WWWF Championship Wrestling 4/23/1977

WWWF Championship Wrestling 4/23/1977 

The show following this does not exist anywhere. The show 2 weeks after this is here: https://prowresblog.blogspot.com/2025/09/wwf-championship-wrestling-531977.html 

Vince McMahon is our sole commentator here. He talks about today's card and says we will see an individual from Samoa named Peter Maivia

"High Chief" Peter Maivia vs Sylvano Sussa

They lock up, let go and try again. SS misses a shot on the ropes when PM rolls out. PM armdrags him twice. PM lays on the top buckle and SS misses a charge. PM then headstands on the top buckle and elbows SS when he charges in.

PM hip throws SS. PM euros him then side headlocks him. PM headbutts him then snapmares him. PM clubs him while he's down and poses. SS hits shots in the corner. SS is sent into the buckles and goes down. 

PM slips out of a side headlock and SS gets frustrated. PM trips him then splits SS's fingers. PM's head is banged into the buckles but he no sells it and struts. SS headbutts him and hurts his own head. PM fires on him in the corner. PM kind of does diving takedowns then does a spinning backbreaker. PM then submits him with a stump puller.

Thoughts: Maivia was interesting here. He did a lot of strutting and dancing and was moving pretty well. I was surprised to see him bust out the headstand in the corner spot. It was all squash as expected here and something different from the usual.

Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko vs Johnny Rodz and Tor Kamata

The heels attack before the bell. Tor bangs Tony's head off the buckles then Larry gets it too. The heels beat up on the faces in the corner. Tony makes a comeback on Tor then Larry does the same. Rodz is sent into a Tony punch and goes upside down in the corner for it. Rodz runs around and tries to beg off. Rodz gets booted and goes out.

Rodz tries to get back in and is booted. Rodz is hit in the gut and just falls forward onto Larry. Rodz gets his butt kicked and takes shots from the faces. Rodz goes down for 2 to a chest shot.

Rodz is snapmared. Rodz begs off and calls for a time out. Larry stops looking and Rodz hits him in the gut. He knee lifts him then Tor chops Larry in the corner. Rodz top rope stomps Larry in the back then top rope clubs him. Tor hits a nice single leg dropkick.

Larry is held for a Tor chop and Rodz gets 2 off of it. Rodz superkicks Larry for 2. Larry does a nice bump for a chop for 2. Rodz gets in and knees Larry in the gut for 2. Tony tags in. He hits shots on the heels. Rodz is on the 2nd rope, gets hit and is stuck in the ropes. Tony abdominal stretches Tor and Rodz breaks it up. 

Rodz armlocks Tony with a chinlock. Tony shoulders Rodz over then takes a big hiptoss. Rodz works the arm. Tor hits Tony in the arm. Tony takes a back body drop for 2. Rodz bangs Tony's head off the buckles then legdrops him. Rodz misses a splash. 

Rodzz gets hit by Larry in the corner and Tor beats up Tony on the ropes. Tor hits Tony on a double team then hits Rodz as well. Tor makes it seem like he made a mistake when it appeared to be on purpose. Rodz tries ti again then Tor drops him with a shot. Tony then pins Rodz.

Thoughts: They messed up the finish here and re-did it instead of just going with it. That hurt this one. The match was pretty good otherwise. Rodz did some great bumping and begging off. They kept a good pace and the faces were fiery. I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought would and was impressed at times by Rodz.

Tor and Rodz argue after and Tor drops him with a shot. 

Vince McMahon interviews Tor Kamata. Tor says no more tag teams and is told about Bob Backlund asking him for a rematch. Tor either goes off in English or Japanese, as I can't understand him. Tor says he doesn't like tag teams again and Vince said he agreed to the match with Backlund if its a texas death match.

