to see both of these names on an episode here. More great rarities coming to light, and for that reason alone I was excited for this match. As a wrestling match this wasn’t very good with White Wolf doing next to nothing until the very end.[spacer height=”20px”]

Closing Thoughts: I loved the Albano and Blassie promo. Hansen continues to shine in short fashion. Johnny Rivera impressed me here. The Blackwell & Brazil matches on this episode were very underwhelming. The main event between White Wolf vs. Akbar was pretty bad as a match, but I’m still excited that this match has made it to public preservation. As a show, nothing of any relative importance happened here this week.

The Retro Rasslin’ Reviews rolls on with more WWWF All-Star Wrestling. Sit back and enjoy!

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 02-28-76

Taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Taping date is February 18, 1976.  Your hosts once again are Vince McMahon and Antonino Rocca.

[spacer height=”20px”]Joe McHugh does the intros and away we go!

MATCH #1: WWWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS TONY PARISI & LOUIS CERDAN VS. COWBOY BOB & BARON MIKEL SCICLUNA

[spacer height=”20px”]If you’re wondering who Cowboy Bob is, I’ll tell you who it’s not… It’s definitely not Bob Orton like the WWE Network write-up claims, that’s for sure. This particular Cowboy Bob is Bob Brothers who worked the surrounding areas. This is non-title with Willie Webber as the referee. The champs spend much of the match working over old Cowboy Bob, and the referee even misses a tag to Scicluna to the fans delight. The Baron constantly tries to run interference but doesn’t succeed. The champs just have their way with the Cowboy. Scicluna FINALLY tags back in, or maybe he doesn’t. Even the referee is confused. The Baron takes a silly bump off a punch from Cerdan. Parisi finishes Cowboy Bob off with the top rope butt drop after 7:58. BOMBS AWAY!

Winners are Parisi & Cerdan

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: This felt like a handicap match with the champions basically dominating Cowboy Bob for almost the entire match while the Baron just did his own thing on the side. Scicluna took a bump that looked so ridiculous at the end of the match that it was actually funny. This match went 8:00, and it felt like every bit of 8:00. Squashes don’t need to go this long, though it wasn’t bad, just long.

MATCH #2: BOBO BRAZIL VS. HANS SCHROEDER

[spacer height=”20px”]Lou Albano shows up at ringside only moments into the match to distract Bobo for one reason or another. It doesn’t work as Brazil dominates most of the match. Hans tries to amount a comeback, but it leads to Bobo with a pair of dropdowns, a hiptoss, and the COCO BUTT ends it after 4:15!

Immediately following the match Albano jumps into the ring and aids Hand Schroeder in jumping Brazil after the bout has ended. Bobo clears Hans from the ring and Albano runs in circles before Johnny Rodz, Billy Coleman, and Frank Monte all attack Bobo. None of this works as Bobo fights everyone off with COCO BUTTS GALORE!

Winner is BOBO!

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: There was nothing to this match, though I was surprised to see Bobo bust out a pair of dropdowns. It was never really explained why Albano was out there other than just to be Lou. It was fun watching Brazil lay out the Jobber Express as they came at him one after another.

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH BUGSY MCGRAW & THE GRAND WIZARD

[spacer height=”20px”]Vince McMahon stands with the Wiz and the wacky McGraw. Wizard claims he’s been holding McGraw back, he hasn’t unleashed his full power, but soon Wizard is going to “press the button” and let McGraw explode.

WAIT A MINUTE…. Isn’t the entire point of wrestling to give it everything you have, to be the best of the best, the top of the heap, the champion? And Wizard states he hasn’t allowed Bugsy to do everything he is capable of? WHY THE FUCK would you do that?

Anyway… Wizard refers to Bugsy as his Nuclear WARHEAD, and says he has his hand on Bugsy’s “button” and all he has to do is push it to make is EXPLODE. Jeeeeeze, I won’t even touch those comments.

