Throwback Thursday takes a deep dive into the archives of the WWE Network on Peacock to reexamine a classic edition of WWWF All Star Wrestling, as seen on the WWE Network and Peacock, that aired 46 years ago this month!
The world of professional wrestling was a much different place in the autumn of 1978.
In many ways it was the calm the before the storm; before cable television, aggressive national expansion, and talent “raids” took root, destroying the carefully woven, fiercely protected agreements and arrangements that had helped wrestling survive and thrive in the wake of the late 1950s bust.
It was share and share alike in the late 1970s. The “big three”, Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association (AWA), the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and Vince J. McMahon’s World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), had learned to not only co-exist but cooperate.
In the beginning, though, it was war.
After Buddy Rogers, whose bookings Vincent J. McMahon controlled, had “upset” Pat O’Connor to win the NWA Worlds title on June 30, 1961, it was expected that Rogers would be a true “touring Champion”.
McMahon had other ideas, largely hogging Roger’s bookings to help finally establish the New York City territory—historically one of the toughest nuts to crack in all of wrestling—while making unauthorized title switches across the territory meant solely to juice McMahon’s own business.
Fed up with the lack of cooperation from McMahon, the NWA was forced to threaten Rogers with the forfeiture of Rogers’ mandatory $25,000 deposit if Rogers did not show up in Toronto on January 24, 1963, and drop the strap to Lou Thesz in a one-fall bout.
In the wake of the controversy, with both McMahon and Rogers feeling slighted and disrespected, McMahon pulled his Capitol Wrestling promotion out of the NWA and created a new World Wide Wrestling Federation promotion, gifting Rogers with the first version of the WWWF World Heavyweight title on the April 11, 1963, edition of Heavyweight Wrestling.
Verne Gagne, meanwhile, had founded the AWA (the Minneapolis Boxing & Wrestling Club) in 1958 in protest of the NWA selecting Pat O’Connor over Gagne to carry the Worlds Heavyweight title.
In fact, the NWA’s first U.S. Heavyweight title was created in September 1953 in Chicago to appease an unhappy Gagne, one of the most popular grapplers in all of America, over being passed over for the Worlds title.
The new U.S. title came with the halfhearted promise of number one contendership to the Worlds title and was promoted as a near equal strap to the Worlds title.
But when Pat O’Connor was voted to take the Worlds title from Dick Hutton on January 9, 1959, Gagne walked away. Gagne booked Pat O’Connor as the inaugural AWA Worlds Champion and demanded O’Connor defend the title against Gagne within 90 days, knowing full well the match would never happen.
When the 90 days passed and the match did not occur, Gagne stripped O’Connor of the Worlds title in Minneapolis on August 16, 1960, and named himself the AWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion.
By the mid-1970s, though, cooler heads had prevailed.
Now Vincent J. McMahon, rejoined with the NWA, was a respected member of the NWA board, helping choose the cartels Worlds Heavyweight Champion while voting on sensitive issues that affected all members involved.
McMahon was an honest broker who helped supply fellow promoters from across the cartel with key New York talent like Andre the Giant, Bruno Sammartino, Billy Graham, and Bob Backlund, while allowing young NWA and AWA talent to appear on Madison Square Garden shows in an attempt to better build for the future.
Verne Gagne, too, while still working independent of the NWA cartel, had grown to soften his stance on the Alliance and its methods, helping to train and provide key opportunities to the sports next generation, like Ric Flair, Ole Anderson, Blackjack Mulligan, and the Iron Sheik, to name but a few.
Through the bitterness and resentment, Gagne had grown to become a voice of reason within the sport, offering his unique insights and points of view to better settle sticky situations, be it booking finishes or in solving larger disputes.
When McMahon was in search of a new babyface Heavyweight Champion to rebuild the WWWF around in the wake of the “Superstar” Billy Graham era, it was Verne Gagne who led McMahon to the “All American Boy” Bob Backlund, changing the course of wrestling history in the process.
The period of peace and harmony most benefited fans, who were treated to “dream matches” across the country. Stars from the “big three” regularly appeared on “rival” cards, even defending their titles in hotly contested bouts.
