Donnie watches WWF 1983

[BigVanDonnie]

Our first true full year of TV and live events, so buckle up for another incredibly important year for WWF and pro wrestling as a whole, BROTHER.

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Pedro Morales -Since 23/11/81
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
January 1st, 1983
Allentown, PA

Tonight. Stevens vs Hennig

Match#1 Ray Stevens w/Freddie Blassie vs Curt Hennig
YES. Crippler gives the kid a ton and bumps huge for him, and it's such a great change of pace of most the old wrestlers not doing shit to help. Just a really selfless thing. He takes a nasty dropkick to the floor and dies for him a ton, and it's wonderful as hell. Hennig knocks him back with a knee to the chest and then runs full force at him, BUT STEVENS DUCKS AND HENNIG FLIES THROUGH THE ROPES AND HIS HEAD CATCHES BETWEEN THE TOP AND MIDDLE ROPE AND HE STUCK THERE, AND RAY STRANGLES HIM! BY PULLING HIS BODY DOWN!! He gets him out and pins off of that. Holy fuck, what a match.
***

Match#2 Jimmy Snuka w/Buddy Rodgers vs Tito Zeeza
Snuka gets dominated by the jobber for a while and he looks like a complete loser, and it's nuts this was ever allowed given how big of a star he is. Jimmy fights back and wins with the Superfly Splash.
1/2*

Post match, the jobber is taken out on a gurney, but the damage is done to Snuka.

Coming from that, Vince interviews Jimmy about helping him get away with murder.

Match#3 Buddy Rose w/Grand Wizard vs Barry Hart
The fans chant "FAT BOY" at Buddy, so he does a handstand and some one handed push ups as a fuck you. The best. Awesome squash as always from Buddy, and Barry being our jobber is even better for him. Rose wins with the Black Hole Slam Backbreaker
**

Post match, Buddy gets on the mic and screams he isn't a fat boy.

Match#4 Tiger Mask vs Mr Saito
Sadly, TM doesn't squash him in 10 seconds, instead he has to sell and bump for this asshole until he finally goes nuts with a sick planca that brings the entire crowd to its feet in a wonderful moment in time. TM keeps doing cool shit and making Saito look the fool, and he beats him with a sunset flip.
**

Match#5 Superstar Billy Graham vs Miguel Soto
R.I.P

Match#6 The Wild Samoans w/Lou Alabno vs Tony Rico & Eddie Carson
The boys pick up right where they left off with another feel good murder squash. Might be my favourite part of the show for the next year unless someone else can reach this level of fun on a weekly basis. Samoan Drop does the deed.
**

Match#7 Mr Fuji vs Bob Bradley
Wild to think how much i look forward to Fuji becoming a manager because it means all my favourites are coming along with him, but goddam do i hate watching him wrestle. Horrible Vader Bomb ends it
poop

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Pedro Morales -Since 23/11/81
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
January 8th, 1982
Allentown, PA

Match#1 Eddie Gilbert & Tony Garea vs Charlie Fulton & Tony Russo
Goddamn it, the leech is back to his old tricks again. Pat tries to say they have the same style, which lol no. This isn't actually very good because they work far too even for too long, and Eddie never gets too cook. Gilbert wins with a monkey flip.
1/2*

Match#2 Ed Wiskowski w/Freddie Blassie vs Barry Hart
Colonel DeBeers is here to fight a white dude in a weird change of pace, but i guess he hasn't moved to South Africa and forgot he's fucking Polish. Good squash though, as he's good roughhouse type wrestler who really knows how to beat the piss out of someone. He wins with a proto Sharpshooter.
*3/4

Match#3 Pedro Morales vs Sammy Sanders
Bad stuff from Pedro as always, but this nightmare is a few weeks away from being over. Crab does it
1/2*

Match#4 Don Muarco w/Lou Albano vs Jerry O
Don has another fun one for a few minutes, and i can't wait for this year to see how much better he's going to get. He wins with a Gordbuster this week, which is rad.
**



Match#5 Ray Stevens & Buddy Rose vs SD Jones & Pete Sanchez
OH MY FUCKING GOD. The fellas bump huge for these loser before turning it on and schooling them in awesome fashion. Only 2 minutes so not what it could but, but still very good. Buddy wins with his running powerslam
*34

Before his match, another fan fails to slam Studd.

