WWWF All-Star Wrestling Review 11-25-78

Mike Paidousis… is an ass…

WWWF ALL-STAR WRESTLING 11-25-78

All-Star Wrestling is taped from the Fieldhouse in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.
Taping date is November 22, 1978.

“Living Legend” BRUNO SAMMARTINO joins Vince McMahon at the announcer’s table again this week for the action. And Bruno is looking rather zoned.

Gary Capetta makes his All-Star Wrestling Debut, replacing Joe McHugh on the “B” show. With the “Championship Wrestling” show moving from Philadelphia to Allentown, McHugh would continue with his ring announcing duties as part of that program.

Immediately, the opening portion of the show feels sped up with Capetta doing the introductions. I don’t know the actual time difference, but Capetta announcing the Athletic Commission, Doctor, Referees, etc.. feels twice as fast as when McHugh does it.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #1: SPECIAL DELIVERY JONES VS. TONY RUSSO

Referee is Dick Woehrle. SD hooks a headlock early, but Russo soon goes to the leg of Jones. SD surprises many with not one, but TWO grounded spinning head scissors to escape from Russo. Russo is short and stocky but he was quite the solid worker as he wrestled underneath in just about every territory imaginable. As Russo continues to work over Jones’s leg, Bruno and Vince spend a lot of the match putting over the fact that Sammartino is NOT retired and he’s working on a full time basis around the world. Bruno says we can expect to see him soon at an arena ‘near you’. Meanwhile, Russo is just relentless on the leg of Jones for the entire match. Jones hobbles to reverse an Irish whip and then delivers a SINGLE HEAD BUTT and the match is over, just like that after 5:29.

Winner is Special Delivery Jones

Notes: I expected more from this match. Russo looked very solid in the heel role, telling a story of working over SD’s leg but it never really went anywhere. Jones comes back with a simple head butt and pins Russo out of nowhere. They spent most of the match letting everyone know that BRUNO IS NOT RETIRED.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #2: MIKE PAIDOUSIS VS. MARK MASTERS

[spacer height=”20px”]Holy balls, referee here is Tony Altimore of Sicilians fame! Altimore and Lou Albano were once upon a time a tag team in the area. Paidousis is from a bygone era, even by 1978 standards. I’ve seen Paidousis footage go back to the beginning of the 1950’s, and he has to easily be in his mid-50’s by this point in his career… and he looks EVERY bit of it. This is the earliest footage I’ve seen of Masters, who you may be more familiar with under the ring names Rocky Jones and MIKE Masters. As you can see, Masters took good care of himself and looks RIPPED here. If this were the mid 1980s, Vinnie Jr. would have loved to scoop Masters up for that steroid body look.

Masters starts off with an armbar that he doesn’t seem to want to release. When Paidousis finally makes the ropes, Masters lays in some stiff sounding forearm shots and he hooks a rear chinlock. Bruno thinks Masters is green and needs to polish his moves. I concur. Bruno really had a way on commentary of basically shooting on guys without completely giving away that it’s a work. Masters works Paidousis pretty good, making some fluid moves from an armbar to a hammerlock. Masters tries a snapmare and Paidousis LEGIT blocks it. He’s having none of it. Masters keeps trying to mare Paidousis over, but Mike stands his ground and pulls back for an awkward situation.

It doesn’t get any better from there. The two men trade blows when Masters goes for a shoulder tackle. But Paidousis simply walks away and Masters winds up tackling the air, stumbling, and doing a forward roll into the ropes to look like a complete ass. Paidousis isn’t cooperating for a shit. I guess it’s the grizzled vet not wanting the young rookie to get over on him, but it’s ruining the match. AND IT CONTINUES… Paidousis looks for a test of strength, but Masters dropkicks his way out of it. Paidousis barely sells it, taking a step back but not bumping. What a dick!

Mike gets into a shooting position as he keeps back and swats away Masters attempt at a headlock. Paidousis then grabs a hammerlock takeover in a very unsafe way. Masters has to legit kick his way to the ropes for the break. Masters wrings the arm of Paidousis and tries to straddle it, but Mike no sells it and rolls out of the hold. What a f**king ass hat. Paidousis blocks another offensive attempt by Masters and hooks a shoot waistlock, into a shoot double leg takedown from behind, into a shoot ride on top of Masters to maintain real control and not let the guy do anything.

