Archive for category WWF

History of the WWWF/WWF/WWE Championship

WWWF/WWF/WWE Title belt lineage (footage only)
1963, Buddy Rogers wins title
1963, Rogers loses to Bruno Sammartino in 48 seconds
1971, Sammartino loses to Ivan Koloff

Match No. 1 (2/8/71): Ivan Koloff vs. Pedro Morales in Madison Square Garden. Holy shit, Koloff looks huge, even bigger than Morales. He must have really shrunk in his NWA days in the mid-80s. Ross says he’s at 295 pounds in this match. Great heat from the MSG crowd. Morales at 246 pounds looks tiny. Koloff chokes Morales with a strap from his singlet. Morales hits a huge monkey flip. Koloff does a back suplex on Morales, but Morales gets his shoulder up at two to get the pin on Koloff. Rating: *** Outstanding heat, but weak finish.

1973, Morales loses to Stan “The Man” Stasiak
1973, Stasiak loses to Sammartino

Match No. 2 (4/29/74): Bruno Sammartino vs. Killer Kowalski. Kowalski looks more like a mental patient than a wrestler with his unkempt hair and small arms. Of course, he was nearly 50. Vince McMahon is the lone commentator on this match. He is horrible. Some guy at ring side as a humongous afro. Shot Arnold Skaaland at ring side. Sammartino juices. And he goes ape shit on Kowalski. Bell rings. No idea if it is a DQ or double DQ. Rating: None (joined in progress). Match is ruled a draw.

Match No. 3 (4/30/77): Bruno Sammartino vs. Superstar Billy Graham. Graham looks huge. The ring in Baltimore is massive for some reason. It looks to be at least 25 feet wide. Bruno wins test of strength. These two trade bear hugs. Graham gets pin with feet on top rope for leverage. Rating: *** This one doesn’t last long and there isn’t much that’s memorable other than the title change.

Match No. 4 (2/20/78): Superstar Billy Graham vs. Bob Backlund. Backlund hits the atomic drop for the pin. Rating: None (joined in progress). That was the finish?

Match No. 5 (1/16/82): Bob Backlund vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. This match is in a cage. Valentine keeps trying to escape. Valentine takes a header into the cage and gets busted open. Valentine takes another header. Backlund hits piledriver and leaves cage for the win. Rating: None (highlights only).

Match No. 6 (5/23/83): Bob Backlund vs. Sargent Slaughter. Backlund has marks on his chest and back from the riding crop. Backlund attacks him before the bell. All Backlund early. Fans are really into Backlund. Slaughter hits huge clothesline. Backlund hits ugly-looking piledriver and only get two. Slaughter gets DQ for using the riding crop. Rating: *** Sloppy match in spots. I expected more from these two.

(They skip Iron Sheik beating Backlund and Hulk Hogan beating Iron Sheik)

Match No. 7 (4/5/86): King Kong Bundy vs. Hulk Hogan in Wrestlemania II. Bundy was a big bastard. Tommy Lasorda is the ring announcer. Ricky Schroeder is also in the ring. I remember watching this event on Showtime. The chain link fence is so much better than the blue steel cage. Hogan’s offense is pretty damn weak. Bundy goes headfirst into the cage and juices. Hogan tries to slam the fatass but he falls on him. Bundy hits avalanche and splash on Hogan, who then does Superman comeback. Hogan finally slams him. He hits legdrop. And then climbs over the cage for the win. Rating: *** Average match. Heenan takes huge bump into the cage after the match.

Match No. 8 (1/3/87): Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff vs Hulk Hogan. The stupid blue steel cage is back. Orndorff attacks Hogan and hits him with title belt. Both leave cage and jump to floor at the same time so match is restarted. Orndorff drags Hogan into the ring. Hogan does Superman comeback. Orndorff goes face first into the cage three times. No color. Orndorff gets it a fourth time. Finally, some color. Heenan keeps Hogan from leaving the cage. Heenan takes nasty bump into the cage. Hogan gets out of the cage first for the win. Rating: ***1/2 Orndorff looked good, Hogan average. Interesting and creative finish, which boosts the rating.