Match#6 Big John Studd vs Tony Rico
Studd's improvement continues with a super mean squash this time. He batters the kid and slams him into the ringpost in a real brutal moment. He keeps fucking him up and wins with the Canadian Backbreaker.
**

Match#7 Superstar Bily Graham vs Curt Hennig
Not good at all, and his passing isn't going to change how bad he got during this period. Just a dude who went too long and paid for it. bearhug ends it
1/2*

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Pedro Morales -Since 23/11/81
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
January 15th, 1983
Allentown, PA

Match#1 Jonny Rodz vs Salvatore Bellomo
JIP, sadly. Rodz is controlling him when he join and it's another great piece of work from him as always. Sal survives it all and hits his reverse crossbody off the top to win.
3/4*

Match#2 Ray Stevens & Buddy Rose vs Curt Hennig & Jerry O
Nice to see it wasn't just a one week deal, and this might be a long term deal. Hennig/Rose is fucking awesome, and i need a singles match between them. Rose takes a series of crazy bumps for him, and is once again really giving with other wrestlers. O isn't very good when he gets a chance, but he doesn't hurt it, so it's cool. Buddy cuts him off and hits the Backbreaker slam to win.
**

Match#3 Rocky Johnson vs. Tony Russo
More bad stuff from Luke Hobbs' father. Just a dirtbag of a wrestler, and someone i can't stand despite after seeing him stink the place up time and time again. Sunset flip does it.
CGI Mummy Returns

Match#4 Mr Fuji w/Lou Albano vs Eddie Carson.
Fuji wins in 45 seconds with a running flying elbow.
poop

Match#5 Eddie Gilbert & Tony Garea vs. Frank Williams & Mac Rivera
Fine enough showcase for Gilbert (and the fuck, i guess). Eddie does good work on both ends and takes it with a sunset flip.
*1/2

Match#6 The Wild Samoans vs Tony Rico & Pete Sanchez,
The boys get 4 minutes this week to do it, and my goodness it is fun as hell. Not a wasted second on anything bad, just a kick ass murder fest. Samoan Drop gets it.
**

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Pedro Morales -Since 23/11/81
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
January 22nd, 1982
Allentown, PA

Match#1 Ed Wiskowski w/Freddie Blassie vs Charlie Brown
More good stuff for the future South African leader. Nothing fancy or cool, just an old school mean beating. Also, pretty nuts Brown was able to use that name, but somehow he kept it. Sharpshooter ends it
*3/4

Match#2 The Strongbow Brothers vs Tony Colon & Johnny Rodz
No need to do Rodz like this, but the WWF is evil at the end of the day. Horrible shit from these goons, and i need the Samoans to kill them. Thez Press gets it.
1/2*

This week, Bob Bradley tries and fails to slam Studd.

Match#3 Big John Studd w/Freddie Blassie vs Barry Hart
Studd hits a NASTY lariat to the head and neck and absolutely beats the fuck out of Barry, and holy shit we can now call him "VERY GOOD". Incredible beating from the big man, and it's what all big dudes should aspire to work like. Canadian Backbreaker finally ends Barry's night.
**14

They replay the Fuji/Hennig squash from last year for some reason.

Match#4 Don Muarco w/Lou Albano vs Tony Rico
Don gets a few minutes this week and makes the most of it with a great showcase for himself. He catches Rico running off the ropes and slams him down hard as hell and that's enough for 3.
**

Match#5 Jimmy Snuka w/Buddy Rodgers vs Tony Russo
Good showcase for the murderer this week. Superfly splash gets it.
*

Match#6 Rocky Johnson vs Frank Willams
Ah fuck, not again. He gets 3 minutes to really hurt me, and i hate everything.
Black Adam 2

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Pedro Morales -Since 23/11/81
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF MADISON SQAURE GARDEN
JANUARY 22ND, 1982

We open the show with Backlund doing a PSA on kids needing to wrestle and not touch bad vices because they're wrong. He wants to teach them to battle to the very end, and he's going out fighting if this is the end of his reign against Studd.

