by Liam Byrne
The camera focuses on Koko Ware as Norvell Austin is announced, but it is definitely Austin who is in action against Skip Young, though he does take his time to get his jacket off. Ware stays at ringside as the match begins with some collar and elbow tie ups before a floatover, a back body drop and a dropkick sees Young send Austin to ringside. The fans are chanting ‘Go, Skip, Go’, much to the chagrin of Austin, and it is Young who takes things to the canvas with a side headlock takedown following a right hand to the face. As it looks like Young is trying to pick up momentum, he jumps into the arms of Austin and gets dropped throat first across the top rope.
Austin’s beatdown begins methodically as he uses his knee in the corner, drops a knee and hits an elbowdrop for one. Austin sends Young to ringside, but with the referee watching, Ware has no chance to get involved, though he does end up throwing Young back into the ring. Austin lands a back elbow and a shoulderbreaker, but is taking his time in capitalising. Young attempts to fight back from the canvas, but has no success before a dropkick sends him back to ringside. Austin dances for the fans to showcase his arrogance, yet things don’t change much when Young returns to the ring as the Pretty Young Thing lands an atomic drop and a backbreaker. Pulling him up at two, Austin lands another backbreaker and heads to the top, only for a crossbody to see Young roll through and get the three out of nowhere. Ware is in almost the second the three count is finished as there is a two on one beatdown that only stops with the arrival of a second referee. Whilst this is a decent enough contest, Young doesn’t exactly look strong considering how little offense he picked up against Austin, especially when he is being positioned as one of the big new babyface wrestlers.
Main event time as Killer Khan and Scott Irwin take on Kevin Von Erich and Chris Adams, with Irwin and Von Erich starting the contest for their respective teams. An early dropkick by the hometown boy elicits a cheer from the crowd, as does a second one and an armdrag takeover. Holding onto the arm, Von Erich allows Adams to tag in behind his back and land a double axehandle to the limb, but the moment Khan heads into the ring, Von Erich tags back in to confront him. The Mongolian wants nothing to do with Von Erich though, tagging straight back out. That only causes Irwin more problems as he gets trapped in the Adams/Von Erich corner, with the two continuing to work the arm.
Adams ends up getting caught by a big boot as he charged into the corner, allowing Irwin to tag out to Khan who begins to brutalise the Brit. Now, Khan is happy to take on Von Erich, sending Adams into the corner and beckoning in Kevin with his index finger. The two begin to brawl, with Von Erich getting the better of it, only for the tape to skip to Irwin beating down on Von Erich instead – this is from the WWE Network and is clearly not quite in its full glory. Khan is back in and gets a two count off of a backbreaker, whilst an Irwin dropkick that follows almost sends Von Erich into the face corner; a front facelock just halts the potential tag, though the resulting Von Erich suplex allows Adams to come in like a house on fire. That is until he misses a kick on Irwin, who hits an elbowdrop to the back before Khan nails him with a piledriver. This isn’t as effective as you might expect, though it does allow the heels to continue to double team Adams up until a missed Oriental Spike attempt sees him roll to the corner and tag out.
Von Erich is wiping out everything that moves, before a double dropkick alongside Adams sends Khan to the mat. Oddly, Adams is now in again and is back in trouble with a Khan thumb to the throat. Irwin then hits a kneedrop, but misses a legdrop. Khan’s decision to come into the ring to stop Adams heading towards Von Erich brings all four men into the ring. With the referee distracted and Khan in the iron claw, Adams initially gets dropped throat first on the top rope by Akbar, but as Irwin sets up for a superplex, Hart punches him off the top which allows Adams to hit a crossbody for the victory. Akbar does get his own back as he briefly takes the fight to Hart in the ring, whilst Hart gets his own back with several punches after Adams gets involved. A high octane main event which does a nice job of developing the Hart/Akbar situation, even if some of the transitions between the heel and face teams made little sense.
This is a show that feels like it has a lot of the composite parts right, but just doesn’t really do much overall. Outside of a poor Bill Irwin squash, everything is fine, yet should have been significantly better considering the people involved.
WWF Championship Wrestling 30.9.84
We end this section of the book with one of the bigger matches we’ve had a chance to see across all the promotions – Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon announce in the rundown of the show that we will see Roddy Piper versus Jimmy Snuka from Madison Square Garden. Also scheduled on the show are Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid and Kamala as we continue to get new wrestlers turning up in the Federation.
