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WWF Championship Wrestling: July 28, 1984

July 28, 1984

Your hosts are Vince McMahon and Tony Garea

The hosts run down the show, which includes the Iron Sheik, Tito Santana, Piper’s Pit, and the featured bout, Tiger Chung Lee vs. Jimmy Snuka

Tito Santana vs. Rene Goulet

Goulet switches from his sequenced glove to his grungy weight lifting glove. He takes Tito down with a shoulderblock to start things off. Tito comes back with a monkey flip and takes him down with a flying headscissors. He grounds him on the mat with the headscissors until Goulet escapes. Tito takes him back down with an armdrag and grabs a side headlock. Gouelt gets out of that and hits Tito with a knee. Scoop slam by Goulet, who then walks on top of Tito before hitting a suplex. That gets two for Goulet and he goes to the claw. The crowd chants for Tito and he escapes but he then misses a dropkick. Goulet gets two off of an elbow drop and goes back to the claw. Tito breaks free and gets a backdrop before hitting the flying forearm for the win (6:18)

Thoughts: The crowds sure loved Tito. For a guy in his 50’s, Goulet wasn’t that bad.

We are shown a clip of Jesse Ventura and Ivan Putski as they are in the ring for their arm wrestling contest. The crowd is all over Jesse and he is yelling back at them. Jesse stalls repeatedly by getting up just before they start. Putski irritates Jesse by doing the same exact thing. The finally start and Putski almost has Jesse beat until he uses his other hand as leverage to gain the advantage. He does it again, behind the ref’s back, and Putski overcomes that and has Jesse almost beat until he gets pulled over the table. Jesse hits him a few times then gives him several chairshots on the back. Jesse stomps Putski before leaving the ring. Jesse could get a lot of heat as a heel and this segment pissed off the crowd. This was filmed in a different arena than the rest of these matches.

Ron Hutcherson vs. Iron Sheik

This is the same exact match that aired on the debut of WWF on the Superstation. Shiek starts his pro-Iran stuff to piss off the crowd and they respond with an “Iron Sheik sucks” chant that the announcers are afraid to repeat. Sheik takes Hutchinson down with a fireman’s carry to start. Backdrop by Sheik is followed by a gutbuster as the crowd starts a “We Want Slaughter” chant. Sheik hits a back suplex then locks on the Camel Clutch for the win (2:11). After the match, Sheik grabs the mic and refers to Slaughter as a “Fat Soldier” then tosses the jobber over the ropes.

Thoughts: The Sheik was a heat magnet in 1984. He would just show up and the entire arena would be all over him.

WWF Review segment, which is a music video package of various stars and matches set to the song, “Message of Love” by the Pretenders. This segment was designed for the “Rock n’ Wrestling” promotion. 

WWF Update with Vince McMahon. This week’s subject is this past MSG show. They show a brief clip of Cyndi Lauper on Piper’s Pit then Vince promises we will find out more about this show, next week.

Piper’s Pit with Roddy by himself in an empty studio. He refers to himself as a “nice guy” then runs down Lauper, calling her a “wench.” He promises to show us the Richter vs. moolah match from MSG in its entirety next week then reads a fan letter. The letter asks Piper to stop attacking Snuka and to leave him alone, stating that he is no longer able to sleep and is scared. Piper then says that this letter was written by Snuka’s son, which prompts Piper to scream “Fight your own damn fight, Snuka” after he crumbles up and tosses the letter at the camera. Piper was awesome here. They are clearly planning a major feud between Piper and Snuka.

Tiger Chung Lee vs. Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka

The crowd goes nuts when Snuka comes to the ring. They lock up and break cleanly to start. Another lockup but Lee hits a chop, pissing off Snuka. Lee ducks outside for a breather before re-entering the ring. Lee takes Snuka down with a side headlock then hits some chops. Snuka fights back and Lee starts to back away. They go back and forth for a bit until Lee gets a chop to the throat. He gets a scoop slam then heads up top. Snuka tgets up and tosses him off the top rope. He drops a fist then goes up top and puts Lee away with the Superfly Headbutt (4:28)

Thoughts: Snuka showed a lot of fire in his come backs. He was more intense than usual too. Vince and Garea kept on putting him over on commentary.


Final Thoughts: A bland show, with the exception being the Piper’s Pit. The matches were your typical stuff, with Goulet and Tiger Chung Lee jobbing. After the big MSG show, it appears that the next major feud will be Snuka vs. Piper.

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