We now go to Studd and Blassie. John says Backlund needs more times with the kids to help them, so he's going to rip the belt from his waist and give him all the time in the world to do just that He puts up 6 grand if Bob can slam him tonight.

We now go to footage of the last Muarco/Pedro match that has lead us er match.

We go to an interview with Don and Vince. Muarco talks about the injures he suffered in the last match, and he and Pedro hate each other for reasons neither man seems to really know. He talks about their being only room for one at the top and Pedro has been there a long time, but he took the very best Pedro had to offer and he came out looking better than ever. He'll keep getting right back up because he feels hate and he needs that hate. HE SCREAMS THAT WHEN EVERYONE FROM THE REFS TO THE FANS DON'T LIKE HIM, HE CAN AND WILL BE AS BAD AS NEEDS TO BE. Goddamn, the best promo he's ever cut.

Match#1 Johnny Rodz vs Pete Sanchez.
RODZ GETS A SHOWCASE. GOD IS REAL. Real good basics from Rodz for a while, and it's not all that great or anything, it's just a rad thing to see him get on MSG. Rodz gets a deep cradle to win.
*3/4

Match#2 Mikel Scicluna vs SD Jones.
HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH NOT A CHANCE

Match#3 Superstar Billy Graham vs Swede Hansen
The fuck??? I wanted to skip this, but i have fans that need to know about matches like this. Horrible striking from both men which in turn leads to horrible selling and bumps from both. Just a terrible piece of shit. SBG hits a bad punch to the throat to win.
1/2*

Match#4 Pedro Morales (c) vs Don Muraco (WWF Intercontinental Championship)
Don jumps him to start and a killer fight breaks out, and it's one of those matches!!! Pedro whips him with the title and belts the crap out of him, and Muarco takes another series of wild bumps for a man as big as him. His torn shirt is stuck on his arm throughout the beating and it adds something really cool to the entire thing. Pedro continues to beat his ass, and Maurco faceplants off the apron to the concrete. Fucking hell, dude. Muarco finally kicks him the dick to get him to stop, and it's another perfect little moment that more heels should do. Nothing fancy or cool, just a good old punt to the nuts. He targets the knee and does some tremendous work on it, being both awesome and mean as hell. He just nukes it over and over, and Pedro sells it really because he cares tonight. Pedro manages to kick him off and send him shoulder first into the post, so now they're both hurt. Super fun comeback for the old for once, and even more so because he keeps selling the leg. He locks in the crab but the pain is too much and he has to let it go. PEDRO TRIES TO SLAM BUT HIS KNEE BUCKLES AND MUARCO LANDS ON TOP AND HE GETS THE 3. WE FINALLY HAVE A NEW CHAMPION. FUCK YES.
***1/4

Post match, Pedro is fucked up and has to be helped out of the ring. Kudos to doing everything he can to help further Muraco

Match#5 The Wild Samoans w/Lou Albano vs Tony Garea & Eddie Gilbert.
Gets 10 minutes because this card is super weird tonight, but i won't say no to more of these 3. The faces do a well enough job of slowing things down and working the arm of one of them when they get a chance (for real, i can only tell which is which when the Samoan Drop is hit by Afa) but it's only good for so long, and once they're free, the faces get rightly mauled. Good shit from the monsters as always, and Gilbert takes a great beating. Garea gets a bad hot tag, but thankfully gets clubbed in the back by one of them and that's enough to pin this complete loser.
**

Match#6 Ray Stevens vs Jules Strongbow
Jules isn't as bad as his shitty fake brothers, but he's bad enough. Stevens puts on a cool one man show for him with some huge bumps, and even gets a bit of a blade job on the top of his head. No need to do that for such a loser match, but i can't not love him for doing it. He survives all the bad offence and wins with a piledriver.
*3/4