Vince asks the Wiz what “Sick Power” is… Apparently SICK POWER is what Bugsy McGraw has. McGraw takes over on the mike and lets out a semi-racist promo against Bobo Brazil before he also challenges Bruno, Cerdan & Parisi. Bugsy gets pleasure by giving out pain. He does a lot of “crazy” laughing throughout the promo. Lots of great facials. He had to search for words at times in this promo, but I still found it fun.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #3: STAN HANSEN (w/FRED BLASSIE) VS. JOHNNY RIVERA

Hansen makes his WWWF debut!!! Always funny to see Stan wearing cow fur and with long blond hair. It’s nice to see Louis Cyr didn’t break Rivera’s neck from the prior episode we reviewed. But Hansen has been known to break a neck or two, so the day is still young. Big Stan goes right to work on Rivera. Hansen just mauls Rivera before landing a running LARIAT and this thing is over as quick as it started. Only 1:47 to get the win.

Winner is Stan Hansen

Notes: .Stan doesn’t do much, but this is his WWWF debut which is historical in it’s own right. And we get an early look at the lariat. Poor Johnny Rivera. See what happens when you’re good at bumping?[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #4: “IRISH” PAT BARRETT & KEVIN SULLIVAN VS. BILLY COLEMAN & FRANK MONTE

Joe McHugh ad-libs and calls the Sullivan/Barrett team the “Irish Cannonballs”. It kind of caught me off guard because while Sullivan is clearly an Irish name, Sullivan never sold his heritage. We get another look at “Fabulous” Frank Monte and a Great Lakes area mainstay in Billy Coleman. You all know who Kevin Sullivan is, and Pat Barrett’s claim to fame was replacing Victor Rivera as Tag Team Champions with Dominic DeNucci to lose the titles to the Blackjacks. The faces spend most of the match working over the arm of Coleman. Monte has little success as well in his short time in the ring. Barrett lands a pair of “Irish Cannonballs” which are just jawbreakers. Sullivan finishes Coleman off with a surprise sunset flip off the top rope in 5:08.

Winners are Sullivan and Barrett

Notes: Two mid carders pick up a win over a couple of lower card/enhancement heels. Barrett and Sullivan wouldn’t go on to work as a team much but this was fine for TV.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #5: DOMINIC DENUCCI VS. LOUIS CYR

Our third look at Cyr in as many weeks, but I don’t think old Louie will be throwing DeNucci around like the jobbers before him. Cyr is without his manager here. Early on Cyr locks DeNucci into a headscissors and sits in the hold….. and sits in the hold….. and sits in the hold….. and sits…… in the hold…

This goes on for some time before Dominic finally escapes. Cyr goes right for a choke after. Finally, Dominic tries the big comeback after almost falling asleep in the head scissors. Louis is quick to take back over with a torpedo headbutt to the gut. Cyr tries a pinfall but uses the ropes for leverage and gets caught by referee Wee Willie. The bell sounds right after this spot leading Vince McMahon to question if a pinfall had indeed taken place. Instead we find out the TV curfew has expired in 6:09.

This match resulted in a TV Time Limit Draw

Notes: There was NOTHING to this match. One long head scissor hold and almost nothing else. I figured Cyr wouldn’t be throwing DeNucci around, but this was ridiculous.

Closing Thoughts: This show was all over the place with nothing being a necessary “must see” segment. The Pairisi/Cerdan match was fine but went on entirely too long for a squash. It was cool to see Hansen’s WWWF debut but it was over in less than 2 minutes. I’m still pondering why Albano and a host of jobbers attacked Bobo Brazil. The Sullivan and Barrett match was just “there”, and the main event with DeNucci and Cyr should never be seen again. I did enjoy the oddball Wizard and Bugsy promo, however.

We continue with our second episode of All-Star Wrestling from 1976.