Match No. 9 (3/29/87): Andre The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan in Wrestlemania III. Detroit fans throwing all kinds of shit at Andre, who looks old and a bit frail. Hulk tries to slam Andre but can’t and he falls on him. Andre nearly gets the pin. Andre slams Hogan twice. And then walks on him. Andre somehow lifts his foot and Hogan runs into it. Andre backdrops Hogan onto exposed floor outside of ring. Hogan drops Andre with a clothesline. Hogan begins Superman comeback. He slams Andre. Does leg drop. And gets the pin. Rating: ***1/2 Average match, but rating is bumped up because of historical importance. Fans continue to throw shit at Andre after the match. RIP Andre & Joey Marella.

Match No. 10 (2/5/88): Andre The Giant vs. Hulk Hogan. Hogan gives the boot to Ted DiBiase and Virgil before the match. Andre slams Hogan. Andre chokes Hogan with the strap to his singlet. He fucks it up and the Dave Hebner sees it. Hogan floors Andre with a weak clothesline. Virgil grabs his leg. He leg drops Andre but Hebner is distracted by Virgil. Andre grabs Hogan from behind by the hair and headbutts him. Hebner counts to three despite Hogan’s shoulders being up. Andre gives the belt to DiBiase. Rating: *** Another average match.

4/1/88, Ted DiBiase loses to Randy “Macho Man” Savage

Match No. 11 (4/2/89): Randy “Macho Man” Savage vs. Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania V. Savage hides behind Elizabeth. Savage nails Hogan with double ax handle to the head. Hogan is bleeding. Not sure how it happened, maybe hardway. Savage all over Hogan, including running knee to the back. Superman comeback for Hogan. He throws Savage over the top rope. Elizabeth tries to help Savage and he gets pissed. This is probably a shoot. Hogan tries to run Savage into the post but Elizabeth blocks it. Hogan then gets the post. Elizabeth made to go to the back. Savage goes to the top turnbuckle and and hits Hogan with a double ax handle outside of the ring. Savage pounding on Hogan. Savage chokes Hogan with tape from his wrist. Savage hits elbow from the top rope. Hogan kicks out. Superman comeback again. Boot and leg drop and Hogan gets the pin. Rating: ***1/2 Pretty good match, Savage deserves most of the credit.

Match No. 12 (4/1/90): The Ultimate Warrior vs. Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania IV. Warrior runs to the ring. He’s already blown up. Dumbass Gorilla Monsoon says he’s in great shape. Yeah, if you count the juice. Test of strength. Boring, but fans going crazy. No actual wrestling so far. Warrior clotheslines Hogan to the floor. Hogan’s knee is injured. Warrior goes after it. Hogan hits clothesline. Nearly gets pin. Warrior clotheslining the shit out of Hogan. Ref bump. Warrior hits ax handle from top rope. And a second one. Warrior hits backdrop but no referee to count pin. Hebner gets up, nearly counts to three but Hogan kicks out. Hogan does roll up but Hebner out of position. Hogan elbows Warrior over top rope. Hogan into the steel post. Warrior press slam and splash on Hogan. But he kicks out. Superman comeback. Hogan misses leg drop. Warrior pins Hogan with splash. Can’t believe Hogan did the job. Match picked up a bit at the end, but this wasn’t a classic. After the match, Hogan hands belt to Warrior, raises his hand and hugs him. Rating: **1/2