Masters eventually sits his way out and grabs another arm wringer on Mike. Masters straddles the arm of Paidousis again, and this time Mike clasps his hands to prevent Masters from doing anything. It looks like Paidousis is trying to set Masters up for a shoot back suplex, but Mark gets wise and spins around into a front facelock.

It’s clear at this point Paidousis has been around quite long enough to know how to shoot in the ring as needed. It also looks like it’s becoming clear to Paidousis that Masters may be green but he’s not a complete idiot. Masters continues to go along with Paidousis’ horse shit, but he’s also letting Mike know that he’s not going to be made a fool of. Paidousis sees that Masters knows JUST ENOUGH to cause some issues so he quickly puts an end to this. Paidousis escapes the headlock and sends Masters into the rope for a backdrop. Paidousis drops a stiff looking knee to the chest of Masters and then covers him in a precarious position to prevent any kicking out. Match went 5:38.

As soon as the ref counts three, Masters jumps up and looks a bit pissed off. Clearly something didn’t go right…. To say the least.

While he still looks capable in the ring, I think it’s safe to say Paidousis is winding down his career here. 5:38

Winner is Mike Paidousis

Notes: Boy…. That was…. umm…. Interesting… To say the least. If you know what you’re watching it’s certainly intriguing to see what a 25 plus year veteran could do versus a rookie. Paidousis was clearly having none of it as the full of vigor Masters was trying to get some offense in. It made for an awkward match as Paidousis did everything from block holds, to simply walking away or no selling a dropkick. And then there was the abrupt ending. Bruno and Vince try their best to explain the match. I was entertained, but for all the wrong reasons.[spacer height=”20px”]

RINGSIDE INTERVIEW WITH “HIGH CHIEF” PETER MAIVIA & FREDDIE BLASSIE

Blassie likes getting the best of the fans. Blassie stands for CLASS. Maivia flashes Blassie’s “10 karat” diamond ring. Vince is even impressed. Blassie says he buys rings like others buys suits. He has 5 Lincoln Continentals, so when one is getting washed he can drive another one. Blassie calls himself the LIBERACE of wrestling. I would have thought that would be Pat Patterson.

Maivia takes over the interview. He’s making more money with Blassie than he ever made before. Maivia says he’s the greatest wrestler produced from the islands.

Blassie said Maivia didn’t throw Backlund aside… He KICKED him aside… Blassie goes on the Skaaland is cheap routine again, which has nothing to do with this, so I assume this is a fact. Blassie says Maivia is the next Heavyweight Champion. Vince claims all of the top baby faces want a shot at Maivia, but Blassie says nobody ever signs up to wrestle the High Chief. Blassie closes the promo by making fun of Jay Strongbow’s nose.[spacer height=”20px”]

And now, if you needed to be reminded again that Bruno Sammartino IS NOT RETIRED, we’re randomly treated to a trip back in time to MSG, June 16, 1975. It’s a match featuring Bruno Sammartino (then champion) vs. Waldo Von Erich, the evil German. Before the match, Bruno & Vince discuss the match. Bruno claims to have had a broken arm going into the match but refused to back out of the match due to the fans expecting to see him defend his championship. What a guy!

MATCH #3: (THEN) WWWF HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION BRUNO SAMMARTINO VS. WALDO VON ERICH

Bruno is with Skaaland. Waldo has Blassie with him. Waldo goes right after the arm of Bruno before the bell even sounds, smashing him with the “European Championship” belt. Blassie passes Von Erich a foreign object and he begins to jab it into the broken arm of Bruno. What a HEEL! Sammartino begins to fight back, turnbuckle smashes, kicks, punches, STOMPS. The crowd comes unglued with every stomp. Amazing crowds back then. Waldo kicks Bruno in the bad arm to take back over. Von Erich ducks for a backdrop but Bruno stops short and plants him with a knee to the head… Well he pretty much misses, but Waldo sells it anyway. The phantom knee appears to knock out Von Erich as Bruno covers and gets the win in only 2:12. (The ring announcer claims 4:12, but that’s just not the case)

After the match a pissed off Bruno goes to work on Von Erich, he stomps the shit out of Waldo’s arm. The blood thirsty crowd pops for every stomp.