A highlight of the cross-promotional efforts would come on January 25, 1978, when talent from across the “big three” participated in the second and final Superbowl of Wrestling event at the Miami Orange Bowl in front of over 12,000 diehard wrestling fans. The event was highlighted by a “unification” match between then-WWWF Heavyweight Champion “Superstar” Billy Graham and then-NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion Harley Race that ended in a 60-minute draw.
Two years later, on August 3, 1980, 17,883 fans filled Tampa Stadium to witness the Last Tangle in Tampa, considered the father of the modern wrestling supercard.
The Last Tangle in Tampa would mark the final culmination of the neutral working relationships between the renamed WWF, the AWA, and the NWA. Across the twelve match card fans were treated to the very best the sport had to offer at the time, including matches involving then-WWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund and then-NWA Worlds Champion Harley Race.
While the period of unity and harmony would eventually fade into all-out war in less than five years time, the period of the late 1970s was a rare and forgotten period of prolonged peace and camaraderie that not only strengthened the sport and its deep connection with it fans, but helped build a slate of stars that would come define the “Golden Age” of wrestling in the decade to come.
The top story in WWWF the week this edition of WWWF All Star Wrestling aired was WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund’s ongoing feud with former WWWF Heavyweight Champions “Russian Bear” Ivan Koloff and “Superstar” Billy Graham as well as Backlund’s pursuit of history with tag team partner Peter Maivia.
Now let’s head on over to the WWE Network on Peacock, hit ‘play’, and see how well this edition of WWWF All Star Wrestling holds up 46 years later!
Edits for this edition of WWWF All Star Wrestling are not an issue on the WWE Network and Peacock. Context, meanwhile, is decent. Though coverage of the WWWF’s TV prior to 1978 is spotty (at best), with only eight prior editions of All Star Wrestling currently available, a good chunk of 1978 All Star Wrestling is presently available for you to enjoy on the WWE Network and Peacock right now!
WWWF All Star Wrestling (WATCH)
Date: September 30, 1978 (TAPED: September 2, 1978) – Location: Hamburg Fieldhouse, Hamburg, Pennsylvania
Attendance: N/A – TV Ratings: N/A
Commentator: Vince McMahon – Interviews: Vince McMahon
IN POP CULTURE:
Number One Song: “Kiss You All Over” (Exile)
Number One Album: Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (Various)
Number One on Television: Laverne & Shirley (ABC)
Number One Film in Theaters: Animal House (John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, & Donald Sutherland)
U.S. President & Vice President: Jimmy Carter & Walter Mondale
CHAMPIONS AT THE TIME:
NWA World Heavyweight Champion: “Handsome” Harley Race (February 6, 1977, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from Terry Funk)
NWA World Women’s Champion: The Fabulous Moolah (October 9, 1978, Fort Worth, Texas, from Evelyn Stevens; Stevens defeated Moolah by count-out the prior evening in Dallas, Texas on October 8, 1978, though there are no records to indicate the title actually changed hands or was held-up as a result of the count-out finish; there is a good chance that Moolah never lost the title in the first place since winning it on April 2, 1968, and that this bout and angle was a local promotional stunt; both bouts occurred on NWA Big Time Wrestling cards)
WWWF Heavyweight Champion: Bob Backlund (February 20, 1978, WWF on MSG Network, from “Superstar” Billy Graham)
WWWF Tag Team Champions: The Yukon Lumberjacks (Yukon Eric & Yukon Pierre) (June 26, 1978, WWWF on MSG Network & HBO, from Dino Bravo & Dominic DeNucci; this match would air, in edited form. via tape delay on the July 1, 1978, edition of Championship Wrestling)
WWWF Junior Heavyweight Champion: Tatsumi Fujinami (January 23, 1978, Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York, from Carlos Jose Estrada; Fujinami returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling where the title would largely be defended until the NJPW/WWF relationship dissolved in October 1985; this match aired via tape delay on the February 17, 1978, edition of New Japan’s TV Asahi World Pro-Wrestling program)
This week’s edition of WWWF All Star Wrestling begins with usual open of the era as Vince McMahon begins to give us a run down of this week’s card.