Sit back and enjoy my Retro Rasslin’ Review for…

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 01-17-76

All-Star Wrestling is taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Taping date is January 3, 1976.  Your hosts again are Vince McMahon and Antonino Rocca. With the prior episode airing the week prior, we have consecutive shows which would mean some continuity IF there were stories to tell. We get a shot of some of the front row fans and they are…….. interesting. We’ll go with that.

[spacer height=”20px”]Joe McHugh makes the opening announcements and it’s time for action.

MATCH #1: SUPERSTAR BILLY GRAHAM (w/ THE WIZARD) VS. SYLVANO SOUSA

[spacer height=”20px”]Your referee for the opener is Wee Willie Webber. This week Billy is wearing some type of fur outfit. He poses for the camera as we get things going. Superstar no sells everything Sousa throws at him. Graham throws Sousa out of the ring, but his foot gets tied in the ropes. LOL!!! Last week Sullivan’s foot got tied in the rope as part of the plan, this week Sousa is so inept he can’t even take a bump out of the ring properly and accidentally gets stuck. Like a pro, Graham jumps out of the ring and attacks the tied up Sousa who is hanging upside down. Graham picks up a water logged piece of corrugated looking cardboard and drops it on Sousa Sousa. Well that was ineffective. Back in the ring Graham applies the bearhug and this thing is over after 3:35

Following the match, the Wiz distracts the referee while Graham continues to apply the bearhug. He locks it in under Sousa’s arms and doesn’t even lock his hands together. It looks like he’s hugging him. It looks like shit.

Winner is Superstar Graham

Notes: Short and to the point. This match would have been nothing at all if it weren’t for Sousa accidentally getting stuck in the ropes and Graham dumping a sheet of nothing on his head. It didn’t hurt him, but I thought it was funny nevertheless.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #2: “POLISH POWER” IVAN PUTSKI VS. BUGSY MCGRAW (w/GRAND WIZARD)

[spacer height=”20px”]Ivan Koloff and Lou Albano also accompany McGraw & Wiz to ringside. Putski is heavily outnumbered so he brings Cerdan and Parisi to the ring to even the odds. Very similar to what Parisi & Cerdan did with Andre in the 1975 episode. Putski’s in between his pot belly stage and his complete roided out stage here, he’s a little bit of both at this point. Putski shows off his strength early by cranking a headlock and breaking free of a top wrist lock by throwing McGraw backwards. Both men take the fight to the corner, where they refuse to break up. Both men shove referee Dick Woehrle, causing Dick to call for the bell and disqualify both men.

Things break down immediately after the Double DQ with Koloff, Albano, Cerdan and Parisi all getting into the ring for a brawl.

Then, the faces outnumber the heels when Bobo Brazil makes his way out to COCO BUTT all of the heels out of the ring.

After the match, Putski calls the heels back to the ring but they don’t answer.

The Results is a Double DQ / “DRAW”

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: You knew what was coming here with all of these men at ringside. I didn’t understand Bobo coming out to give the faces the advantage but the brawl was fun. It’s also amazing to see how a simple headlock or escaping a wrist lock could mean so much when done right. Putski knew how to play to the fans and how to work his gimmick. His strongman style cranking of McGraw’s head meant more than every flip in an episode of 205 Live combined. There was no substance to the match but the brawl was okay, in part to Albano’s over the top selling.

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH TONY PARISI & LOUIS CERDAN

[spacer height=”20px”]Vince McMahon interviews the Tag Team Champions. Cerdan looks like an older bloated version of Greg Brady (Brady Bunch). It’s kind of creepy. The champs issue an open challenge to any team that want a crack at the belts.

MATCH #3: LOUIS CYR (w/FRED BLASSIE) VS. JOHNNY RIVERA

[spacer height=”20px”]Rivera will go on to work as Invader #3 for Carlos Colon’s WWC for much of the 1980’s. For now, Rivera is simply a good hand who mainly works the opening matches in the baby face roll. This is our second look at Cyr. I hope he uses that Saito Suplex again! Cyr with several variations of takeovers, including one that dumps Rivera right on the back of his head and neck. OOF!  A unique move as Cyr picks Rivera up in an over the shoulder backbreaker, but catches Johnny’s throat under the top rope while applying the hold. It’s kind of unorthodox but cool at the same time.

