WWF THE BRAWL TO END IT ALL
JULY 23RD, 1984
MADISON SQAURE GARDEN
NEW YORK CITY
It's now time for the most important show in WWF history to date. With all the press surrounding Cyndi Lauper being involved combined with the boom of Hulkamania, the main event was aired on MTV and drew 9.0, and is STILL the highest viewed show in network history. So, now we dive in and brawl with the best.
Gorilla & Gene are on the call for the evening.
As stated above, only the main event was show on TV, so this is like getting to see the dark match with commentary and that's rad.
Match#1 Sika vs Ron Shaw
Fine little 3 minute squash to kick us off. Sika runs though the big man and nukes him, and the crowd fucking loves it all. Flying headbutt ends the fun.
*1/2
Match#2 The Iron Sheik w/Freddie Blassie vs Tony Garea
Sheiky gives this moron far too much to start and sells for his bad offence, before he takes over. This should have been the 3 minute squash tbh, because Tony getting anymore is a mistake. Sheik beats him with the Belly to Belly.
3/4*
Post match, Sheik gets the mic and screams Iran #1
Match#3 Tito Santana (c) vs Bob Orton (WWF Intercontiental Championship)
Woooooo. Wonderful mat work to start with Tito once again controlling the pace of it, and Bob meeting him hold for hold and really showing what he has to bring to the table. Like his son, you can tell if he cared all the time, he would be the best all the time, but it's only a sometimes thing. Still, it's a tremendous sometimes. Tito fights like hell to get the arm and the fight is amazing as Orton does whatever he can to not get caught. Bob misses a charge and hits his arm on the post and Santana finally goes after it, and the work is grea as always. Bob eventually catches him in the guts with a knee to take over, and the control seg is great. Cool strikes, mean as shit offence, and insane Tito selling of the entire beating. Bob's knees in particular are nasty and amazing as he targets the kidney and it looks like they hurt like fuck. Tito's selling is next level as you'd expect, and it hampers from fighting back for ages. Tito gets his knees up on the Vader Bomb, and then mounts a killer comeback beating the fucking tar out of Bob. It turns into a fist fight and both men have wonderful shots and even better selling. Both do everything they can to end it, but the 20 minute time limit expires.
***
Post match, they keep fighting each other and it's awesome. Give me a rematch.
Match#4 Bob Backlund vs Butcher Vachon
How the mighty have fallen. Bob gets 3 minutes to show it's really all over for our hero. Butcher doesn't bring anything to the table and Bob is only one man at the end of his rope, so not very fun at all. Crossface Chickenwing ends it.
3/4*
In the back, Gene is with Greg Valentine. Win, lose or draw, Hogan will know his wrath and power of the figure four.
We now go to Hogan with Geno. Tonight he's putting the hammer down and shutting the power down in NYC.
Match#5 Hulk Hogan (c) vs Greg Valentine (WWF World Championship)
Hell yeah. Hogan getting all these new guys to play with is wonderful, and offers all kinds of new cool stuff. Awesome pinballing and stooging from Hammer, before he hits a back suplex to drop Hogan on his head and hurts him. Hogan still fights tooth and nail, but it slows him down and lets Hammer stay in the fight the entire time. Hogan breaks out a shoulder breaker in a new one, and it's impressive as hell watching him drop Hammer with ease. Hammer shoves him into the buckles to finally take over and we get a short and fun control seg with a ton of elbows and a chair shot to the knee. Hogan makes his comeback and runs through him without selling the damage, which sucks a ton. Legdrop does it.
**3/4
Match#6 Antonio Inoki vs Charlie Fulton
What the fuck????? No, for real, what the fuck is Inoki doing working Charlie Fulton in MSG on the biggest show in company history. Wild, wild shit. Also, he's introduced as the martial arts champion of the world, and it turns out he's the WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Champion!!! He's been the champ since 1978!!! Holy shit. Anyway, 3 minute squash and it's not all that interesting because Fulton is dogshit as we've covered a ton of times, and Inoki isn't killing himself. He wins with a jumping kick to the side of Fulton's head.
1/2*
Match#7 North South Connection (c) vs Sgt Slaughter & Terry Daniels (WWF World Tag Team Championships)
Sarge throws his son to the wolves to see what he's got after months of training, and the kid goes after Dicky and works the arm very well and controls him for a time. Wooo, love to see the kids do well. Sarge gets in and has a killer back and forth with Adonis. Sarge works his arm as well and feeds him to the kid to keep up the work, and once again Daniels does well in his biggest match to date. Adrian tries to monkey flip him and Terry bounces off the ropes and lands on his feet. Fuck yeah, Terry Daniels. He owns him and Dick again, and what he lacks in everything else, he's for sure having a coming out party on this night. Sarge gets in on the action and beats them up as well, and it's good shit pals. Adonis finally trucks the kid in the face with a chop to take over, and we get another fantastic NSC control seg. Dick deadlifts the kid in a hammerlock over his back and bends the poor kid in half in an incredible moment. They keep kicking his ass, and Sarge gets mad and the ref has to keep shoving him out of the ring, so the beating the gets worse as a result. Sarge finally get the hot tag and goes insane on them. He gets Dick in the Clutch, but Adonis knees him in the back of the head and knocks him loopy, and the kid tags back in far too soon as he's hurt as well. Sarge gets pushed out, and NSC kill Terry with the fucking Death Sentence to win.
***1/4
In the back, Gene is with Lou Albano & Moolah. Lou states she can never be beaten and she is above reproach. LMAO FUCK OFF AND DIE. She says words and i will not.
Match#8 The Fabulous Moolah (c) w/Lou Albano vs Wendi Richter w/Cyndi Lauper (WWF Women's Championship)
So, Moolah has been champion for like 100 years at this point, but she never defends it ever because she's the worst. So, this is a way of bringing it back and pushing Wendi to the moon now that Cyndi is here. The title itself is pretty much never used outside of maybe 4 times during this run, but i'll add the title to the list because it's a thing until it's not a thing anymore. Oh, the match? Yeah, Moolah is terrible on top of everything else we know, and Wendi is ok but very raw at this point, so not a good mix. Bad control seg from FM with lazy choking and bad strikes, and i can't tell if she's trying to ruin the moment (more than likely) or if she sucks (also true). Cyndi helps turns the tide by bashing her in the head with a wrapped towel, and Wendi has a good comeback. Moolah hits a bad German pins Wendi, but her shoulders are down and Wendi gets her's up, so we've got a new champ under some real classic horseshit
*
Post match, Moolah attacks the ref and freaks out because she has to make it about her. Albano drags her off as Cyndi and Wendi celebrate a moment in time.
In the back, Gene is with the faces. They're very happy and whatnot, and Cyndi demands Lou say sorry for everything he did. Slaughter walks on and congratulates them and gives Cyndi a massive bearhug. Hogan walks in says nice things. Albano storms in angry and mad, and security drag him off. Hogan jacks the camera and cuts a promo about Wendi being the new Monroe of wrestling, and then he hugs her.
Awesome show