Notes: As you can tell, not much by way of a match, but every time I hear an old Garden crowd pop for Bruno it puts goose bumps on the back of my neck. The crowd response for Bruno was always simply AMAZING. #RIPBruno

After the footage finishes, we go back to modern day 1978 where Bruno and Vince continue to discuss the match. Bruno explains the reason for his hate for Von Erich. Waldo had busted him up with a chair and called him some apparently nasty Italian slurs and promised to send Bruno back to Italy in a casket. DAMN. Didn’t have to be all that serious. What a heel, promising murder and using racial slurs. He sure took that Nazi gimmick serious.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #4: “THE KING OF WRESTLING” ERNIE LADD (w/THE GRAND WIZARD) VS. STAN LAVDAS

Again, with Ladd technically not working full time in the territory, he’s still making his rounds at MSG so we get another taped match from the summer. This match was taped August 29th, 1978 and originally aired September 16th as part of the “Championship Wrestling” program. Referee is Dick Woehrle, Capetta is the announcer. Lavdas (proper spelling) worked a bunch for the WWWF as a curtain jerker and enhancement talent during the mid 1970s. I’d tell you to look him up in results on a certain site, but they’re too lazy to be bothered with checking their copy and paste jobs, and thus you’ll find his name spelled FOUR DIFFERENT WAYS in the SAME YEAR of results. #NoExcuse

Ladd dominates Lavdas here, smashing him into the turnbuckle, executing a real hiptoss, and working him over against the ropes. Ladd with a big boot that Lavdas sells even though it misses. Vince explains it away, saying that Lavdas tries to back away from the move but still got hit. Ladd hits his big legdrop, but he pulls Lavdas up at the 2 count. Ernie picks Lavdas up before driving his taped thumb into the throat of Stan for the win in 3:13.

Winner is Ernie Ladd

Notes: Ladd keeps it basic, doing as little as possible and keeping all of his matches at around 3:00. But he still sold tickets, so he could get away with things like that. I know Ladd and Graham both worked the taped thumb gimmick at times, but it’s odd to see them both in the territory at the same time, with the same manager, using the same gimmick.[spacer height=”20px”]

MATCH #5: DINO BRAVO VS. “CRAZY” LUKE GRAHAM (w/THE GRAND WIZARD)

It’s feature match time and as usual it seems to feature Crazy Luke. Tony Altimore is your referee. Bravo works a headlock early on while Luke tries some dirty tricks to break free. From hair pulling to a dirty rope break, Graham tries his best to take control. Dino hooks a nice spinning toe hold and another leglock, but both times Luke makes it to the ropes to escape.

Dino works an armbar on Graham. Luke tries to escape, but he telegraphs a backdrop and Dino winds up right back on top of him. Graham returns to his friend, the ropes, for another break. Graham finally gets Bravo into a headlock and he drives the taped thumb into Dino’s throat like 10 FRICKIN TIMES. Cummon Altimore! Graham continues to hammer on Dino in the corner. Luke won’t stop the onslaught or listen to referee Altimore’s plead for a break. Altimore calls for the bell and he disqualifies Graham in 7:05.

Immediately after the bell sounds Bravo goes NUTS on Graham. Dino begins nailing the shit out of Graham, sending him to the floor where they continue to brawl. Diuo is on fire as he continues to beat the piss out of Luke as they continue to fight all around the floor.

Winner is Dino Bravo by disqualification

Notes: I’ll say this much for Graham. He may not have been putting on clinics, but he sure went out and wrestled every week. This was 7 minutes of feeling out. Back then you had to know how to stall for 10 minutes to stretch out the matches on the house shows. Luke Graham had that art down pat. The only good part of this match was Dino Bravo firing up after the match.

Vince starts to announce Graham vs. WWWF Champion Bob Backlund for next week, but we can’t hear it because of the generic music being played over the original music.[spacer height=”20px”]

Closing Thoughts: This show felt slapped together. An Ernie Ladd match taped a few months back, a Bruno Sammartino matches taped 3 YEARS back, an SD Jones SQUASH, Mike Paidousis goes over??? This was just a really oddly thrown together episode. It definitely felt like they just stretched this out with whatever they could piece together. Even the Maivia & Blassie promo was nowhere near as good as the previous one. I did find the Paidousis/Masters match to be interesting given the circumstances, but everything else left a lot to be desired. Though it’s always cool to see Bruno in the Garden.

Stay tuned to the next edition of the Retro Rasslin’ Review as Mike Paidousis gets his comeuppance![spacer height=”20px”]