We then head inside the Hamburg Fieldhouse where Vince McMahon properly welcomes us to the show before running down the rest of this week’s card. McMahon then tosses to our first Peacock ad-break of the hour.
Coming out of the break we head to the ring where legendary ring announcer Joe McHugh takes care of a bit of promotional housekeeping before introducing the participants in this week’s opening contest.
—Tag Team Match (0:55)
Frank “The Moose” Monroe & Jose Estrada vs. “High Chief” Peter Maivia & WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund w/Arnold Skaaland
Peter Maivia & Bob Backlund were undefeated as a tag team at this point in time, with many fans believing that Backlund would become the first wrestler in WWWF history to simultaneously hold the Heavyweight and Tag Team titles.
The heels are no match for Maivia & Backlund in the early stages of this one. Both Maivia and Backlund easily control “Moose” Monroe before Monroe, in the grip of a Maivia headlock, makes the blind tag to Estrada.
Estrada and Monroe double-team Maivia in the corner, causing the illegal Backlund to try and make the save. As the referee ushers Backlund back to the corner, however, Monroe uses the tag rope to choke Maivia senseless.
Estrada and Monroe continue to double-team Maivia before Maivia goes to Monroe’s eyes. In the moments before the hot tag Backlund looks primed to illegally strike Monroe but thinks better of it, waiting for the tag before going to town on Monroe.
Backlund shows his strength with power body slams to both Monroe and Estrada as he grounds “Moose” with a rear chin lock that Estrada fails to break.
Eventually, with the referee distracted with Estrada, Maivia illegally switches places with Backlund before holding Monroe for the illegal Backlund to strike. Backlund resists the urge to strike Monroe as Estrada rushes in to attack Maivia, who turns at the last minute, causing Estrada to blast Monroe by mistake.
Maivia pounds on the downed Monroe before tagging Backlund back in. Backlund rides Monroe with a modified camel clutch before Monroe pushes Backlund off into the turnbuckle, giving the heels one last gasp at a rally.
The rally is not to be, however. Monroe holds Backlund for an Estrada forearm from the top but Backlund quickly wriggles free to make the hot tag to Maivia.
The “High Chief” batters Estrada before tossing Estrada across the ring and tagging Backlund back in. In a flash Backlund has Estrada up for the big atomic knee drop for the 1-2-3 at 6:08 as “Moose” Monroe enters the ring to break up the count.
WINNERS are “High Chief” Peter Maivia & WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bob Backlund w/Arnold Skaaland (Pin, 6:08)
After the bell the “High Chief” stomps the stuffing out of the interfering “Moose” in the corner before he and Backlund celebrate their win with Skaaland.
As Joe McHugh give us the particulars of the fall, Capt. Lou Albano, the manager of the Tag Team Champion Yukon Lumberjacks, arrives at ringside to argue with the referee and anyone else who will look the Captain’s way.
We then see a replay of the finish before heading to the next Peacock ad-break.
—“Special Midget Singles Match” (11:28)
“Six Million Dollar Midget” Billy the Kid vs. “Cowboy” Lang
This is the typical, comedic “midget” match of the era. Despite the comedy spots these are two tremendous athletes and wrestlers, illustrating the unique psychology and work rate that made the “midget” matches so popular.
“Cowboy” Lang has the early advantage on Billy the Kid, out-wrestling Kid before Kid, thanks to a handful of hair, turns things around with tight side headlock and cheap shot. Kid pounds the snort out of Lang, tying Lang into the ropes before nearly coming to blows with referee Dick Woehrle.
Soon enough Lang finds a way back into the action and stages a rally as we get some more of the comedic high spots. Lang is in firm control of the action as the match devolves into one gag after the next involving the referee.
Eventually the match settles back down with the two men trading the advantage, each using cheap shots to get the better of the other before we get more of the comedy spots.
Kid takes down Lang and scores a slew of near-falls before Lang stages a rally. Out of nowhere, after a back body drop, Lang sends Kid in the ropes where he catches Kid in the airplane spin for the humorous pinfall at 7:44.