Match No. 13 (8/29/94): Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart in WWF version of steel cage. Owen attacks Bret at the bell. Davey Boy is shown ringside with terrible hear wearing Coke bottle glasses. Guys beating each other on top rope. Owen hits missle dropkick. Then nearly makes it over top of the cage. Shot of Stu and Helen Hart watching the match in the front row. Also, a shot of Niedhart. Owen pulls Bret from top of the cage and crotches him. Owen does Samoan drop on Bret. Shot of Bruce Hart at ring side. Owen takes a nasty header into the cage. Owen does a back suplex on Bret from the top rope. Owen hits piledriver on Bret. Owen takes nasty crotch drop on top rope. Bret slingshots Owen into the cage. Owen takes another header. Bret hits superplex on Owen from top of the cage. Owen puts Bret in sharpshooter. Bret reverses it. Bret wins as they are both outside of the cage but Owen gets hung up and Bret jumps to floor. Outstanding cage match. Long match, but it didn’t drag. RIP Owen, Stu and Davey Boy. Rating: ****1/2

WWF (12/26/87)

Match No. 1: Iron Mike Sharpe vs. S.D. Jones. Interesting match-up of two jobbers. Gorilla Buffoon and Lord Alfred Hayes joined by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan on commentary. S.D. nearly blows an arm drag. Heenan is hilarious. He says S.D. looks like Bill Cosby. Sharpe gets pin after nailing Jones with clubbing blow to the head/shoulder. Decent match among jobbers. Rating: **1/2

Match No. 2: The Rougeau Brothers vs. The Conquistadors (Jose Luis Rivera & Jose Estrada). Jacques is tied up in the ropes and a Conquistador goes for a cross body block, Rougeau ducks and he does cross body block on his partner outside of the ring. Nice move. Jacques goes to the top rope, holds Raymond’s hands and does flip onto a Conquistador for the pin. Unfortunately, the camera angle shows Jacques land on his feet and not the opponent’s body. Weakly executed finish for boring match. Rating: *1/2

Match No. 3: Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs. Sika. Duggan wins with clothesline from three-point stance. These guys were slow and went long. Rating: **

Match No. 4: Sensational Sherri vs. Rockin’ Rebel. Fast forward. RIP Sherri. Rating: None

Match No. 5: Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine with Jimmy Hart. Hammer cracks Beefcake in the back with the heavy padded chair. Beefcake does Hulk comeback. Fitting since the Hoaxster got him the job. Beefcake chases Hart to the back. Valentine wins by count out. Shitty finish downgrades rating for boring, average match. Rating: *1/2

Match No. 6: Ricky Steamboat vs. Ravishing Rick Rude. Fans going crazy for Steamboat. Rude surprisingly pale. Several near falls by Steamboat. Things picking up near the end. Steamboat with a chop from the top rope. Bell rings. Time limit draw. Another shitty finish. Rude jumps Steamboat afterwards. Rating: ***

Craig DeGeorge interviews Greg Valentine and then Honky Tonk Man. Honky cuts classic promo.

Match No. 7: Cowboy Lang & Chris Dube vs. Lord Littlebrook & Little Tokyo in midget tag team match. Fast forward. Rating: None

Match No. 8: Honky Tonk Man vs. Randy “Macho Man” Savage. Jimmy Hart is in cage above the ring. Peggy Sue, none other than Sherri Martel, is in Honky’s corner. She trips Savage early. Nice suplex by Savage. Savage hits double ax handle from top rope. He does the same outside of the ring. And another inside the ring. Honky throws Savage into the referee. Peggy Sue grabs Elizabeth, distracting Savage. Honky gives Savage a belt shot to the head and he hits the barricade hard. Savage wins by DQ. Another shitty finish. This was a good match until then. RIP Liz and Sherri Rating: ***1/2

WWF (11/9/85)

Match No. 1: Rene Goulet vs. Corporal Kirschner. Boston Garden has classic wooden ring steps with metal railings. Kirschner blows an arm drag attempt. Hard to believe Goulet is 53. Goulet uses the claw on Kirshner. Kirschner pins Goulet with a Samoan backdrop. Rating: **1/2 Kirschner is a bit sloppy, but nothing blatant. The veteran Goulet is obviously playing the teacher role.

