WWF Television 4/28/84: Championship Wrestling & All-Star Wrestling

WWF Championship Wrestling

April 28, 1984

Your announcers are Gene Okerlund and Vince McMahon

Rene Goulet vs. Tito Santana

Tito backs Rene into the corner. He fights out of a headlock and gets an armdrag. He grounds Rene then goes to work on the arm. Rene escapes but Tito dodges the monkeyflip attempt and flips Goulet over. He hits him with an Atomic Drop but Goulet accidentally collides with the ref. Goulet gets an elbow smash from the second rope after a cheap shot and fires away in the corner. He gets a snapmare but Tito escapes from a chinlock with an armbar. Gouelt gets a reverse rollup but Ttio gets another armdrag. Goulet uses come cheap heel tactics until Tito fights back. He gets a backdrop, which gets two. They trade hip tosses until Tito comes back with the flying forearm for the win (6:00) *1/4.

Thoughts: This match was longer than the usual for this program. Nothing particularly exciting but the crowd really loved Tito.

WWF Update with Vince McMahon. The spoltlight is on Rowdy Roddy Piper. Vince talks about how he is a great manager and wrestler as they replay his Piper’s Pit segment with Andre the Giant from last month.

Pete Sanchez & Salvatore Bellomo vs. “Dr. D” David Schultz & “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff

Piper is not here tonight. The “Paula” chants are deafening. Orndorff gets a dropkick then tags Schultz. He grabs a headlock but Bellomo still manages to tag out. Sanchez fights out of a headscissors then Bellomo complains to the ref, allowing the heels to cheat. They take turns roughing up Sanchez until he is able to make the tag. Bellomo challenges Orndroff but gets destroyed. He dodges a charge from Orndorff and tags Sanchez. However, Orndorff beats him up then tags Schultz. He gets a pair of bodyslams then gets the elbow drop from the second rope for the win (5:12).

Thoughts: An extended squash that did not impress. Orndorff and Schultz are not gelling as a tag team. They have little chemistry together and are just two singles wrestlers who are thrown together.

Tiger Chung Lee vs. Sgt. Slaughter w/Terry Daniels

Tiger gets a cheap shot off of a clean break. Sarge decks him and he rolls outside. He goes back inside and Sarge grabs a headlock as the camera shows Daniels, still in his Marine uniform, holding the flag in the aisle. Sarge beats on Tiger for a while. He dropkicks him then runs his face along the ropes. Tiger begs for mercy in the corner but gets a cheapshot and takes the advantage. The crowd is screaming “U-S-A” at this point and Sarge makes a comeback. Turnbuckle smash by Sarge. He gets a gutbuster then delivers a double stomp. Tiger manages a thumb to the eye but Sarge catches his foot on a kick attempt then destroys him with a clothesline, getting the win (4:17). After the match, Slaughter gives a flag to a kid in the stands.

Thoughts: Slaughter was extremely over with the crowd. They are eating up his Patriotic act. Surprised to see him win with a clothesline though.

Piper’s Pit with Captain Lou Albano. They gush all over each other for a bit. Piper mentions how Albano made Cyndi Lauper the #1 star in the music industry and they show his part in the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” video. This segment was really just an excuse for Vince to promote one of his stars who was part of a popular thing outside of wrestling. Doesn’t that sound familiar.

Steve Lombardi vs. Iron Sheik w/Freddie Blassie

The camera shows all of the anti-Sheik signs in the crowd. Nothing was overly racist this time. Sheik grabs the mic to proclaim how Iran is number one as the crowd throws trash into the ring. Lombardi bounces off of the Sheik, who then yells at the crowd. Lombardi manages to get a sunsetflip but Sheik stomps him down. He slams Lombardi then tosses him outside. Blassie pokes his cane off of Lombardi’s head, then laughs directly into the camera. Sheik slams Lombardi on the floor then rolls him back into the ring. Sheik gets a few suplexes then makes Lombardi submit to the Camel Clutch (2:52). Sheik stomps Lombardi after the match. 

Thoughts: Looks like they are attempting to push the Sheik again. The crowd hates him so it is a good idea to make him a strong heel.

Israel Matia vs. Ivan Putski

Matia stalls to begin the match. Putski gets a slam then Matia does his bit about complaining to the ref about a hairpull. Okerlund begins to name off all the muscles in the human body and how Putski’s are the best as Matia gets a knee. He runs the ropes but Putski gets the Polish Hammer for the win (2:33)

Thoughts: The match was nothing and Putski is well past the point of usefulness.  

Next week, the featured match is Princess Victoria vs. “Cowgirl” Wendy Richter. Also, Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch will team up and Piper’s Pit with Rocky Johnson.