Match#7 Bob Backlund (c) vs Big John Studd (WWF World Championship)
Only 7 minutes, but it's rad as hell. Backlund goes right after him because he's a fucking nutcase and knows no other way but through, but Studd is able to manhandle him and fuck his day up. Studd's improvement is in full force with some wonderful strikes that look so much better than a few weeks ago. He gets the bearhug on and works well, but it's Backlund that puts it over the top with some great facial sells and fun attempted comebacks. Bob kicks out of the Canadian Backbreaker in a first, and when Studd goes for the second, he kicks his feet over the ropes and flips himself over to land on his feet, and he quickly slams him over and hooks the legs to the the 3!!!! Fuck it, that was a blast.
***

Post match, Studd doesn't realise it and gets him back up for another and when the ref stops him, he thinks he's won, but Backlund is announced the winner and the big is man is furious. Vince actually sides with Sudd and thinks there wasn't a 3 and that Studd's shoulder was up, so Studd is champ. Love that even the good guy is actually on the bad dudes side with this.

Match#8 Jimmy Snuka vs Buddy Rose.
Really weird they haven't run the Snuka/Stevens blood feud, and i can't think of a logical reason as to why they haven't. Rose is a great dude to be in this spot, but it's jarring nonetheless. Rose actually takes over very quickly and beats the shit out of the soon to be killer. Really fun work as always as he's always doing something cool or interesting. Helps that Snuka takes some wild bumps and goes out of his way to do a lot for Rose. Snuka makes a quick but fun comeback and wins with the Superfly Splash.
**3/4

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

Just need the tag titles on better wrestlers and the champions list is sweet.

WWF Championship Wrestling
January 29th, 1983
Allentown, PA

Match#1 Ivan Koloff vs Pete Sanchez.
UNCLE IVAN. He's pretty washed at this point, but the mind is still there and the basics are good, so way better than the other old fucks. He spins Sanchez around and jumps off the top rope with his knee into the jobbers back, and that's that.
*

PRE TAPES FOR MSG 18/2/83
Muarco will face Backlund for the world title (MOTY right there). He says he beat Pedro when no one else could do it. Yeah, he spent half the match getting beaten badly, but he did it with blood and sweat, and he's coming just as hard for Bob Backlund.
The Wild Samoans will face Andre & Snuka. Lou says there ain't a brain between those losers and this will be the easiest victory of their lives.

This week, Perfect tries and fails to slam Studd. Must have thrown it because he's perfect.

Match#2 Big John Studd wFreddie Blassie vs Mack Rivera
Awesome stuff from the big man. Great clubbing and slams, and this man is now very, very good. Backbreaker gets it done.
**

They replay Muraco's win in full.

They weirdly replay Koloff/Sanchez.

Match#3 Ray Stevens vs SD Jones
Fun Crippler squash as always. He targets SD's knee and has some wonderful work on it, and then wins with a gross hot shot.
*3/4

Rodgers Corner with Muarco & Albano. Muarco again says he took a hell of a beating but he came out on top when it mattered. Rodgers ends the interview quick like a real bitch.

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
February 5th, 1983
Allentown, PA

Match#1 Ray Stevens vs Tony Garea
Gets nearly 10 minutes and it's a lot of Garea dominating. He's in no way interesting as we know, and he proves this by working a headlock for a few minutes to start. Just a boring shitbag. Stevens is awesome though and does a good job of carrying for most of it. They end up fighting on the outside and get counted out.
*3/4

Match#2 Rocky Johnson vs Johnny Rodz
Another good carry job from Rodz, although i wish he would dog it for once. Rocky is a bum as we know, but Johnny just knows how to make all his bullshit look somewhat decent or good. Sheer talent is a hell of a thing, man. Rocky wins with his terrible sunset flip.
*

Match#3 Ivan Koloff w/Freddie Blassie vs Jeff Craney
Another good one for Uncle Ivan. Again, he's not doing anything fancy or cool, it;'s just the basics done really well. He wins with the knee to the back.
*

Match#4 Mr Fuji w/Lou Albano vs Barry Hart
Fuji wins in 20 seconds with the running elbow.
Poop.