Match No. 2: Leaping Lanny Poffo vs. Bret Hart with Jimmy Hart. Poffo does handspring. He looks like an 80s porn star with the hair and moustache. Hart looks very solid in one of his early WWF matches. Hart blocks a monkey flip and gets the pin. Rating: *** The crowd isn’t into it, but Hart’s strong style makes this into an entertaining match.

Match No. 3: Tony Garea vs. Jim Neidhart with Jimmy Hart. Like Hart, this is an early match in Niedhart’s WWF career and they use an old-timer who later became a road agent to help school Niedhart. Hart is using the megaphone ringside. This is also one of Hart’s early appearances in WWF. Niedhart isn’t showing much in singles competition, which may be why the Hart Foundation became a tag team. Niedhart is blown up in about 10 minutes. Niedhart wins with a power slam. Rating: **1/2 Niedhart doesn’t show much besides power moves in this match.

Match No. 4: Mr. USA Tony Atlas vs. Randy “Macho Man” Savage with Elizabeth. This is also an early WWF match for Savage. Atlas is huge. Savage gives on the kids in the crowd a hard time. Elizabeth looks 80s gorgeous with the feathered hair and ton of makeup. Savage wins after taking a power slam from Atlas and rolling him up with small package. Rating: ***1/2 Entertaining match thanks to Savage. RIP Liz.

Match No. 5: Cowboy Bob Orton vs. Pedro Morales. Morales in pretty good shape for 43. Orton is wearing his legendary cast. Tons of Boston cops around the ringside area. Yet another match with a veteran vs. a youngster and/or relative newcomer. Orton is beating the shit out of Morales. Orton takes nice sliding bump onto the floor. Orton takes bump into ref. Maybe Dusty is watching. Morales has pin but no ref. Orton hits Morales with cast for the pin. Rating: ***1/2 Another entertaining match between two veterans. Orton is a pleasure to watch despite the pale, flabby, unkempt appearance.

Match No. 6: Don Muraco with Mr. Fuji. vs. Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat. Crowd throwing shit at Muraco. This is also one of Steamboat’s early WWE matches. Steamboat choking Muraco with his black belt. Gorilla Buffoon says Steamboat (a Hawaiian) was Pearl Harbored by Muraco (a Hawaiian with a Japanese manager). I’m waiting for Buffoon to call Fuji a sneaky Oriental. Like Savage, Steamboat is very sharp and quick. (This match is about a year-and-a-half before their classic match in Wrestlemania III). Nice dropkick by Muraco. Steamboat takes nice bump over the top rope. Fuji uses dreaded cane on Steamboat. Muraco looks like Big Pussy from Sopranos. Muraco takes nice Flair-esque bump into the corner. Steamboat slingshots Muraco over turnbuckle into the ringpost. Unfortunately, Muraco juices while on the mat and before he hits the post, and the idiot Buffoon actually points it out. Muraco is a mess. Idiot Hayes tries to cover for missed spot. Steamboat DQ’d for using cane on Muraco and/or shoving referee. Rating: **1/2 Weak finish, ref bump and early blade job downgrade this match.

Segment: Piper’s Pit with Bruno Sammartino. Piper says everything in Boston is old, including the broads. Piper makes crack about Boston’s school segregation. Sign in crowd says Piper has AIDS. Piper cracks on guy with the sign. Piper says Sammartino is afraid to appear. Sammartino then runs to ring and attempts to cut a promo. Pro-Italian Boston crowd overlooks his terrible mic skills. Piper calls Sammartino a piece of shit and slaps him. Sammartino then mounts Sammartino before Orton hits him with the cast. Orton holds Sammartino and Piper then kicks him in the nuts. Rating: **** Great segment. Vince Russo and TNA should take notes.

Match No. 7: Mike Rotundo & Dan Spivey vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brutus Beefcake for the WWF tag team titles. Rotunda is teaming with Spivey after U.S. Express partner Barry Windham quit WWF months earlier. Spivey is in a second from the top match with only one year of wrestling experience. Buffoon alludes to this by saying he is not familiar with Spivey. Cops make beeline into crowd for what must be a fight. Absolutely no heat for this match. Fans don’t care about the faces. Beefcake rolls over Spivey for pin, to retain tag title. Rating: *** Average match, Spivey way too green for this spot on the card.