However, it is a stalwart of the promotion who starts us off as Sergeant Slaughter meets Carl Fury. Slaughter takes his time getting in the ring as he spends a couple of minutes among the fans at ringside. Slaughter powers Fury back into the turnbuckle from a collar and elbow tie up, following up with a slam that effectively showcases his power. A charge into the corner sees Slaughter hit a running elbow; a charge from Fury is then met by a big boot from the Sarge. The cobra clutch follows a second rope clothesline and the match is over within mere minutes. Slaughter usually gives a little more to his opponents in these settings, but it is definitely a popular appearance and result.
The WWF update this week sees Lord Alfred Hayes talk about the WWF Tag Team Champions, Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis. They’ve held the titles for a while, but as well as being tough in the ring, they are just as strong outside of the ring. Hayes throws to footage of Murdoch wrestling a bull to the ground on his ranch, before Hayes finishes the segment by reading a quote from WWF Magazine that states the champions don’t have a finisher, they just use a range of moves to try and cripple their opponents.
Kamala is up next; Jose Luis Rivera is the sacrificial lamb. Rivera manages to avoid Kamala a couple of times, only to end up backing into the corner and receiving two big chops for his troubles. The fans are suddenly on their feet and Andre the Giant is on his way to ringside! His is a watching brief as Kamala lands two more chops before finally noticing the Giant’s presence. Kamala swats away Rivera’s attempts at punches, hitting several more chops that are punctuated with glances at Andre. A big splash to the back is enough for the easy victory, but all the attention is on the Giant at ringside.
We then have a shill by Hulk Hogan for a match against Big John Studd – the man with physical possession of the title as he has stolen it from the champion - in which Hogan can lose the WWF Title by countout. However, this is most notable for reference to Bobby ‘The Brain’ Heenan, last seen in AWA earlier in the year. With Heenan being a rare wrestling personality who stayed in AWA to see out his days, he is finally in the promotion that he would become synonymous with in the years to come. With his initial potential charge, Jesse Ventura, suffering with an illness that would force him into retirement, the promotion instead positioned him as manager of Big John Studd.
Next up in the ring, Bret Hart (or Brett if the chyron is read) takes on Aldo Marino. Hart gets no bigger fanfare than Marino as they both begin in the ring and he is dressed in what look like grey trunks at this time. Two armdrags begin Marino to the canvas, whilst a legdrop continues to target the limb. Marino has some success with strikes and a slam, but a pinfall attempt gets no count whatsoever. Speaking of none whatsoever, the crowd are silent as Hart comes back by telegraphing a back body drop attempt with a knee before lighting Marino up with several European uppercuts. A big leaping clothesline sets up for a piledriver and Hart has the victory in a non-descript match that had little reaction from the crowd and sees Hart look less than happy as he is announced as the winner.
Our first sight of Bobby Heenan is next as Big John Studd hands the WWF Title back to Mean Gene Okerlund as the shill continues for the Studd versus Hogan match at Madison Square Garden. Brilliantly, Heenan dresses down Okerlund for trying t
o interrupt him, before running down all the key details of the show like a true professional as he promises to bring the title into the Heenan Family.
With Bret Hart receiving little crowd interest earlier, Dynamite Kid unsurprisingly is met with similar apathy as he takes on Steve Lombardi. An early armdrag and a shoulder block have Kid in control, whilst the first slam he uses showcases his aggressive execution on offense. A gutwrench suplex and a butterfly suplex follow, though Lombardi continues to bridge out of his pinfall attempts, much to the chagrin of the fans in attendance. Kid hits a running legdrop for another nearfall, before a top rope dropkick and nip-up have Kid all fired up. We get a snap suplex and a diving headbutt to finish off Lombardi, whilst Kid gets somewhat more of a reaction to victory than Hart did earlier. Kid looked great on offense, but the constant bridges/kickouts killed this for me.