Final Thoughts: The show itself was forgettable but they seemed to make the matches longer and a bit more competitive. I am interested in seeing Murdoch & Adonis team up though.

WWF All-Star Wrestling

April 28, 1984

Your Hosts are Vince McMahon and Gene Okerlund.

Tito Santana vs. “Dr. D” David Schultz

Piper is not present for this match. They shake hands to start then do some matwork. Schultz gets a rollup for two. They fight over a test of strength and Schultz throws a knee. Schultz pulls Tito down by using his hair and works the arm. Schutlz gets some elbows but Tito fights back. Schult backs into the corner and Tito stomps away. Kneedrop gets two. Schultz pushes Tito outside but gets dragged out. Tito fights back and Schultz prevents him from going back into the ring. The ref eventually counts to ten and the match ends in a double count-out (6:13) **

Thoughts: This really played out like the beginning of a twenty minute match but it was decent for what it was. Schultz and Tito seems like a good feud for the IC title.

WWF Update with Vince McMahon. The spotlight is on the Iron Sheik. They show him squashing a jobber then mention his shopping spree and how “American Pigeons” crapped on the cars that he bought.

“Cowgirl” Wendy Richter vs. Princess Victoria

Victoria is dressed like Pocahontas. They go at each other before the bell. Victoria grabs a headlock but Wendy reverses. They then roll around and have a catfight, ending up on top of the referee. The crowd loved that. Clothesline by Richter, who follows that with a splash that gets two. She uses Victoria’s pigtails to choke her out, just as Mean Gene predicted. It is a rare occurrence when Okerlund says something of importance on commentary. Victoria tries a headlock but Richter counters with a back suplex. She stomps away then picks her up and drops her throat first on the ropes. She puts her in a surfboard for a bit. Wendy stops Victoria’s comeback attempt and hits a shoulderbreaker for two. Wendy pulls the hair but misses a charge and flies outside. Victoria snapmares her back into the ring from the apron. Reverse rollup gets two. She gets a flying chop then rolls up Richter and uses a bridge for the win (6:02) **12

Thoughts: A really good TV match. This was all action. It may have been a bit one-sided in Richter’s favor but still fun to watch. I never knew that Richter was originally a heel in the WWF so that was interesting to see here.

Israel Matia vs. B. Brian Blair

Blair starts by grabbing a side headlock. He hits a shoulderblock then goes back to the headlock as a faint “boring” chant breaks out. Matia backs Blair into the corner and rakes the eyes. Blair fights back and does another headlock takeover as the boring chants get louder. Another eye rake by Matia. He knees Blair and they trade punches. Blair gets a dropkick and a slam. He catches Matia with an abdominal strectch and gets the cradle for the win (3:52).

Thoughts: This match was boring and the headlock spots killed the crowd. Plus, Blair has next to no charisma and the crowd never cared much for him to begin with.

Replay of Sgt. Slaughter vs. Tiger Chung Lee from Championship Wresting

Replay of Piper’s Pit with Lou Albano

Salvatore Bellomo vs. Paul Orndorff

Orndorff beats the piss out of Bellomo. He then misses a charge and sells the elbow. Bellomo hits a few punches and then a dropkick. Orndorff gets a kneelift then drops an elbow. He grabs a chinlock as we see Piper head down to the ring. Bellomo escapes the chinlock but Orndorff takes him down with a jumping knee smash. He shakes hands with Piper then stomps Bellomo. He tosses him to the floor as Piper yells at him to get back in and fight. Orndorff knocks him down with a running boot from the apron. He rolls him back in but Bellomo fights back. He gets a headbutt to the mid-scetion then beats him in the corner. He comes off the top rope with a crossbody block but Orndorff reverses and gets the win (5:03)

Thoughts: Another extended squash but I have no idea why Orndorff needed to win with that move. He should have killed him dead with the piledriver.  

Tony Colon vs. Ivan Putski

Putski hits Colon with a hiptoss, who complains to the ref about his hair being pulled. They engage in a terrible looking punching battle that end with Putski working over the arm. Putski no-sells a forearm shot then knocks Colon out of the ring. Colon goes back in and Putski disposes of him with the Polish Hammer (3:12).

Thoughts: This was pretty bad, even for Putski’s standards. Crowd was silent throughout the match.  

Vince plugs next week’s featured bout, which is Bob Backlund vs. Rene Goulet.

Final Thoughts: We had a really good women’s match and the Tito/Schultz match was fun while it lasted. It had two bad squash matches from Blair & Putski, but overall, a better show than Championship Wrestling.