Match No. 8: Terry Funk with Jimmy Hart vs. Junk Yard Dog. JYD is in main event after one year in WWF. Funk also is about a year into his first WWF stint. Typical JYD match. Funk plays a good foil. JYD wins with small package after Hart interferece. Funk attacks JYD after the match. Rating: *** Short, average match. Funk and Hart save this from a lower rating. RIP JYD.

Match No. 9: Moondog Spot & Barry O vs. The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith & Dynamite Kid). Bulldogs are on major juice. Barry O is high on the card and his brother, Bob Orton, the much better wrestler, is on the undercard. Dynamite is a pleasure to watch. Idiot Hayes is putting over Dynamite’s physique. The guy is 5-8, 200. Sure, that’s natural. Spot wrestling decently in this match. Damn, he’s actually got a decent resume despite the gimmick. Dynamite pins O with cross body block. Rating: *** Surprisingly good match, considering heels are basically in the jobber role. RIP Davey Boy & Spot. Hang in there, Dynamite, you tough bastard.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling (1/1/85)

Prime Time Wrestling with Jesse Ventura and Jack Reynolds.

Match No. 1: “Dr. D” David Shultz vs. Salvatore Bellomo. This match aired four days after the infamous John Stossel interview where Shultz slapped the shit out of the 20/20 reporter. The interview likely happened the same day as this match. Shultz his flying elbow from second rope but Bellomo kicks out. Gene Okerlund and Gorilla Buffoon on commentary. Shultz gets the pin with a suplex. I give this an extra star for him bitch-slapping Stossel before/after the match. Actually, this was the same day as Howard Finkel announces the decision on the MSG mics. Rating: **

Match No. 2: Dick Murdoch vs. Samoan No. 1. No idea why they don’t just call him Afa. Murdoch doing some great clowning after taking a headbutt from Afa. Murdoch goes to the eyes. Hillbilly Jim shown at ringside. Murdoch chokes Afa with the tag rope. Murdoch is great reacting to the moves by Afa. Murdoch nails Afa in the head with brown bag holding bottle of some kind. Bell rings. Match is a draw. Murdoch asks for five more minutes. Match restarts. Murdoch takes headbutt and heads to the locker room. Entertaining match between two vets. Murdoch’s antics worth an additional star. RIP Dick. Rating: ***

Gorilla Buffoon interviews Mad Dog Vachon. He’s a scary looking bastard.

Match No. 3: “Mad Dog” Vachon vs. “Quickdraw” Rick McGraw. Vachon is 56 and still wrestling. This match was about a year before McGraw’s death. He’s a bulky guy and it was obviously steroid related since he was only 30. Vachon with a a rest hold right away. Weak dropkick by McGraw. Vachon kicks out several times. McGraw misses dropkick. Vachon hits spike piledriver for the pin. Terrible match. RIP Rick. Rating: *

Buffoon interviews David Sammartino. Terrible.

Match No. 4: Moondog Spot vs. David Sammartino. Shot of Chuck Wepner at ringside. This is a snoozer. Sammartino hits knee drop. Spot kicks out. Spot goes for the pin, but Sammartino hits small package for the pin. Nothing much in this one. Spot jumps him after the match. RIP Spot. Rating: *

Buffoon interviews Tito Santana, kisses his ass.