Rodgers' Corner with John Studd. Studd says he is a giving man with the money he puts up for someone to earn it, but he knows he could put up 100K and no one would ever slam him. i love this story so much because you just know that a babyface is going to take him up on the challenge, but little do we know it's going to be an actual giant.

Match#5 SD Jones vs Bob Bradley
thankfully only 40 seconds. SD wins with a bad spinning neckbreaker.
1/2*

Match#6 The Wild Samoans vs Eddie Gilbert & Curt Hennig
OH MY GOD. Wonderful opening from the faces with all that fire and some insane bumps from the Samoans. The monsters quickly take over on Curt and it's another fantastic control seg. In an awesome twist, Afa beats him with the Samoan Drop before a faux hot tag can ever happen.
**

Match#7 Jimmy Snuka vs Charlie Fulton
Bad squash this week as Fulton gets a ton of offence and we know he sucks, so it's a bad idea on top of making Jimmy look like shit. Splash ends it after a quick comeback.
1/2*

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
February 12th 1983
Allentown, PA

Match#1 Ray Stevens vs Chico Rodriguez
Again, i just write the names as they appear, don't yell at me. Awesome squash from the crippler, and after a few months away from this review it's a damn welcome sight to see. Just a mean old prick beating the shit out of some poor kid. He hits two nasty running powerslams to win
**

Match#2 The Strongbow Brothers vs Charlie Fulton & Bob Bradley
fuck off

Match#3 Ivan Koloff w/Freddie Blassie vs Curt Hennig
Baby Perfect is tasked with getting something out of uncle Ivan, and he does the best he can with this very old washed man. He bumps like a freak for all Ivan's boring basic shit, and it's way better than it has any right to be given the time period. Ivan wins with his terrible falling knee to the back
*34

Match#4 Buddy Rose w/Grand Wizard vs Barry Hart
Good shit from Buddy this week. Barry gets some token offence and he looks great before Buddy shuts him down and beats his ass. Rose wins with the backbreaker
**

Rodgers Corner; this week Gorilla Monsoon is the guest. He cuts a terrible promo about Studd and accepts the body slam challenge for next week.

Back in the ring, SD Jones tries and fails to slam Studd.

Match#5 Big John Studd vs George Rosalie & Jeff Craney
Sadly only 90 seconds this week, but still a fun murder from the big man. He beats one of them with the backbreaker
*

Match#6 Don Muarco w/Lou Albano vs SD Jones
REAL smart on SD's part to try and slam Studd before a match with the champ. Fucking asshole. This goes nearly 5 minutes in a really horrible idea given how bad SD actually is, and given Don can really only do so much with this bum. To prove my point, Don wins when he drags SD down into a loose looking cradle. Really made SD look like complete shit, which is awesome.
1/2*

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF MADISON SQAURE GARDEN
FEBRUARY 18th, 1983

Bob Backlund (c) vs Don Muraco (WWF World Championship)
OH MY FUCKING GOD YES. Really fun back and forth to start and our guy Bob grabs an early headlock and grinds Don down for a while. As always, it's not the most exciting move in the world but with Bob as the helm it's interesting watching him choke a guy and pull funny facials as he's happiest killing humans. Muraco drops him with a gross back suplex to take over and he targets the ribs and back, and Gorilla suspects the suplex took the wind out of Bob and this is the best way to keep him down. Maybe the only good Gorilla call ever until Mania 3. Don stays on him and beats the crap out of him, and Bob sells and bumps like crazy. Really sad to think we're nearly done with Backlund for a decade. (and given how slow i review, i won't see him for another decade irl) Backlund gets his knees up when Don tries a splash and now both men's ribs are cooked, and we get some wonderful selling from both men. Bob mounts a comeback and goes after the shoulder and it's cool and mean as hell, and Don's selling is tremendous. The ref gets too close and Backlund shoves him on instict and gets DQ. Terrible ending, but i get it.
**3/4

Post match, Don says this was all part of the plan because they knew Bob couldn't handle the pressure and would snap and mess it all up. Don says he had him, and that was for Albano. NEVER MIND THAT SHIT, BACKLUND RUSHES HIM AND BEATS THE FUCK OUT OF HIM UNTIL A BUNCH OF WRESTLERS DRAG HIM OFF BEFORE HE CAN CUT DON'S THROAT.

