WWWF All-Star Wrestling Reviews 06-03-78

A rare WWWF Title defense by Bob Backlund headlines this edition of the Retro Rasslin’ Review!

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 06-03-78

All-Star Wrestling is taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Taping date is May 17, 1978.  Vince McMahon is your announcer.

MATCH #1: LUKE GRAHAM (w/THE GRAND WIZARD) VS. JIMMY RAYE

Graham spends the duration of the match jabbing his opponent with the infamous TAPED THUMB. He did manage to knee his foe once before returning to using the thumb to the throat and getting the quick win in 3:19.

Winner is Luke Graham

Notes: Well that wasn’t as bad as previous matches, only because it was kept short and Graham tried to do as little as possible. It sucks for as many times as Luke Graham has teamed with “Superstar” Billy Graham so far here in 1978, we haven’t gotten to see one of them. Instead, we have another Crazy Luke singles match.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #2: STAN “THE MAN” STASIAK (w/THE GRAND WIZARD) VS. JIM OLIVER

We go from a man with a taped thumb to a man with a taped fist. Both men being in Wizard’s stable, I wonder if they split the cost on all that tape. Based on introductions, Stasiak is still living off his short stint as a former WWWF Champion. Stasiak with a  decent takeover to begin the match, but then he reverts to hammering his opponent with the taped fist. Sound familiar? Oliver with a nice single arm takeover, but Stasiak counters into a head scissor. Stan wants no part of actually wrestling so he goes back to punching and stomping on Oliver. And stomping on Oliver. And stomping on Oliver. HEART PUNCH ends this in 2:55.

Apparently the Heart Punch knocked Oliver out. A blow to the chest knocked him out? Might want to call a doctor.

Winner is Stan Stasiak

Notes: Too short to be offensive. I’ve seen worse.[spacer height=”20px”]

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH WWWF WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION BOB BACKLUND

Vince McMahon interviews the champ, who will meet Strong Kobayashi in a super rare World Title defense on TV today. Backlund talks about what it’s like to be champion. The traveling, the training, preparing for specific opponents. They discuss Backlund’s choice of selecting Arnold Skaaland as his manager. Bob is happy with Arnie handling all of the managing duties, scouting challengers, handling the bookings, etc…

Vince turns to the match at hand tonight, Kobayashi. Kobayashi has mastered the Martial-Arts which Backlund has to watch out for. Bob says he focuses on one match at a time, he doesn’t think about tomorrow. He’s thinking about Kobayashi tonight and he’s ready to defend.

MATCH #3: HAYSTACKS CALHOUN & LARRY ZBYSZKO VS. SYLVANO SOUSA & MOOSE MONROE

It’s Larry and Frank the Moose to start things. Larry catches a near fall early. Moose gets up in the wrong corner and Calhoun unloads on Monroe repeatedly. Calhoun holds the Moose while Zbyszko lands a free shot. Moose takes a big swing at Larry, but Zbyszko ducks and Monroe goes flying over the top rope to the floor. Sousa now tags in and it isn’t long before Sylvano also takes a spill outside. Larry finally gains control with an armbar to slow things down. Sousa goes to the eyes of Zbyszko and takes over control for a bit. The burly Sousa for some reason can’t pick Larry up for a slam… Seriously??? Larry reverses with a slam on Sousa and rolls Sylvano back into a crucifix roll up for the abrupt finish after 4:39.

Winners are Zbyszko & Haystacks

Notes: The matches are shorter tonight, likely to give time for the WWWF Title match. Calhoun NEVER EVEN TAGS IN. I’ve noticed Larry and Calhoun like to work some heel spots as a team. They do it in a way that it doesn’t seem heelish, but they do it in every match. Just something I noticed. This match was nothing. Haystacks basically got paid to stand there.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #4: WWWF WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION BOB BACKLUND VS. STRONG KOBAYASHI (w/FRED BLASSIE)

[spacer height=”20px”]We start the match with Backlund hooking a waistlock and Shozo Kobayashi sitting out. Backlund rides Kobayashi as he continues to sit out until he gets to the ropes. They reverse positions and now Kobayashi rides Backlund, but Bob being the amateur champion sits out and finally manages to escape the waist lock. We get some more tit for tat between the two as they try some basic holds on each other, armdrags, head scissor escapes, etc… Bob moves like a cat in there, very quick and always grabbing a body part. It’s evident in the world of shooting that Bob’s a dangerous dude. Backlund grabs a hammerlock but Kobayashi grabs the ropes for a break.

