WWF Championship Wrestling October 20th, 1984

October 20^th, 1984

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

This week’s show includes the Tonga Kid vs. The Executioner, Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik, and an update on Tito Santana

Charlie Fulton vs. Sgt. Slaughter

The crowd has tons of Slaughter stuff. He works the arm of Fulton as the crowd starts a “USA” chant. Fulton fights back and lands a few shots but Slaughter fights back and knocks him down. Fulton reverses a whip in the corner and takes him down with a shoulderblock. Sarge ducks a clothesline and hits Fulton with the Slaughter Cannon then gets the win with the Cobra Clutch (2:17).

Thoughts: The Sarge is still insanely over with the crowd but doesn’t have a hot feud at the moment. He was facing Volkoff at house shows and that wasn’t getting anything close to the reaction that he was getting with the Iron Sheik.

WWF update with Lord Alfred Hayes. This week’s focus is on Ken Patera as they show a clip of him destroying Billy Travis.

Judy Martin vs. Desiree Peterson

Martin takes down Peterson but she reverses it into a headscissors. She grabs Peterson by the hair to escape but gets knocked down by Peterson after she ducks a few punches. Martin works an armbar, which is reversed by Peterson. Martin escapes and roughs up Peterson for a bit. She side-steps a crossbody and hits a front suplex for the win (3:04). After the match, Martin grabs the mic and demands Wendi Richter come out and face her before tossing Peterson to the floor.

Thoughts: The match was fine for a women’s match. Martin was horrible on the mic. You could barely understand a word she was saying. After Moolah, they had no challengers for Richter.  

Jack Reynolds runs down the MSG show and interviews Big John Studd and Bobby Heenan about the title match against Hulk Hogan. Heenan gloats how Hogan can lose the title by pinfall or by countout. They play up the $15,000 bodyslam challenge and how Hogan will wear himself out by trying to slam him. Good stuff from Heenan.

The Executioner vs. Tonga Kid

This match was made on last week’s Piper’s Pit. They work an Irish whip sequence where they mis-time a leapfrog. Tonga chops down the Executioner then hits a headbutt. The Executioner bails as Tonga is all fired up. Back inside, Tonga hits another headbutt and fires away, while yelling “Piper.” He hits a dropkick then hammers away. He hits a slam but the Executioner rakes the eyes. Tonga reverses an Irish whip and catches him with a slam. He hits a jumping headbutt then finishes him off with a top rope splash (3:07). Nice splash as he went three-fourths across the ring. The crowd is loud, starting a “We want Piper” chant.

Thoughts: Tonga Kid is really gaining some momentum. He was a lower mid-card guy until he went on Piper’s Pit and injected himself into the Piper/Snuka feud. The crowd was solidly behind him in this match.

Jack Reynolds is with Nikolai Volkoff. He runs down Sgt. Slaughter, calling him a liar and says that Russians advised the Vietnam soldiers on how to beat the USA. He then spits on the ground and promises to spit on him after he beats him at MSG. Promos were not Nikolai’s strength, that’s for sure.

Billy Travis vs. Big John Studd w/Bobby Heenan

Studd knocks Travis through the ropes with a shoulder block. Outside, Travis manages to send Studd into the ring post but once they go back in the ring, Studd destroys him. He goes up to the second rope and hits an axe handle. He slams him on the ropes then drops an elbow, then repeats that same sequence for the win (2:30).

Thoughts: They continue to build up Studd for programs with Hogan and Andre.  Giving him Heenan helps him get more heat but he is still a lousy wrestler.

Piper’s Pit with guest David Sammartino. Piper asks him how he can think he can cut it in the WWF by riding on his dad’s fame. Sammartino says that he has worked hard as the Tonga Kid comes out and interrupts, demanding a match. The crowd is going nuts as Piper makes fun of him, saying he is nothing but garbage and demands that he leaves. Sammartino grabs the mic and calls Roddy “chicken” as Piper snaps and says he is not a chicken and will fight the Tonga Kid next week. The crowd went ballistic during this segment, which was well done.

We are shown footage of several jobbers helping Tito Santana on the stretcher after losing the Intercontinental Title to Greg Valentine on All-Star Wrestling the previous week. The crowd chants for Tito as we are shown Tito being wheeled into a hospital to get his knee operation. Tito speaks after the operation, saying that it was a success and promises that he will get better and come after Greg Valentine. Vince promises we will have another update next week. This segment lasted way longer than necessary.

Steve Lombardi & Salvatore Bellomo vs. Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff

After Volkoff sings the Russian National Anthem, Bellomo takes the mic and sings “God Bless America” until Volkoff jumps him from behind. Bellomo gets double-teamed in the corner as the crowd starts a “USA” chant. They continue the assault as the fans now chant “Russia Sucks.” Volkoff lifts Bellomo with one hand by the throat then tags the Sheik, who gets a slam. Bellomo kicks the Sheik and tags Lombardi. He throws his terrible punches then Sheik rams in the stomach and tags Volkoff. He stomps him repeatedly until he tags the Sheik, who puts him in the Camel Cltuch for the win (3:51)

Thoughts: The usual stuff from Sheik & Volkoff. Really not much more to say about this match although Lombardi & Bellomo are quite the jobbing duo. God, those two were fucking terrible.

Jack Reynolds is with Hulk Hogan. He tells Reynolds to shut up then goes on a rant about Big John Studd. He tells us that Studd stripped him of his pride after his loss last month. Typical Hulk promo.

Bruno and Vince recap the show, putting over the toughness of Sheik & Piper then plug next week’s featured match, Tonga Kid vs. Roddy Piper.

Final Thoughts: This show just about turned the Tonga Kid from nothing into a star. The crowd was going wild for him and he did a great job with everything. The heat on Piper was off the charts as well. The rest of the show was largely forgettable but next week’s show will have the Tonga Kid vs. Roddy Piper match, which should be crazy.