Referee Willie Webber makes Cyr release the hold for being in the ropes. A frickin nasty ass biel throw out of a front facelock… That was dangerous and nasty. This guy is pretty dangerous. He toys with Rivera for quite some time before he THROWS RIVERA across the ring with a gut wrench suplex. DAMN! This guy may be the original suplex machine. Solid big boot by Cyr and there’s the Saito Suplex! Shoulder breaker ends this in 5:37.

Winner is Louis Cyr

Notes: Cyr was an unorthodox wrestler using moves that range from lame, to sick, to just downright dangerous. There’s enough unique or wicked stuff here to give it a once over. Rivera usually gets in a little offense but he was owned here, and lucky his neck wasn’t broken on at least two occasions.

MATCH #4: “RUSSIAN BEAR” IVAN KOLOFF (w/ALBANO) VS. PETE MCKAY

We get another job from McKay here. Ivan gets lazy here and works a stomach claw for a while. A few stomps and elbow drops later we see the diving kneedrop to end this squash after 5:12.

Winner is Ivan Koloff

Notes: Koloff is usually a machine in the ring but on this night he took it easy. This match was barely there.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #5: “BIG CAT” ERNIE LADD VS. PETE SANCHEZ

Ladd is the only top heel without a manager during this period. I suppose he didn’t need one. Vince announces that there’s a DeNucci vs. Koloff match for next week. Ernie shockingly takes bumps for Sanchez early on, including getting stuck across the top rope. Ladd bumps all over for Sanchez before digging into his trunks and catching Pete with the dreaded loaded thumb! Ladd uses the taped thumb throughout the rest of the contest, though Pete continues to try and fight back. Pete charges Ladd into the corner but runs right into that evil thumb. Ernie tosses Sanchez to the floor where Pete is counted out. Ladd gets the victory in 6:34.

After the match Ladd teases climbing the ropes but the ropes are so loose it’s comical.

Winner is Ernie Ladd by count out

Following the match Ladd appears to get into a verbal confrontational with a rather large ringside attendant. The camera is too far away and credit begin to appear which makes it hard to determine if this is just a random attendant or possibly Gorilla Monsoon.

Notes: Standing 6’9″, Ladd could have easily dominated the entire match and owned Sanchez. Instead, Ernie knew in order to get more heat on the loaded thumb it’d be smarter to give Sanchez the clear advantage before he used the illegal object to take control. I was surprised by the count out finish, but it worked just as well with the Big Cat getting over that illegal spiked thumb.

Closing Thoughts: Not a whole lot to report here. I did enjoy Ladd’s selling for Sanchez, and I found Cyr’s offense to be a guilty pleasure. The squash matches felt under par here by Graham and Putski who seemed to both phone it in. It was also cool to see Putski command a response from the fans for the simplest of moves. Watching it even today I bought it, so I’d imagine other new school fans would as well. Maybe if guys spent more time getting the psychology of the moves over rather than seeing how many flips they can do in a match then guys wouldn’t be broken in half by the age of 40.

Moving right along, with the sole 1975 episode of All-Star Wrestling in the books, me move on to 1976.

Sit back and enjoy my Retro Rasslin’ Review for…

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 01-10-76

This episode of All-Star Wrestling is taped as always from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania. Taping date is January 3, 1976.  Your hosts once again are Vince McMahon and Antonino Rocca.

The video intro has changed here for 1976 with a full screen montage featuring Andre, Bruno, and others…

Vince runs down today’s program, we get some incoherent thoughts from Antonino Rocca, and it’s off to the ring and Joe McHugh!