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
February 19th, 1983
Allentown, PA

Match#1 Eddie Gilbert & Tony Garea vs Johnny Rodz & Tony Morello
Praying for the day when Garea is used for jobber duty and we can finally be rid of this fucking cunt. Nice to see Hot Stuff as always, but i'm mad, ya know. Decent showcase for the faces, but nothing out of this world because Garea sucks.
1/2*

Match#2 Don Muarco w/Lou Albano vs Dan Ferris
Don beats the piss out of this poor kid and it's brutal as shit. Loads of gross work to the neck for 2 minutes or so, and then he kills him with the Tombstone to win
**

Match#3 Iron Mike Sharpe w/Lou Albano vs Curt Hennig
One of the best jobbers ever makes his debut, and this review just became a lot cooler and cleaner. Sharpe had shown characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder, as evidenced by a preoccupation with cleanliness that caused him to spend hours washing his hands or showering at arenas and meticulously folding and re-folding his clothing. According to Cappetta, Sharpe's behavior earned him the nickname "Mr. Clean" among his co-workers. Awesome work from Sharpe as he attacks the kid right from the bell and just mauls him in killer fashion. Sharpe wins with a gross forearm to the head.
**

Match#4 Ivan Koloff vs Gary Diamond
Bad squash from the old man, but that's to be expected. Knee to the back does it.
1/2*

Match#5 Rocky Johnson vs...
NO

To close the show, Gorilla tries and fails to slam Studd.

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
February 26th, 1983
Hamburg, PA

Match#1 Ray Stevens w/Classie Freddie Blassie vs Pete Sanchez
Pete goes for the arm right away and gets in a lot of offence for a while before Crippler shuts him down and goes to work. He throws some nasty boots and elbows and it's a super fun old man beating. Sanchez tries a hail mary crossbody, but Stevens rolls through and grabs the tights to win.
**

Match#2 Johnny Rodz vs Chico Rodrigez
Our hero gets more TV time, hell yeah. Again, he should be pushed to the moon, but life sucks. He beats Chico's ass and it's great. He wins with a running elbow to the chest.
*3/4

Match#3 Eddie Gilbert vs Jose Estrada
Jose has a bandage over his kidney, so i assume he was stabbed by Jesus in a nightclub. This is a killer 3 minute sprint as they go nuts on each other and do everything to end it. Gilbert has the speed and does well, but Jose catches him with a gross knee and beats his ass. He hits a vertical suplex and looks to a have it won, but Gilbert hooks his legs into a cradle and steals the win
**

Rodgers Corner w/ Muarco & Albano. buddy says he's working on Rocky Johnson getting a title match, and Don rightly calls bullshit on Buddy making matches. Don says he has proven himself to be the finest wrestler in the world, and Rocky isn't fit to carry his bags as he hasn't worked his way up. Rocky walks on and grabs the mic, and well, he's not his son at all. He cuts a really bad promo challenging him to a match next week, and shockingly Don accepts.

In the ring, Studd and Blassie are standing by for another body slam challenge. The ring announcer sees Jay Strongbow standing at the entrence and assumes it's him, BUT INSTEAD ADNRE THE FUCKING GIANT WALKS OUT AND STUDD FLIPS HIS SHIT. OH FUCK. The crowd loses it, and it's one of the coolest things in this project thus far (i'll retract that after they're still feuding in 86) but you get my point. Blassie tries to talk Studd out of it, and Patterson says they're scared to death because they know this might just be it. Andre lifts Studd, BUT BLASSIE GRABS ONTO STUDD AND STOPS ANDRE FROM SLAMMING HIM. ANDRE DROPS STUDD AND GOES AFTER FREDDY, BUT STUDD ATTACKS FROM BEHIND. ANDRE HOLDS HIS OWN AND CLEARS THE RING AND STANDS TALL