Match No. 5: Tito Santana vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. Fans throwing shit at Valentine during the intros. First time I’ve seen Lou Albano in a long time. Santana attacks Valentine immediately. These guys are beating the shit out of each other. Valentine takes chair shot. Before he picks up the chair, you can see him reach into his boot for the blade. Bell rings as Santana beats on Valentine. Santana gets DQd. Good action, fans realy into the match. Rating: ***

Match No. 6: Adrian Adonis vs. Sika. This one starts slowly. Adonis starting to put on some weight. But he is still quick in the ring. Adonis pulls out of glove. Swings at Sika, who ducks, and he hits the ref. Adonis DQd. Short and not much to this one. RIP Adrian. Rating: *

Match No. 7: Brutus Beefcake with Luscious Johnny Valliant vs. Tony Garea. Garea has teamed with both Pat Patterson and Rick Martel in his career. Yikes. Right as I type that, Garea mounts Beefcake. Beefcake hits flying knee for the pin. Another weak match. Rating: *

Match No. 8: Big John Studd vs. Hulk Hogan. Hogan wearing all white. Actually looks better than the gay red and yellow. Studd beats on Hogan. Now it is time for the Superman comeback. Hogan wins with a clothesline. Way too short for a main event. Heat is worth second star. RIP John. Wow, five of the competitors have passed away, six if you count Buffoon. Rating: **

WWF (12/10/84)

Match No. 1: Jose Luis Rivera vs. Playboy Buddy Rose. Gary Michael Capetta does the ring announcing and Howard Finkel joins Gorilla Monsoon on commentary. While Monsoon is bad, Finkel is just horrible. Rose is well on his to becoming a fat ass. He gets a horrible looking woman with bad feathered hair to take off his robe. Rose actually does some one arm push ups. Rivera messes up his hair and he gets ringside hag to brush it. Rivera is blown up, while soon-to-be-fat ass Rose, is fine. Hispanic referee helps out Rivera, kicking Rose’s hand of the rope. Rose wins with DDT. Average match, but Rose made it watchable. Rating: ***

Match No. 2: Steve Lombardi vs. Johnny Valliant. An early Lombardi match. Standard teaching vet vs. green rookie match. Valliant wins with elbow drop. Squash match. Lombardi must not have made Patterson happy tonight. Another average match, Valliant made it watchable. Rating: **1/2

Match No. 3: George Wells vs. Charlie Fulton. Who the fuck are these two guys? Fulton making his WWF debut. This is should have been the first match on the card. Wells has an interesting background, having played in the Canadian Football League. Naturally, he wrestled in Calgary, although he didn’t start out there. Long, boring match between two no-names. Rating: **

Match No. 4: Jim Powers vs. Ken Patera. This was after the McDonalds incident and before Patera’s prison stint. This is an early match for Powers, who is juiced big time. Patera nearly wins with elbow drop but he lifts Powers at two. He then hits a suplex where he holds him for five seconds. Patera wins with the swinging full nelson. Another squash match, but Patera’s post-match antics raised it a bit. Rating: **1/2

Match No. 5: S.D. Jones vs. Bobby Heenan. This is one of Heenan’s early WWF appearances. This is one of his rare in-ring appearances for WWF. Heenen grabs tights for the pin. Great job by Heenan in this match taking bumps, cheating for the win. Rating: ***

Match No. 6: Penny Mitchell & Peggy Patterson vs. Desiree Petersen & Velvet McIntyre for WWE women’s tag team titles. One question: why? Pop corn match. Fast forward. Rating: None

Some Jersey clown interviews George Wells. He says he sacked or hit Joe Theismann so many times he came to the NFL.

Cal Rutman is the clown’s name. He interviews Luscious Johnny Valliant. He introduces a young Brutus Beefcake. Dipshit calls him Johnny Valentine.

Dipshit interviews Bobby Heenan and Big John Studd.