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MATCH #1: BOBO BRAZIL VS. DAVEY O’HANNON

Our referee here is Dick Woehrle. O’Hannon is one of the more talented enhancement heels of the 1970’s. He’s the precursor to guys like the Brooklyn Brawler. Bobo is announced as the United States Champion, as he typically is, though this title is not recognized by the WWWF. There’s like zero commentary for the first minute or two of the match. Brazil owns O’Hannon, even doing the test of strength spot where he placed Davey’s hands on the mat and stomps them. O’Hannon responds with the crappiest looking choke I’ve ever seen. Bobo shrugs it off and lands a pair of his famous COCO BUTTS to end this thing after 7:40.

Bobo offers a handshake after the match, Davey shakes it but tries to jump Bobo. When Brazil sees him coming O’Hannon decides to bail.

Winner is Bobo Brazil

Notes: This went about 6:00 too long. Bobo was pretty restricted in what he could do at this stage in his career so this was really stretched out to eat up some time. O’Hannon bumped and sold well for Brazil, but this match wasn’t anything special.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #2: LOUIS CYR (w/FRED BLASSIE) VS. PETE MCKAY

[spacer height=”20px”]Cyr is actually Gilles Poisson who spent most of his career in the Montreal territory, though he took the trip to the WWWF for a run here in ’76. His gimmick here is based on an actual strongman, also named Louis Cyr, who performed during the late 1800’s into the 1900’s. This is McKay’s first WWWF match, and I believe this may be Cyr’s as well. Wee Willie Webber is the referee here. Cyr dominates the contest with the usual kicking and punching medley of offense. His punches are awful. Cyr hits a nasty awesome Saito Suplex. NICE. A shoulder breaker ends it after 4:32.

After the match, Blassie distracts the referee so that Cyr can deliver a second Shoulder breaker to McKay for the fun of it. I would have preferred another of those Saito suplexes.

Winner is Louis Cyr

Notes: Cyr never did much outside of eastern Canada. He spent maybe 4 months here in the WWWF and later worked a bit for the AWA. Another basic squash.[spacer height=”20px”]

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH “BIG CAT” ERNIE LADD

[spacer height=”20px”]Vince McMahon brings out the Big Cat. Ladd is as entertaining as he ever was here. He puts over the top heels of the time, which includes himself, Spiros Arion (who he calls Spiros Arias repeatedly), as well as his buddies Superstar Graham and Ivan Koloff. Quick story, Graham, Koloff, and Ladd formed their own little 3 man union back in the 70’s and bonded together to make sure they were paid top dollar and not ripped off. They knew their value and forced promoters to pay them every penny they thought they were worth.

Ernie craps on some of the baby faces. He calls Bobo an Uncle Tom, he says Ivan Putski is strong… under the arms… He calls Dominic DeNucci a stooge who wrestles guys to prevent people from getting title shots at Bruno. Ladd wants a title match with Bruno on TV so that he can humiliate him.

Ladd riles up McMahon, and Vince makes another awesome disgusted face. Time runs out as things start getting good. lol…

MATCH #3: “BIG CAT” ERNIE LADD VS. TITO TORRES & SYLVANO SOUSA

Dick Woehrle in charge of this one. Sousa worked as enhancement on TV for a long time. I’m not familiar with Torres. Ladd owns both men, beginning the match with Sousa, before kicking both of their asses at the same time. Big Cat with a BIG BOOT on Sousa, that barely touches Sylvano’s shoulder. Ladd goes into his trunks and supposedly loads his taped thumb. Ladd drives his taped thumb into both men’s throats before tossing Torres to the outside. Ladd throws Torres out of the ring a second time, but Tito slows down, stops, carefully steps through the ropes onto the apron, holds onto the ropes with both hands, and then gingerly falls off the apron. THAT WAS PATHETIC! Meanwhile Ladd drops a big leg and pins Sousa. While Woehrle is counting the 3 Ladd lands a kneedrop during the cover after 4:48.

That may be the first time I’ve seen someone execute a move WHILE already pinning a man.