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
March 5th, 1983
Hamburg, PA

TONIGHT. MUARCO VS JOHNSON

Match#1 Ivan Koloff w/Classie Freddie Blassie vs Miguel Feliciano
Horrible old man match. Really can't wait for Ivan to fuck off to JCP and hang out with his nephew, because this shit is dire. Knee to the back does.
1/2*

Match#2 The Strongbow Brothers vs Johnny Rodz & Bob Bradley
oh fuck you. Nearly 8 minutes for some peak horror in this spooky month. Bradley is beaten by a sleeper, and i would like to sleep now.
The needle pit from Saw 2

Match#3 Iron Mike Sharpe vs Barry Hart
God yes. Sharpe is your classic clubbing monster with lots of gross shots to the back and neck, and i'm a sucker for it when it's done right. Thankfully, Mike rules a ton, so this is a lot of fun. Sharpe ties Barry's head in the ropes and tees off and it's mean and violent as shit, and bless Barry for taking it all. Sharpe kills him with a nasty running elbow to the face.
**

For some reason they replay Fuji squashing Perfect from a few weeks ago.

Rodgers Corner; Ivan Koloff is the guest. America sucks, Russia #1. The normal bullshit.

Match#4 Eddie Gilbert & Tony Garea vs Swede Hansen & Mack Stevens
Very bad as always. Just want Eddie in cool matches, man. Faces win.
1/2*

Match#5 Don Muarco (c) w/Lou Albano vs Rocky Johnson (WWF Intercontinental Championship)
Don jumps Rocky before the bell and whips his ass as he damn well should. Rocky's selling complete trash as he bumps and flays around like a little kid pretending to be a wrestler, and not an actual wrestler. Don is amazing though and more than makes up for it. Rocky has a terrible comeback, but Muarco bumps like a nutcase and makes everything look like gold. Rocky gets on an actual awesome looking abdominal stretch and MUARCO TAPS. WHAT THE FUCK.
**1/4

At ringside, Patterson says Johnson is the new champion , but the title was never on the line, so what the fuck. Vince says Albano got into the ring at the same time that Muraco quit and that could affect the outcome. Guessing that's how they're going to get out of this, but still a wild thing to see in 83 when everyone is so protective of themselves when it comes to winning and losing.

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
March 12th, 1983
Hamburg, PA

Match#1 Don Muarco vs SD Jones
Don still has the IC title, and the commentators make no mention of the match with Rocky, so i guess it never happened. Like always when Don is tasked with this sack of shit, he does his best to get anything out of him for a few minutes. Really sad how bad SD actually is, and yet they keep giving him chances despite being this bad. Don wins with a powerslam because SD isn't worth anything else. lol
*

Match#2 Iron Mike Sharpe w/Lou Albano vs Pete Sanchez
Another super fun one for the Iron man. Loads of great clubbing and mean offence, and you can't ask for anything else. Forarm ends it
*3/4

Post match, we cut away to Patterson interviewing Sharpe and Albano. Pat demands to know why Sharpe has a cast over his arm, and Sharpe loses it and says he has the DR's permission to wear it. He wins matches and he wants some competition NOW, or he's leaving.

The file jumps around a bit and we catch the replay of Pedro winning a squash.

Match#3 Rocky Johnson vs Charlie Fulton
Vince says Rocky was "robbed last week" so i'm now assuming that Albano caused the DQ, but Vince never bothers to explain it. Bad squash as always from Rocky, so maybe it's a good thing we never mention it again. he wins with a couple of bad dropkicks
Black Adam

Rodgers Corner w/ Rocky Johnson. Buddy says Rocky should be champion right now, and Rocky agrees and says he made him quit last week and he feels he should be champion. He wants another chance. No thanks.