We join Roddy Piper next on Piper’s Pit as he sits with Lou Albano and Ken Patera. Albano begins by talking about how he wishes he had had the opportunity to manage Piper, before saying it is an honour to be sitting alongside the World’s Strongest Man in Patera. Piper urges Patera to tell his story, which involves Patera getting jumped from behind by someone and having his arm slammed into the door. Patera tries to place the blame on one of the promotion’s good guys as the segment ends with him showing off the deep bruising he has on his arm and torso.
Joe Mirto and Joe Mascara are up against The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff in our next contest, so we naturally get a rendition of the Russian national anthem. USA chants ring around the arena, but they are for naught as the Iron Sheik takes Mascara to the canvas with ease. Mascara does get a quick one count with a sunset flip, whilst Mirto does try and fight Volkoff off with a punch or two moments later. However, a headbutt to the stomach halts Mirto as the chants turn to ones for Slaughter. A big back suplex by the Sheik is the setup for the press slam backbreaker; you probably couldn’t get two moves that looked more opposite in execution if you tried. A showcase for the heels and that’s it really.
We then join in action the Madison Square Garden match between Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper, the first sight of any real fallout from the coconut attack on Piper’s Pit months back. Piper is currently in control after an eye rake, but Snuka begins his fight back with some punches from his knees and a chop that has Piper flying over the top rope. Snuka rams Piper’s head into the apron before Roddy inadvertently gets his head caught between the top and middle rope. Snuka styles it out with some punches and then locks in a sleeper hold. Piper rolls both men to the floor and breaks the hold by running Snuka back first into the ring apron. The brawling continues as Snuka sends Piper into the ringpost face first, avoids a chair shot and unloads with one of his own.
Piper is bleeding profusely and in trouble as Snuka hits a running diving headbutt, but as Snuka leaps off the top rope for the coup de grace, Piper somewhat catches him/knocks him onto the ropes. The net result is that Snuka falls to ringside and is counted out; the referee suddenly developing the ability to count after forgetting when they were brawling moments ago. Piper follows Snuka out of the ring and whacks him with the steel chair, leading to Snuka getting carried from the ringside area on a stretcher. It was fun to see some action from the Garden, but that ending was way too contrived in order to protect both men.
Every version of this show available includes sixteen (!) minutes of shilling at the end. To begin with, Kamala threatens to chuck a spear at the camera, before we briefly head back to Sammartino and McMahon with the Living Legend worrying about whether that attack by Roddy Piper may have ended the career of Jimmy Snuka. Back to Gene Okerlund, he is then joined by Tito Santana who is due to face off against Mrs. Paula Orndorff if the Intercontinental Champion is to be believed. Hulk Hogan is next up, though his comments are apparently via satellite, as he talks about his surprise when he saw Roddy Piper’s name down on his open contract for a WWF World Heavyweight Title match. Standard ‘Hulkamania running wild’ fare outside of that. Okerlund has teased finding out about Sergeant Slaughter’s partner against the Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff before each interview, so when it comes to Slaughter’s promo, he announces the Junkyard Dog will be in his corner (alongside saying ‘Just because he is black, doesn’t mean he isn’t an American’).
Andre the Giant is up next as he is also talking up a match against Roddy Piper in Los Angeles rather than the Boston Gardens, though it is just him calling Piper ‘Roddy Woodpecker’ as he talks too much before Okerlund cuts it off. Ken Patera then joins Okerlund to admit he enjoys hurting people and looks forward to hurting S.D. Jones. Finally, Piper is out to talk Andre, proclaiming that the night before Andre fought Chuck Wepner in a boxing match years before, Piper boxed Wepner for six rounds and took enough out of him to make the contest easy for the Giant. Moving away from the boxing talk, Piper promises to hand over his purse and retire if he can’t beat Andre.
This was a show that was more interesting then engaging. Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid showing up was a cool moment and sets the ball rolling on their increased involvement within the promotion, but neither match offered much in reality. It was good to see a match from Madison Square Garden that showcased a name feud for the company, but Piper versus Snuka wasn’t anything special and was hampered by an odd finish that was all about protecting Snuka. It felt like a case of a show where the parts indvidually were more than the sum of their whole.