Match No. 7: Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff vs. Junk Yard Dog. Hennan is in Orndorff’s corner. Both guys are in their first year with WWF. First five minutes is all clowning around. Orndorff slams JYD who rolls him over for the pin. Orndorff and Heenan are pissed. Average match made semi-interesting by three vets. And boosted by post-match action. Orndorff jumps JYD afterwards to regain his heat. JYD meets the ring post. He juices. Orndorff crowns him with a hard chair shot. Rating: ***1/2

Piper’s Pit. Scheduled guest is Junk Yard Dog. Piper rips on New Jersey. Fans are pissed, throwing shit at him and Orton. Piper brings some guy from New Jersey to the ring. Then some woman wearing a Hulk Hogan button. Piper calls out JYD. Salvatore Bellomo comes out. Piper calls him a dumb wop. Orndorff joins Piper and Orton. Bellomo about to get jumped. JYD makes the save with a chain. Great segment. Rating: **** RIP JYD.

Match No. 8: Cowboy Bob Orton vs. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. Orton jumps Snuka at the bell. Both go over top rope. Ref calls for countout. Shitty finish to short match. After the match, Orton goes for superplex. Snuka blocks it with headbutts. Snuka climbs to top rope but Orton rolls out of ring. Rating: *

Match No. 9: Salvatore Bellomo vs. Brutus Beefcake with Johnny Valliant. Beefcake wins with flying knee in squash match. Rating: *

Match No. 10: Big John Studd with Heenan vs. Hulk Hogan for WWF world heavyweight title. Crowd goes crazy for Hogan. Heenan says $15,000 body slam challenge is still on. Hogan tries to slam Studd. He can’t get him up. He tries several times. He nearly gets him up. Hogan goes into stell post. He’s showing color. Studd drops forearm from top rope. Hogan slams Studd outside of the ring. Studd counted out. Another short match, shitty finish. Weak card. Rating: **

WWF (11/29/84)

Match No. 1: Bret Hart & Dynamite Kid vs. Mike Sharpe & Troy Alexander. Vince is doing play-by-play. Dynamite is 20 pounds smaller than Hart at this point, which is both amazing and sad. And part of the reason he is in a wheelchair today. Sharpe is beating on Hart. Dynamite does a snap suplex and drops Alexander on his head. Angelo Mosca on color and he’s terrible. Heels doubleteam Hart in the corner. Damn Dynamite was fast and crisp back then. Dynamite hits a nasty headbutt from the top rope. Dynamite then hits a gut wrench suplex for the pin. Pretty weak match although Dynamite showed flashes of greatness. Rating: **

WWF (8/25/84)

Match No. 1: Jesse Ventura vs. Ivan Putski in Madison Square Garden

Ventura cuts great promo, calling him Peduski numerous times.

Ventura is in great shape, as is Putski. There is enough testosterone in the ring for six normal men. Ventura has multi-colored hair. Commentators are Gorilla Buffoon and Lord Alfred Heinous. Yup, I hate both of those clowns. Ventura not doing much in this match. MSG is packed. Ventura has his chest hair shaved so it is an arrow pointing down. Looks like a ripoff of Sterling Golden (Hulk Hogan) a couple of years earlier. Ventura does classic bit where he chokes Putski with athletic tape. Ventura pulls out a foreign object and hits Putski, who is then counted out of the ring. Rating: **1/2 Average match, hurt by piss-poor finish. Ventura didn’t really do any wrestling in the match, only bits and some selling.

WWF (8/4/84)

Match No. 1: Rocky Johnson vs. Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Damn, Rocky is jacked. Ventura challenges Johnson to pose down. Vince calls Johnson The Rock. Vince McMahon has a woody calling this. Ventura nails Johnson from behind with ax handle from top rope. He then pile drives Johnson, who rolls to the floor in convulsions. Ventura has his hand raised. Boring pose down, but damn entertaining action afterwards. Johnson does great sell job. Rating: ***

WWF (3/14/82)

Match No. 1: Jesse “The Body” Ventura with Classy Freddie Blassie vs. Bob Backlund with Arnold Skaaland for WWF Heavyweight title. Match is from Madison Square Garden and Ivan Putski is the referee. Ventura clowning around early. Backlund wins after escaping backbreaker with rollup and bridge. Ventura hits Putski after the match. Decent match, thanks to Ventura. Rating: *** RIP Blassie & Skaaland.