Match#4 Big John Studd w/Freddie Blassie vs Bob Bradley
Vince says the body slam challenge has been suspended because there aren't any worthy challengers. The fans shout for Andre, and it pisses Studd off and he murders the kid. He slams him into the ring post and bashes the hell out of him in amazing fashion. Backbreaker ends it.
**

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF World Champion; Bob Backlund- Since 20/2/78
WWF Intercontinental Champion; Don Muarco-22/1/83
WWF Tag Team Champions; The Strongbow Brothers-Since 6/11/82

WWF Championship Wrestling
March 19th, 1983
Hamburg, PA.

Tonight; The Strongbows vs The Wild Samoans for the WWF Tag Titles

Match#1 Salvator Bellomo vs Israel Matia
Nice to see Sal back on TV after dealing with SD and Rocky for the last few shows. He's moving a lot better and throws an awesome dropkick right to the back of the jobbers head, and uses some cool ammeter takedowns. He wins with another sweet dropkick.
*3/4

Match#2 Big John Studd w/Freddie Blassie vs Andrew Moore
A fan has a "BIG JOHN DUDD" Sign in a wonderful got em moment. John does his thing and fucks another jobbers life up by slamming him into the post and just bashing his head in. Backbreaker ends it.
*3/4

Before Snuka's match, Albano walks out and joins the jobber's corner to manage him, so Snuka storms off to the back and brings Andre out as his second. ANDRE GETS IN THE RING AND HEADBUTTS ALBANO AND KNOCKS HIM OUT OF THE RING. FUCK YEAH. LOU RUNS FOR IT AND ANDRE CHASES HIM TO THE BACK.

Match#3 Jimmy Snuka vs Tony Russo
Snuka kills the kid with a chop, a headbutt and the splash in about 20 seconds.
1/2*

Post match, the jobber is carted off on a stretcher. Weird thing to do for a babyface, but given what we know about Snuka, it makes sense.

Match#4 Swede Hansen vs Barry O
Bad shit from this old man. Backbreaker does it
1/2*

Match#5 The Strongbow Brothers (c) vs The Wild Samoans (WWF Tag Team Championships)
After a year of one of the worst title reigns ever, we finally end this nightmare. It's not a good match as the monsters can only do so much to make it even passable, but bless them for trying. Say what you will about Vince's love of the Anoa'i family for the last 40+ years, but at least they rule most of the time and can be trusted to actually do their jobs well unlike these fucking assholes. Jay Strongfake looks near death the entire time, and he outright refuses to bump for anything, so it's up to his less crappy, but still awful brother to take a beating. Jay gets thrown out and he takes the lamest and safest bump to the outside, and Jules is hit with the Samoan Drop and the horror is finally over.
3/4*

Post match, Jay stops selling and confronts his shitty brother with a hug and undercuts the Samoans big win. Just pure trash all around.

 

[BigVanDonnie]

WWF MADISON SQAURE GARDEN
MARCH 20TH, 1983

Bob Backlund (c) vs Don Muraco (WWF World Championship-Texas Deathmatch)
Gorilla explains that stip was made after Backlund went nuts last month and this is the only way WWF would agree to run it again. Amazing details that help sell the entire thing. Bob grabs a headlock right away and wears Don down, and it's a cool thing as you can look at it as Bob trying to keep it on the mat so he's not tempted to turn it into a fight and get drawn into something he might not be able to get out of. Muraco fights like hell to get out time and time again, including when he tries to climb up the ropes, but Bob yanks him all the way down and keeps holding it in a really awesome moment. Don finally low blows him to get him off and Backlund has one of the best sells of getting hit in the dick ever as he looks like he's about to cry and shakes all over the mat. Don takes over and drops him throat first on the rail and kicks the fuck out of him in revenge. They fight on the outside and Backlund manages to shove Don head first into the post, AND HE DOES IT AGAIN AND BUSTS HIM OPEN. HE DROPS HIM OVER A RAIL IN REVENGE AND DON'S ENTIRE HEAD IS COVERED IN BLOOD AND BOB FINALLY SNAPS AND BEATS THE FUCKING HELL OUT OF HIM. He drags him back into the ring and attacks the cut with punches and boots and it's nasty as hell. He keeps it up and nails a sick German Suplex and finally pins Don.
***