Around the Horn
AWA
July
The first big show of the month was headlined by The Crusher defeating Abdullah the Butcher by disqualification in Denver…The Road Warriors defeated Curt Hennig and Steve O on the 15th in what appeared to be their AWA debut…Steve O would also lose on the 20th as he teamed with Tom Stone against King Kong Bundy in a handicap match…Rick Martel defeated Nick Bockwinkel three times and Masa Saito once as he maintained his hold on the AWA World Heavyweight Title…the month closed with The Road Warriors defeating the AWA World Tag Team Champions, The Crusher and Baron Von Raschke, by disqualification in Milwaukee.
August
A show in St. Paul included Tony Atlas and Jim Brunzell defeating King Kong Brody by disqualification in a handicap match, as well as the Road Warriors falling short in their quest for the AWA World Tag Team Championship faltered once more as they went to a no contest with The Crusher and Baron Von Raschke…a Winnipeg TV taping saw the fans get four Road Warriors squash matches in eight matches…Billy Robinson went to time limit draws with Curt Hennig, Blackjack Lanza, and Brad Rheingans in the first half of the month…Rick Martel defended the AWA World Heavyweight Title against Nick Bockwinkel once more on the 16th…after four more shots at the title that saw varying versions of a disqualification/no contest finish, the Road Warriors would win the AWA World Tag Team Titles in Las Vegas by defeating the Crusher and Baron Von Raschke, before defending them on the 30th against the team of the Crusher and Stan Lane via disqualification.
September
The Road Warriors, showing no compunction to go against just faces, defeated Masa Saito and Steve Regal on the 2nd…a six man ‘Weasel Suit’ match saw Stan Lane, Steve Keirn and Blackjack Lanza defeat Masa Saito, Nick Bockwinkel and Bobby Heenan, whilst the main event had Brad Rheingans challenge for the AWA World Heavyweight Title against Rick Martel, with no result due to referee stoppage…on the 15th, Dick the Bruiser joined the Crusher in a match against the Road Warriors, with the champions losing by disqualification, before Rick Martel defeated Billy Robinson in the main event…Jim Brunzell and Tony Atlas seemingly beat The Road Warriors twice in two days, both in non-title matches and both apparently by pinfall/submission…on the last St. Paul show of the month, King Kong Brody and Crusher Blackwell fought to a no contest.
CWA
As per usual, a lot of the Mid-South Coliseum shows have been covered via the reviews. However, I will include things of note and things that may double up on matches that did get some coverage before. The Memphis loop is always somewhat difficult as many shows outside of the C
oliseum don’t have easily findable results.
July
The show on the 2nd saw Jerry Lawler win a Battle Royal to close out the show…Stan Lane, Steve Keirn and Jerry Lawler won a 5-on-3 handicap match against The Animal, The Angel, Rick Rude, Jim Neidhart and Jimmy Hart…Ron Mikolajczyk fought twice at the 16th Coliseum show, winning alongside Eddie Gilbert against Masao Ito and The Animal, before teaming with Jerry Lawler in a no contest with Rick Rude and Jim Neidhart…The Road Warriors went to a no contest with Stan Lane and Steve Keirn on a show that also saw The Rock and Roll Express defeat Poffomania alongside Rick Rude beating Jerry Lawler in a ‘Loser Gets 10 Lashes’ contest.
August
Jackie Fargo main evented the show on the 13th, teaming with Steve Keirn to defeat King Kong Bundy and Nightmare #1…Eddie Gilbert and Tommy Rich went to a time limit draw in a show at the Louisville Gardens in the middle of the month…The Nightmares defeated the Rock and Roll Express for the AWA Southern Tag Team Titles on the 20th… Jackie Fargo beat Jimmy Hart in a singles match at the Coliseum on the 27th, whilst the show also saw The Road Warriors and Paul Ellering lose to Tony Atlas, Stan Lane and Steve Keirn by disqualification…The New Generation and Tojo Yamamoto defeated Poffomania, including Angelo Poffo, in a show at the end of the month.
September
After Jimmy Valiant won a tournament at the Coliseum, he followed up the next night with a victory teaming with Jerry Lawler against King Kong Bundy and Rick Rude, as well as another tournament win in Lexington on the 6th…The Dirty White Boys defeated the New Generation and Mark Ragin battled Dutch Mantell to a time limit draw at the Coliseum on the 10th…King Kong Bundy and Rick Rude defeated Jerry Lawler and Randy Savage two shows in a row, one at the Coliseum and the next one in Tennessee.