WINNER is “Cowboy” Lang (Pin, 7:44)
Following the match “Cowboy” Lang, with a bit of help from the referee gets to his feet as Joe McHugh announces the particulars. Billy the Kid tries to get to his feet, meanwhile, but promptly falls back down.
This is followed by the usual replay, which McMahon humorously narrates, and the next Peacock ad-break, with McMahon hyping an “most interesting” interview to come.
Coming out of the break we head to ringside (21:24) where Vince McMahon is joined by “Classy” Freddie Blassie and the still undefeated Victor Rivera.
Victor Rivera debuted for the WWWF on July 3, 1978, at a live event in Wildwood, New Jersey. Rivera wouldn’t debut on television until the July 22, 1978, edition of Championship Wrestling. Rivera, while losing a number of bouts prior to his TV debut, had remained undefeated from his TV debut forward.
McMahon begins by talking to Rivera about thus far being undefeated on All Star Wrestling. Rivera says he’s the “best” and the “king” and, when asked what separates himself from the countless others who have claimed the same, says he has the “skill”, is a “better wrestler”, has superior “conditioning”, and has Freddie Blassie to take him to the top of WWWF.
Blassie jumps in then, telling McMahon that he’s “only passin’ through this world one”, and “any good” or “kindness” that Blassie can do or show, “let it be now” because Blassie will “never pass through this way again.”
Blassie reassures a skeptical McMahon that Blassie’s “Army” is “very kind” in “eliminating” the “so-called wrestlers” from the profession, “saving the public” from watching “scrum bum guys” and “pencil-neck geeks” like Bruno Sammartino, Bob Backlund, “Chief” Jay Strongbow, Larry Zbyszko, Dominic DeNucci, Dino Bravo, Tony Garea, and Peter Maivia.
Blassie says he’s never seen so many “scrum bums” in his life than what the WWWF has now. The only “great talent” in the WWF, Blassie says, is in Blassie’s “Army”, which now includes Victor Rivera.
Rivera jumps in next to address the fans in Spanish, calling out a number of top babyfaces in the territory, before shouting that “they” can “bring ’em all!”
Blassie steps up again and, after noting that McMahon is standing is “awe” in the presence of Blassie, reveals that the reason why Blassie’s “Army” has such continued success is because Blassie retrains his “Army” to wrestle his way, the “proper way”, to put their opponents in the hospital.
Blassie then pauses to take a gander at the “great array of the slobs” in the arena and rips their weight and lack of fitness before McMahon points out that Rivera’s physique, since joining the “Army” has changed, and not “for the better”.
An irate Freddie Blassie warns McMahon to have his brain “in motion” when McMahon’s “tongue is talking” and talks up Rivera’s physique and good looks before revealing how he tossed Rivera’s scientific style (“that’s not wrestling”) in favor of a win at all cost style.
Blassie coached Rivera to leave the wrestling to the “pencil-neck geeks” and “get out there and win”. Blassie doesn’t care care how Rivera wins so long as Rivera wins. “But,” Blassie says, “cheat at all times!”
As Blassie laughs himself silly McMahon approaches Rivera to ask Rivera about Blassie’s penchant for dropping disappointing talent “like a hot potato”. Blassie shouts at Rivera to ignore McMahon before Rivera puts over Blassie as one of the great managers in the world who will take Rivera “all the way to the top”.
McMahon then wraps the interview as Blassie calls McMahon out for trying to “start trouble” and we quickly fade out to our next Peacock ad-break.
—Singles Match (26:27)
Victor Rivera w/Freddie Blassie vs. Steve Cagle
This one is, as one may suspect, a squash. Steve Cagle is no match for the aggressive and ruthless Rivera. Rivera is all over Cagle from the opening bell, barely giving Cagle a chance to catch a breath.
Rivera repeatedly pounds Cagle into the exposed turnbuckle as he tries to bust Cagle wide open. Eventually Rivera lands a vertical suplex but pulls the clearly defeated Cagle up at the count of two, angering the official.