The Haiti Kid & Hillbilly Pete vs Little John & Billy The Kid

They call Billy "The Six Million Dollar Midget". HK armdrags John twice to start. HK shoulders him over twice then dropkicks him. HK misses a dropkick. John is thrown on the ref on the kick out and the midgets beat up the ref. John ends up doing a sunset flip on the ref and Billy counts the pin. The ref gets mad.

Pete headstand kicks Billy. Billy clubs him and drops him throat first on the top rope. Billy punches him out of the headlock. John hits shots on Pete then back body drops him. John slams Pete then rakes him with his foot.

HK hits butt bumps on his opponents. He back body drops John then hits headlock punches. HK headbutts then catapults John into the mat. HK catapults John into Billy. Pete and HK do airplane spins then pick up stereo pins to win.

Thoughts: It was a quick one with a fast pace. It was entertaining. We got our usual midget comedy spots. Kid hit some nice dropkicks and the finish was neat.

Billy is so confused he airplane spins his own partner after. John and Billy think they have this won when the announcer says who the winner is.

Ken Patera vs Pete Austin

Capt. Lou Albano is with Ken. Vince says Pete is climbing the ladder of success. Ken gets whistles from the crowds as he takes his track pants off.

They lock up and Ken clubs him on the ropes. Ken hits elbows to the face on the ropes. Pete's head is banged off the buckles. Ken side headlocks him. 

Ken snapmares him and clubs his chest. Ken chinlocks him. Ken stomps Pete. Ken slams him and elbow drops Pete's back. Ken backbreakers Pete twice and pulls him up on the pin attempt. 

Ken clubs and boots Pete. Ken then bearhugs him. Pete submits.

Thoughts: It was all squash and not very entertaining. Ken didn't do much but clubs here.  

Ivan Putski vs Joe Joe Andrews

Ivan disrupts the intros and says they will put something on Joe's head.

They lock up. Ivan side headlocks him then takes him over with it. Ivan shoulders him over and Joe takes a nice bump. Ivan side headlock takeovers him again. Joe clubs Ivan's chest and thumb pokes him in the eye. Joe runs the ropes and goes right into an Ivan eye poke.

Ivan chinlocks him. Joe holds onto the leg and Ivan snapmares him into a chinlock. Joe hits punches on Ivan then Ivan does a big flurry of shows on him. Ivan then does a big polish hammer and a legdrop to win.

Thoughts: It was a boring one here. I liked Ivan's flurry at the end and his polish hammer looked good but there wasn't much else of interest going on here.

I think he says, "Polish Power, haha" on the mic after.

Baron Von Raschke & Stan Stasiak vs Johnny Rivera & S.D. Jones

The Grand Wizard and Freddie Blassie are managing the heels here. 

Stan locks up with JR. They trade armlocks. JR gets the edge and Baron tags in. Baron fireman's carry takeovers JR into an armlock. Gorilla Monsoon joins Vince on commentary and says we will get a texas death match next week with Backlund and Tor. JR headlock takeovers Baron. 

Stan gets in and side headlocks JR. JR headscissors Stan. JR is thrown over the top and takes a big bump for it. Stan throws JR in the ring and bangs his head off Baron's knee. Baron stomps JR then backbreakers him. 

Baron snapmares JR. SD gets in and hits punches on Baron. He then hits shots on Stan and drops him with a headbutt. Baron hits SD in the throat. SD blocks Stan's heart punch and headbutts him down.

Stan bearhugs SD. SD headbutts his way out. Baron gets in and pounds on SD. Baron bearhugs SD. Baron snapmares SD and boots him. Stan heart punches SD and pins him.

Thoughts: It was all squash and not much of note here. Rivera took a nice bump over the top and the heels mostly stuck to clubs and stomps. 

Overall thoughts: The opener with Peter Maivia was something different. I liked the tag match with Tor and Rodz and thought Rodz was the MVP of this episode. The midgets entertained in the short time they had. Patera and Putski had boring squashes. The main event wasn't much of note either. I'd give it a thumbs up overall due to the first half of the show being entertaining.