WWWF All-Star Wrestling Review 09-09-78

It’s the Retro Rasslin’ Review, FEATURING ANDRE THE GIANT!

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 09-09-78

All-Star Wrestling is taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Taping date is August 30, 1978.  Your announcer is Vince McMahon

MATCH #1: “IRON GREEK” SPIROS ARION (w/FRED BLASSIE) VS. FRANKIE WILLIAMS

Arion hooks Frankie in a cravate style chinlock and works the hold for seemingly ever. He manages to find variations of ways to use the hold, but make no mistake it’s lazy as hell. Arion even finds a way to lay down with the hold applied. I’ll give him this much, if you got points for innovative ways to be lazy then Arion scores high. Arion hits a hangman’s neckbreaker. Back to the cravate. Williams actually makes a comeback. Holy shit, Frankie Williams with a DROPKICK, I didn’t even know he was capable. Spiros cuts him off with a boot. Wow. Arion hooks Williams in a kneeling Hangman’s Noose submission hold but the referee eventually makes him break. I assume the ref felt it was a choke. Arion beings to make several covers but pulls Williams up at 2 each time. REALLY, you’re going to do that this far into the match? Ugh. Arion hits a backbreaker to finally end this after 7:32. 

Winner is Spiros Arion

Notes: This match could have accomplished the same thing in 3 or 4 minutes tops, but they had to eat up time to last the duration of the segment. Some of these guys just didn’t even care or try. Clearly the promoters didn’t care enough to question their “work rate”. If you want to see Frankie Williams throw a dropkick, give this a whirl. Otherwise you can move along.

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MATCH #2: DINO BRAVO VS. BARON MIKEL SCICLUNA

The Baron dominates the match early and often. An armbar, a chinlock, a stomp, lots of quality pulling tights and hair Baron maneuvers here. Scicluna controls the entire match until Bravo makes a comeback at the end. Dino nails a pair of dropkicks for the win in 5:28.

Winner is Dino Bravo

Notes: It was kind of Bravo to let Scicluna dominate the whole match since Dino was going over, but it made for a mundane match. Dino’s comeback consisted of a few punches and dropkicks, made Baron’s entire offense feel worthless in the end. I’ve seen worse, but this was no good.[spacer height=”20px”]

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH DINO BRAVO

Vince McMahon chats with Bravo after his match. Dino wants everyone to know that there’s no such thing as an easy opponent and he takes nobody lightly. Bravo tells the young fans you have to expect pain to become a wrestler. You have to understand that pain will be involved. Vince finally gets to Dino’s physique. I knew that was coming. Vince has always been in awe of muscles. Bravo says he has to stay in great shape to remain competitive. Vince now claims Dino benches 550 pounds. Wow, it goes up 50 pounds with every match according to Vince.

Vince asks Dino about his personal life, if he hobbies. WTF? Dino says preparing to wrestle and workout is his hobby. I’d buy that given his obsession with roiding out. Dino says he waited a few years to come to the WWWF because he needed to be ready for the competition.

This was better than the last Dino interview, but I really don’t care for babyface promos unless they have a personality or conflict. Otherwise it just becomes this, a guy answering generic questions.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #3: ANDRE THE GIANT VS. JOSE ESTRADA & TONY RUSSO

Handicap style Andre match. Andre gets them both in the corner and rams them with his posterior. Estrada goes to the Giant’s eyes and the two heels try to attack Andre in the corner. Andre has other ideas though as he takes them both down to the mat and then throws Estrada into Russo. Andre with some kneelifts and Estrada takes some great bumps for him. The heels double team Andre to some success as they get the Giant into the corner.Andre fights his way out fairly quickly. GIANT CHOP to Estrada. GIANT BOOT to Russo.

BUTT DROP on Russo. Jose climbs to the top rope and jumps off, but Andre catches him in the air and Press Slams Estrada onto the prone Russo. As Andre sits on top of the opponents for the pin, he reaches down and PINCHES ESTRADA’S ASS! HAH. Jose begins kicking when Andre pinches him. LOL. Match is over in 3:04.

Winner is Andre the Giant

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: Your typical fun Andre squash. A bit fast but it was good. Andre doing a little ribbing at the end with the goose on Estrada was also fun.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #4: CRUSHER BLACKWELL (w/THE GRAND WIZARD) VS. STEVE KING

Referee is Dick Woehrle. Blackwell scoops the Wizard up into his arms to help him over the top rope to the apron. I bet the Wiz loved that. Blackwell works a hammerlock and lands a big slam on King. I love Blackwell’s falling headbutt. Crusher works a wristlock and a hanging armbar over his shoulder. King starts to fight back, lays in some solid punches and a pair of dropkicks sends Blackwell up against the ropes. Crusher finally retaliates and knocks King silly. Blackwell chokes King until he falls through the ropes to the floor for a moment. Big backbreaker by Blackwell and a nasty clothesline. King is tossed back to the floor a second time. Blackwell scoops King off the apron and drives him across the ring with a powerslam. DAMN. This one is over in 5:50.

Winner is Crusher Blackwell

[spacer height=”20px”]Notes: Blackwell is one of the more fun heels to watch as his squash matches are generally fairly entertaining. He was very impressive for a guy his stature.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #5: WWWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE YUKON LUMBERJACKS (w/LOU ALBANO) VS. LARRY ZBYSZKO & JIMMY RAY

This is non-title as Zbyszko is basically stuck with a jobber for this encounter. Larry is still rocking that stylish mustache. Hey, it was stylish for the time. Albano is outside pretending to jump rope again. Larry decides he’s going to start the match because he knows if Ray does Larry will never even get tagged in. Good wrestling by Larry early on as he takes Eric down to the mat. The two men trade top wristlocks. It winds up ending in a stalemate. Larry winds up in the heel corner but quickly fights hi way out and lands a jackknife pin on Eric for 2.

Jim Ray wants to tag in, in a bad way, but Zbyszko ignores him. Larry ignores him, not in a heel way, but more in a “I’m going to pretend I can’t see you so we don’t lose” sort of way. Larry has to finally acknowledge Jim Ray holding his hand out for a tag, Larry tells him to just give him a minute. LOL.

Pierre tags in and lands some shots on Zbyszko. Larry staggers to the corner and finally tags in Jim Ray. Pierre quickly takes over with a back elbow, a slam and a simple elbow drop ends it. LOL. Larry should have never tagged out. Time was 5:49.

Winners are the Lumberjacks

Notes: These “jobber with star” tag teams were always interesting. Typically you would see it more with the heels, but this worked too. Larry held his own the entire match until he tags in Ray, who quickly jobs after three simple moves. Poor Larry. But the match was okay for what it was.[spacer height=”20px”]

Closing Thoughts: The last 3 matches were good… for squashes. Nothing fancy on this episode, but we do get an old fashioned Andre handicap squash. And hey, NO LUKE GRAHAM! WOOT!