Moments later Rivera cinches in the double underhook and hits the butterfly suplex for the 1-2-3 at 2:02.
WINNER is Victor Rivera w/Freddie Blassie (Pin, 2:02)
As the bell rings Rivera delivers a a series of knees to the defeated Cagle before he and Blassie celebrate their win. Following Joe McHugh’s announcements of the particulars of the fall we head to the next Peacock ad-break.
—Singles Match (30:15)
Tony Russo vs. Dino Bravo
Tony Russo is eager to mix it up with young Dino Bravo here. After a short feeling out process, in which Bravo shows off his tremendous speed and agility, Bravo takes over the match.
Russo fights free of a Bravo armbar but can’t get anything going. After hitting Bravo with a back body drop Russo walks right into another Bravo arm drag and armbar.
Bravo continues to dominate a game Russo before Russo stages a strong rally. Bravo fires up though and, after landing a high dropkick, catches Russo in an airplane spin for the three-count at 3:51.
WINNER is Dino Bravo (Pin, 3:51)
After the match Dino Bravo celebrates his victory as Joe McHugh handles the particulars of the fall and we head to the final Peacock ad-break of the hour.
—“Six-Man Tag Team Match” (35:22)
Tony Garea, Larry Zbyszko, & Dominic DeNucci vs. Stan “The Man” Stasiak, Baron Mikel Scicluna, & “Butcher” Paul Vachon
The trio of Tony Garea, Larry Zbyszko, and Dominic DeNucci had been tagging in six-man and standard tag team bouts for a bit on the house show circuit at this time.
Stasiak and DeNucci start things out, with the two trading the advantage until DeNucci eats a cheap shot that sends DeNucci into the heels corner where the heels open up on DeNucci.
The referee refuses to allow the babyfaces to enter the fray while allowing the heels to get away with just that, angering the ringside fans. The heels have the better of a wily and game DeNucci, preventing every attempt at a hot tag, until DeNucci, trapped in a Scicluna front chancery, makes the tag to Zbyszko.
Larry Zbyszko comes in a house of fire, going to work on Scicluna. Soon enough all reason goes out the window, with the referee failing to keep the illegal DeNucci out of the ring and allowing the illegal Vachon to take Scicluna’s place mid-hold.
Garea tags in a has the better of Vachon until “Butcher” blasts Garea and makes the tag to Stasiak. Garea tosses Stasiak around the ring before Scicluna tags back in.
Scicluna brawls and cheats Garea to the mat before tagging in Vachon. In the lull in the action, though, Garea tags in Zbyszko, who tosses Vachon hard into the corner.
In a flash Zbyszko tags in Garea, who lands a back body drop on Vachon to scores the flash three-count at 7:55 as DeNucci stands the heels off.
WINNERS are Tony Garea, Larry Zbyszko, & Dominic DeNucci (Pin, 7:55)
Following the match the victorious babyfaces celebrate as Baron Mikel Scicluna tends to the fallen “Butcher” Vachon and Joe McHugh reads the particulars of the fall.
The show comes to a close then, with McMahon quickly hyping next week’s card (which includes another six-man tag team bout) and signing off to bring another exciting edition of WWWF All Star Wrestling to a close!
Final Thoughts
This is a fun, action-heavy hour of WWWF All Star Wrestling!
The lone interview with Freddie Blassie is as good as any of the action we see, and that’s not to denigrate any of the talent or matches in this hour, which includes a litany of Hall of Fame grapplers.
The opening tag team bout, “midget”s bout, and show-closing six-man tag match are all good bouts (in their won right) that deliver exactly the kind of action WWWF fans of the era were hungry to see. Though it’s not a thrilling hour of action and interviews, what it does deliver it delivers pretty darn well.
If you haven’t seen this hour of All Star Wrestling, or it’s been a while, you should take the time to seek this show out on the WWE Network and Peacock. Who knows, you may end up liking it, and that’s never a bad thing!
Already subscribed to the WWE Network on Peacock? Then you can relive this classic edition of WWWF All Star Wrestling right now or experience it for the very first time! As always, let us know what you think in the comments section below!
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