When the match resumes Kobayashi relies on his martial arts as he chops Backlund down to the mat and then stomps him with his bare feet. Kobayashi nails a backbreaker but Backlund kicks out on 2 with authority, throwing Kobayashi off of him. HANGMAN’S NECKBREAKER by Shozo gets another near fall. Nice.

Kobayashi goes back to the chops, but Bob fights back. They trade blows until Backlund gets the upper hand. Bob goes to the arm and tries to hyperextend Kobayashi’s arm. Shozo finally manages to reach the ropes for a break and he unloads with cheap shots to drop Backlund. Shozo wears Bob down with a front facelock and then goes back to chopping Bob relentlessly. A whip off the ropes and a big knife edge chop on the champ gets another 2 count. Kobayashi is becoming frustrated as he goes back to chopping away on Bob.

Kobayashi sends Bob off the ropes for another big chop, but Backlund ducks and BOB BACKLUND WITH THE RUNNING ATOMIC DROP ends this after 12:56.

Winner is Bob Backlund

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: This match was given a lot of time. Longest match I’ve covered on an All-Star episode, mainly because most matches have a 10 minute TV time limit. While not very exciting by any means, it made for a good TV title defense. Bob was never really in much trouble here but the fans got a Championship match on free TV and it went long enough for the fans to feel like they got a real title defense out of it. It would have been nice if Shozo’s offense wasn’t 85% chops, but I get the old strategy of find a move you’re good at and stick to it. lol. At the end of the day it was nothing more than an average TV match that can easily be skipped if you’re not interested in this era, but it wasn’t dull and it didn’t feel like it was dragging. So for that I was happy with it.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #5: WWWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS DINO BRAVO & DOMINIC DENUCCI VS. TANK PATTON & BUTCHER VACHON

[spacer height=”20px”]Non-title. DeNucci starts with the Tank. Patton manages to hook DeNucci in a Full Nelson and tags in the Butcher. Paul Vachon has far less success against Dominic and he decides to bring back in the Tank. Patton comes in and clobbers DeNucci with a pair of big padded elbows across the back of the head. Dominic stumbles into the corner and Bravo tags in. Dino with a simple tackle, dropdown, leapfrog, backdrop spot, by the numbers, on the Tank. Dino locks on an armbar, but Patton swings his way close enough to tag out to the Butcher. Bravo blasts Vachon with a running forearm and the cover, but Butcher gets his foot on the bottom rope to stop the count. Patton back in again, Bravo reverses a whip and nails a dropkick that somehow gets the abrupt win after 3:58 of action.

Winners are Bravo & DeNucci

Notes: It kind of sucks to get stuck in the final match spot on TV because when an episode is crunched for time the match suffers majorly. I think this could have been more competitive given more time, but when time runs short these guys see the signal to go home no matter where they are in the match or how abrupt the finish is. This was what it was.[spacer height=”20px”]

Closing Thoughts: What a treat it must have been to not only see the WWWF Champion wrestle on TV, BUT the title is actually on the line against what was considered a competent challenger. The majority of the in ring time was given to Backlund, as it should have been, so the rest of the show was a bunch of short squash matches. And with guys like Luke Graham and Stasiak competing I can only express how delighted I was that their matches were kept short. We got to see the Tag Champs on the same show is the Heavyweight Champion, which was pretty cool. Haystacks was also on the card for a novelty act, though he did next to nothing. The squashes were so short that they didn’t have time to stink, the tag team champs match was cut short, Backlund had an average TV match with the belt on the line. There’s not a whole lot to rave about here, but if you’re looking for a rare WWWF Title defense then I think you’ll be satisfied with Backlund vs. Kobayashi.