Winner is Ernie Ladd

Notes: I can see why Torres wasn’t invited back for another taping. Ladd wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire with his wrestling ability by this stage in his career but he could talk people into the buildings, that’s for sure. Squash city.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #4: WWWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS LOUIS CERDAN & TONY PARISI VS. BARON MIKEL SCICLUNA & VINCENTE POMETTI

[spacer height=”20px”]This is non-title action with Wee Willie as the referee. You may also know Cerdan by the name Gino Brito. Parisi also worked earlier in his career as “Bruno Sammartino’s cousin”  under his real name of Tony Pugliese. Lou Albano makes his way to ringside as the match starts to scout/annoy the champions. Pometti looks like he could play a Count. He certainly has a unique look. The Count and the Baron, now that would have been cool. In reality Pometti is nothing more than a TV job guy and the Baron is barely anything more by this point as well. Parisi does a hand spring off the back of the Baron and lands on his feet. Parisi is another guy I’m glad that there’s a little more footage available now of him. He was a really solid hand and made a great tag team wrestler. Parisi grabs Pometti by his beard and the referee yanks Tony away from the beard for a comedy spot. The champs continue to have fun with Pometti’s beard. The Baron is never tagged back in. Parisi drops a big elbow to get the win, even if it took Webber 80 years to get in place and make the count after 5:52.

Winners are Cerdan & Parisi

Notes: By looks alone, Parisi and Cerdan may look like a pair of stocky, interchangeable mid-card type of guys. BUT, if you watch them work you can see that both guys knew how to work a match, pop the fans, and Parisi was just a damn good worker in general and was very athletic for his body type. Cerdan (Brito) would also have a successful team with Dino Bravo in Einhorn’s IWA. Both men would be very successful in Montreal, with Cerdan even promoting there during the 80’s. Their work is underrated for this time period in this particular promotion.

MATCH #5: CRUSHER BLACKWELL & BUGSY MCGRAW (w/BLASSIE & GRAND WIZARD) VS. KEVIN SULLIVAN & FRANCISCO FLORES

[spacer height=”20px”]I gave you a little insight into Flores in my last review. Francisco is announced here as the ficticious “Mexican Heavyweight Champion”. And YES, Kevin Sullivan is indeed THAT Kevin Sullivan. Most people only think of Kevin’s 80’s and 90’s runs, but people forget that Sullivan spent much of the 1970’s in the ring as well. The match starts with the faces working on Blackwell’s arm, but soon Bugsy tags in and runs over Sullivan repeatedly. McGraw tries another tackle but runs into a big chop from Sullivan and Bugsy takes a huge bump before tagging back to Blackwell… Rocca’s commentary is annoying. I’m sorry, but it is.

The heels manage to take over on Sullivan and Bugsy sends Kevin to the floor. Sullivan fights his way back onto the apron buit Blackwell nails him and Sullivan gets his foot tied in the rope as he falls to the floor. As Kevin hands outside the ring he winds up being counted out while his partner Flores is distracted by Freddie Blassie. Sullivan winds up counted out in 5:38.

Winners are Bugsy & Blackwell by count out

Notes: This felt like the first 5 minutes of a 20 minute match. The feeling out process had just ended and we went right into one of the old go-to finishes during the 60’s and 70’s WWWF with the leg stuck in the ropes count out spot. Again, they didn’t even like to beat mid-carders on TV so Sullivan saves face by taking the count instead of being pinned here. Flores felt like garnish. Some sloppy spots here and the abrupt (and crappy) finish makes this match worthless, which is a shame because both Blackwell and Bugsy could really go in their prime.

Closing Thoughts: If you’re looking for springboards and 450 splashes, huracan ranas and suicide dives, this is not for you. Like the episode from 1975, there’s a few fun pieces to skip around and check out. Cyr’s Saito suplex of doom, Parisi and Cerdan’s spots with Pometti, Ladd’s promo and Vince’s facials, an early look at Kevin Sullivan, but in general the 1975 episode offered more.