WWF Championship Wrestling November 3rd, 1984

November 3, 1984

Your hosts are Bruno Sammartino and Vince McMahon

This week Sgt. Slaughter, Greg Valentine, David Sammartino, the Brisco Brothers and Mil Mascaras are in action. Also in action making their WWF debut is Barry Windham. Plus Piper’s Pit with Freddie Blassie and Nikolai Volkoff.

Johnny Rodz vs. Sgt. Slaughter

Rodz yells at the fans for not getting cheered. They lockup a few times as the camera shows Tito Santana sitting ringside. Sarge hits a back elbow smash and Rodz retreats to the corner, where he lands a cheapshot. He hits a pair of elbow smashes of the middle rope but gets tackled in midair on the third attempt and Slaughter puts on the Cobra Clutch for the win (3:36).

Thoughts: The fans always go crazy for Slaughter and this was no exception. Too bad he doesn’t have an interesting feud going on right now.

WWF Update with Lord Alfred Hayes. This week’s topic is Wendi Richter as they show  a clip of her beating Moolah for the Women’s Championship back in July.

Greg “The Hammer” Valentine w/Capt. Lou Albano vs. Rick McGraw

Santana is shown again in the crowd as Vince tells us that Santana bought a ticket this week. McGraw ducks an attack and hits a hiptoss. They take it to the mat and McGraw gains the advantage. Crossbody gets two as the crowd is going nuts. Valentine then beats on McGraw as a “Tito” chant breaks out. McGraw’s brief comeback ends when he misses a running knee smash in the corner and Valentine puts on the figure-four for the win (2:32). Valentine refuses to break the hold and Tito runs in and breaks it up. Tito gets in a few shots before Valentine escapes. The crowd was jacked the entire time.

Thoughts: Great segment. The fans erupted when Tito got his revenge on Valentine. McGraw got in a decent amount of offense and looked good here. This started off a feud that would really get hot heading into 1985.

Gene Okerlund is with Freddie Blassie and Nikolai Volkoff. He runs down Slaughter and JYD, stating that Volkoff and Sheik are the best team in the world. Volkoff tells Slaughter that this will be Vietnam all over for him. Not much but Sheik wasn’t at this taping and I do not know why. It could have been a rehab trip for him.

Carl Fury vs. David Sammartino

The Hillbilly is shown again in the audience. Sammartino works over Fury as his dad tells us on commentary that he has natural body strength. Fury gets a shoulder block but Sammartino takes him down with an armdrag and works the arm. Fury lands a few shots but Sammartino fights back. He boots him down and catches Fury with a powerslam for the win (3:13).

Thoughts: Sammartino was average in the ring but he displayed zero personality. His dad didn’t even put him over that strongly on commentary as Vince would usually ask him about his son, to which Bruno would give a short, generic answer. I know that David claims to have not spoken to his dad in many years so maybe they had a beef here too.

Gene Okerlund is with Bobby Heenan and John Studd. He runs down a list of lower-card workers in the 15 man battle royal. Studd is in the match and he and Heenan still blame the ref in Los Angeles for costing him the title. He says he will put up his $15,000 against Hogan’s title. Heenan was funny here and Gene was awesome at playing off of him. This is when Gene began to shine with the interviews as they made him focus on this and took him off as an announcer, where he was really terrible.

Charlie Fulton & Steve Lombardi vs. Brisco Brothers

The Championship Wrestling debut of the Brisco’s, who came over when Vince bought Georgia Championship Wrestling from them and others. They use quick tags and work on the arm of Lombardi. Bruno calls the Brisco’s the greatest tag-team in wrestling and puts over their amateur background. Fulton tags and Jack takes him down. The Brisco’s remain in control until they hit a double shoulder tackle on Lombardi and Jack puts on the figure-four, getting the win by submission (2:29).

Thoughts: Jack was in his 40’s and could still go in the ring. Jerry was okay. The Brisco’s only lasted a few more months in the WWF.

Piper’s Pit with Freddie Blassie and Nikolai Volkoff. Blassie mentions Piper’s match with the Tonga Kid, putting him over. Piper then asks Nikolai to sing the Russian National Anthem. The crowd is loudly booing as Piper grabs the mic and yells at the crowd. They get louder and Piper says that you can’t make chicken salad out of a bunch of garbage and leaves. Piper was a master at working the crowd and this is a fine example of that. No heel today could get this type of reaction from a crowd.

WWF Action Hotline Ad with Capt. Lou Albano and Roddy Piper. They both are shouting and acting manic in general. It was very brief.

The Executioner vs. Barry Windham

This is the WWF debut of Windham. They trade arm wringers as Bruno and Vince put over Windham’s physique. He works the arm for a while until the Executioner gets a slam. He misses an elbow drop then a charge in the corner and that allows Windham to hit the bulldog for the win (2:53).

Thoughts: Windham looked alright in the ring. He was just 24 years old at this point too. I can only imagine the amount of pussy this guy got in the 1980’s.

A vignette of Billy Jack. He is on a horse and satates that he does not smoke, drink, or use drugs but rather works out six days a week. He says that he will be arriving to the WWF shortly.

Terry Manton vs. Mil Mascaras

Mascaras does some matwork, which looks good. The announcers put over his scientific wrestling ability as he performs a variety of holds. Manton gets in a few shots but Mascaras takes him down. He hits a dropkick and a flying forearm then works the arm. Mascaras hits a backdrop then goes up top and uses a flying body press. He pulls Manton up at two then hits another flying tackle and then a splash but pulls him up at two then does the same sequence again for the win (4:32).

Thoughts: Mascaras was a hit in the Northeast. This run didn’t last all that long and was his last with the company. He is notorious for not selling for his opponents and only getting in his moves.

Gene Okerlund is with Tonga Kid. He gives a spirited interview about Piper and their match November 26^th at Madison Square Garden. I will be reviewing that show shortly. Tonga exceeded all expectations in this role.

Next week’s show includes Big John Studd, Brutus Beefcake, Tonga Kid, Tito Santana, Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch, and David Sammartino in action.

Final Thoughts: Solid show. You had the debut of Windham and it was nice to see the Brisco’s and Mil Mascaras. The Santana/Valentine angle started off with a bang and everything else was passable.